Blog: Cloth nappies and early potty training....

As you may already know, it is easy to like the modern cloth nappies for many reasons: environmental , health and budget. But there is also another advantage, these wonderful nappies could help our kids to be toilet trained earlier….

Just like the war between disposable and cloth nappies, there also divided opinions between early potty training your baby or waiting for them to be ready to decide themselves. Not every country is equal for the age of potty training, but what we have found is that since the disposables arrived on the market in 1960 (cloth nappies were the only diapers used before that), the average age of the toilet training went from 12-18 months to 3 years old (and sometimes 4).

The harsh toilet training techniques used in the 40’s gave way to gentler methods and in the 70’s the idea of toilet training a child before they were ready was leading to psychological damage.

And nowadays? Robin Barker, childhood nurse, believes ‘’that the pendulum for letting children decide has swung too far.’’

There are many advantages and disadvantages to early potty training.

On the positive side, training early is not just empowing and encouraging their development but as well :

-will save you money (no more diapers, cream,wipes to buy) or save you loads of washing,

-will be better for your babies health (no more rashes),

-will educate them on the subject of personal hygiene,

-Will be better for the environment,

-and will also be easier for you to choose a daycare and not have to worry about how often your baby is change there.

On the other hand, training your baby too early could create distress and psychological damage. Paediatrician Chris Pearson, chairman of the child development and behaviour group with the Royal Australasian College of Physicians says ''Children should be toilet trained as soon as possible. But it's important not to create emotional issues for the child by trying to force them to do something they are not ready to do. As soon as the first sign of emotional distress shows up in the child, it is time to stop and try a different technique. If you are creating distress, you are highly likely to inhibit the success of training. As long as the child is co-operative and parents are willing to make an effort, it doesn't matter what age they start.’’

This venture will be time consuming as you will have to be always watching and asking your child regularly if they need to go. You will of course endure a number of accidents, so be prepared.

It is in fact up to you to decide wether the advantages outweigh the inconviniences.

So, why are our kids staying in their nappies longer?

As per Dr Linda Sonna ( psychologist working in Texas) ''The whole idea of waiting for a child to tell you they are ready comes from the disposable-diaper industry. The knowledge that it is even possible to train early has been completely wiped out.''

So, the big brands of diapers have no interest for us to potty traine our kids too early. In fact, ‘’In Australia, disposable ''pull-up'' nappies are now available for children 17 kilograms and over - the weight of an average four-year-old boy. The marketing techniques of disposable-nappy manufacturers have a lot to do with it. It doubles their profits to keep children in nappies for twice as long.'' Barker says.

Ouch…..I’m not sure if I want to help the big nappy manufacturers.

Thinking of that, wearing a wet diaper must be a pretty average feeling and must not be very comfortable. But because disposables diapers are so absorbent now, your child can’t feel that they are wet and don’t realize they have done anything.

You might have noticed that with cloth nappies you have to change your baby a bit more often. It is because they are made only of natural materials such as cotton or bamboo and they do not have any chemicals to attract the urine or moisture. Therefore your baby is feeling wet when they are peeing, they can now the uncomfortable feeling to the action. This is apparently what leads to success in early potty training.

If you think your baby is ready, there is many techniques out there you can use. After a bit of research on the net, I found many interesting tips, it would be up to you to choose or invent something that will work you’re your baby. What is important after all, is that your child has fun and feels confident in their development.