Linger and Simmer

A friend once recommended that I speak more slowly - she said that one of Michael Jackson's mantras was to "let it simmer," that is, to take one's time. This is important when potty training your child. There have been numerous times that I've placed DS on the potty and when there were no results within a minute or so, I'd take him off and then he would pee or even worse, poo, on the floor. So it's good to use distractions to keep your child on the pot for a few minutes, e.g., read a book or give her a toy, so that she will linger a while and let nature take its course. Also, as a parent who is practicing EC, you should trust your instincts. If you think your child needs to eliminate, he probably does, so give him a chance to work it out. How long should you wait? At least three minutes, which is actually quite a long time to keep a child still. Many songs--albeit not kiddie ones unless you sing "Old McDonald" for a few rounds--are three to four minutes in length. So you could try singing or humming a tune. Like Michael Jackson's "Rock with You," which is 3 minutes and 39 seconds long.

Cloth diapers

After a few days of getting peed on, I've gone back to using diapers and attempting to hold DS over the toilet often enough to maintain a claim on "potty training."  I've slowly converted to cloth diapers and now use cloth exclusively during the day, and disposables at night. I don't know if this is true of other cloth diaper users, but I found that I had to adjust all of the different types I've tried to fit my needs, and now I have a system that works pretty well. But I wonder if I am being too demanding in my attempt to find a diaper that is lightweight enough to feel like underwear but to hold a missed pee. Perhaps I should be looking at training pants instead. Until I do, here's the rundown of our current diapering system.

I have three different types of cloth diaper outers. One BumGenius, two Gro Baby and two gDiapers. I was given a bunch of infant size Crickett's Diapers by my lovely sister-in-law when DS was born. He is too big for them now, but I saw potential in the diaper doublers that came with the diapers. I found the fabric strips are just about the right absorbency for my one-missed-pee needs. I just needed a cover. So I bought the GroBaby diapers. I would put the Crickett's doubler in the GroBaby outer and it worked okay, but it was difficult to get the diaper on while keeping the doubler in place. So I ordered a trial kit of the gDiapers, thinking I could lay my extra doublers in the liner on the gPant. I just got the gDiapers a week ago, but it has been going pretty well. The only drawback to the gDiapers is that they aren't one-size like the GroBaby, so I'll have to order more once DS grows out of the medium, which he almost is already. (Darn babies, growing so fast!) So I use the BumGenius and GroBaby diapers for outings and when DS takes naps, and the gDiapers with thin liners for when he is awake and I'm trying to potty train. I use about four a day, depending on how attentive I am and if I hear him when he first wakes up (and catch him before he pees in the diaper).


All of this background to say: I need someone to offer a thin liner that allows parents to turn diaper outers into a training pant. I'd buy it.