Training pants are an intermediate step from a diaper to underpants. They are less absorbent than a diaper, but can stop a small amount of pee. This way, your child’s clothes won’t get wet in the event of an accident and you won’t have to keep mopping up puddles and changing clothes. Training pants are also called training pants or training diapers.
When to start wearing training pants?
When your child is almost toilet trained
Training pants are ideal for children who are almost toilet-trained, but still have the occasional accident. In this phase, a child sometimes forgets to go to the potty or toilet, for example when playing. Because training pants do not absorb as well as diapers, your child will immediately feel it when he or she starts to pee. It is often possible to put the rest of the pee in the potty or toilet. Training pants are also nice for children who feel like they have to pee, but just don’t get to the toilet or potty in time, so that a few drops end up in the underpants. Regular underpants will leak through immediately, but training pants will not. Furthermore, training pants are also nice as extra security on the go for children who are just toilet training.
At the beginning of toilet training
You can also choose to use the training pants at the beginning of toilet training, instead of diaper pants. Diaper pants are also touted as the ideal transition from diaper to pants. These are disposable pants with the absorption of a diaper, which your child can easily put on and take off when he or she has to go to the potty or toilet. But diaper pants are designed to keep the bottom as dry as possible and to provide a comfortable feeling. Many children find it easy to let everything go, or simply do not feel that they have urinated. Training pants are designed to give a wet and uncomfortable feeling as soon as they are urinated. This means that a child who wears training pants will feel much better when he or she has urinated. Most children hate the wet feeling and will do their best to stay dry. As a result, children who wear training pants often become potty trained faster than children who wear diapers.
Keep in mind that training pants will leak if there is a large puddle. It may happen that your child’s clothes get wet despite the training pants and you will have to mop a puddle from the floor. Or that your child pees on the couch.
Different types of training pants
Training pants come in all shapes and sizes. There are training pants that look and feel like real underpants and training pants that consist of overpants with an insert. There is also a choice between training pants in a solid color and training pants with a print. Some training pants have press studs on the side. The advantage of this is that you can easily change them in the event of an accident. A disadvantage of this is that some children think these training pants look like a diaper with adhesive strips, because they are also opened and closed at the sides.
Training pants that resemble real underpants are slightly thicker than regular underpants so they can absorb small puddles. They have a waterproof layer, which is between two layers of fabric or on the outside. This can prevent accidents. Well-known brands include Bambino Mio, Bright Bots, Close Parent, Imse Vimse, HEMA own brand, Mother Ease, Popolini and Tots Bots. Such training pants are available in different sizes, which are usually classified by weight and sometimes by clothing size (such as the training pants from HEMA).
Examples of brands of training pants that consist of a two-piece system are Best Bottom, GroVia and Flip. Best Bottom’s training pants are available in different sizes, depending on the weight of your child. The Best Bottom inserts have fun prints to further encourage children to stay dry. GroVia overpants are adjustable in size, but you can buy different sizes of inserts. With the Flip trainer set, both the overpants and the inserts are adjustable in size. These training pants grow with your child and you can easily use them for the next child.
Exercise pants for while sleeping
Most training pants are only suitable for daytime use. There are also special training pants for afternoon naps and the night. These are also called ‘bedwetter pants’. Examples are Mom Innovations, Mother Ease and Super Undies. And with GroVia’s overpants you can buy special inserts for when your child is sleeping. These extra absorbent training pants / inserts are not intended as a replacement for a diaper, but they can prevent bigger accidents than regular training pants. The idea is that a child feels the pants getting wet and wakes up, so that he or she can go to the potty or toilet to continue urinating.
Training pants: necessary or unnecessary?
Are training pants indispensable during toilet training? No. You can also choose to let your child walk around naked or in normal underwear. That’s much cheaper. Furthermore, accidents are not absorbed at all, so that everything runs straight down your child’s legs or leaks through the underpants. This gives even more motivation to toilet train than if only the training pants get wet. The disadvantage of this is that you always have to clean up accidents and change and wash underwear and/or clothes.
