So this last Saturday I finally made the decision to use pull-ups. I know there's a huge debate out there about this & I know that the "3 day method" that I followed is totally & completely anti-pull-up.
It was a tough decision. I have always had a hard time giving up on things. I can see hope of a change right around the corner & I'm hanging on for it. And yet I'm getting more & more stressed out waiting & waiting & waiting for that change to come. This pattern holds true for a lot of things in my life, not just potty training.
The glimmer of hope for me is the fact that he can stay dry overnight & during naps. And there are some days with absolute perfection all day long. But then there are randomly days where he pees all over himself & there are lots of times where there's just a small wet spot on his undies & it usually goes through to his shorts or pants. And so even though it wasn't a full blown peed on himself, I still have to change his undies & pants/shorts. And it still creates more work, more stress, not to mention more laundry. Since I began potty training I have had a minimum of 1 load of laundry every single day from his "accidents". So yeah you can say that pull-ups are costly, but so is laundry. Laundry requires water, gas, & electricity! Nothing cheap about it.
Even though I feel like I waited too long to make the pull-up decision, I do think if I had done it too soon he wouldn't have been as successful as he has been. He wouldn't have been as aware of his accidents. I still put him in undies & no pull-up at bedtime & he still wakes up dry in the mornings.
So even though that was a seriously stressful 6 weeks of my life or so, I do think it was a good investment. And as he matures & is ready we will be able to ditch the pull-ups. I was really worried about him going backwards if I switched to pull-ups. And I know it's only been a few days, but so far he hasn't gone backwards at all. But I feel like all the stress of it is gone now. I don't have to worry about him flooding the carpet, couch, his clothes, etc. I have taught him the basics & will now let him proceed at his own pace. He is still telling me when he needs to go, for both poop & pee. And he is telling me at home, out shopping, etc. The only wet pull-up I've seen so far was at church on Sunday. And I don't understand why we have issues at church, but we have all along & so it continues. I'm not gonna stress out about it anymore. At some point it will stop.
And so that's a huge load of stress off of me now, thank you Jesus. I can just sit back & wait for him to progress to perfection on his own. And now I can focus more on teaching him to pull his undies & shorts/pants up & down by himself. :)
1 day ago
2 comments:
How is he doing now, Frau? I think you made the right decision. I also had heard that pull-ups are not really effective, because they don't encourage the child to wait to go. Something about going in their pants is supposed to make them realize they need to go to the potty. But if he IS telling you even with his pull-ups on, then I just think it'll be a matter of time before he's fully trained.
The church issue does make me wonder though. Like; is he stressed there for some reason and that's why he pees his pants? Or does he just get busy with all the other kids and forget? Maybe he doesn't like someone else helping him go.
Anyway, I am glad you aren't stressing about it anymore. Maybe if he's not messing the pull-ups so much you won't need to buy too many before he's fully trained.
Yeah, I am struggling with the teaching Ellen to pull her undies and pants up and down by herself part. She had, thank you Lord, started wanting to dress herself, but now that it's not new anymore she's wanting me to do it again.
I keep reminding myself; it's just another stage.
Well I think we are having more pee in his pants accidents than before the pull ups, HOWEVER its really hard to judge just how much he peed in the pull up when he does have an accident. He is peeing in his pull up during nap time now, when he was staying dry during naptime before. But he is still staying dry overnight (in his undies).
But one of our biggest issues before was that he would frequently have a small wet spot on his undies. He had started to go but then held it til he got to the potty. Well now with the pull up I honestly cant tell if its a small amount or a lot in the pull up. I suppose I should experiment with a dry one & see how much liquid it takes to change the indicator on the front of the pull up.
But all in all Im focusing on stressing out. I tell him the goal is to keep his undies dry, but I dont get upset or mad about it. A few times he has told me its not undies, its a diaper (I have no idea how or where he would even get that concept) & I just tell him that its undies, just a different type of undie LOL
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