Almost Done with the Diaper Dance

I think we're finally in the home stretch where diapers are concerned. By that I mean we've come a long, long way from having four in diapers for almost a year to now being down to only two still wearing them during the day. There's a good bit of discussion these days about diapers and potty training on the triplet groups that I participate in, so when I got this invitation from Sheila at Momfessions to join in the diaper chatter I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to share what we've learned on our diaper journey thus far. I seriously thought about expounding on my previously written duct tape and diapers posts, but decided I've pretty much already covered that topic here. So instead we'll talk about our household's quest to become diaper free.

It seems like ages ago that we were diapering 4 children. Even though it was less than 2 years ago, it's hard to remember because my life at that point was pretty much prepare food and bottles, feed, change diapers, catnap, repeat. I don't even want to know the costs of diapering for us back in those days.




Before the trio came along Ella was showing signs of readiness for potty training at only 17 months old, but she wasn't consistent. I was worried about regression once we brought 3 new babies home, and frankly I just didn't have it in me to work on a project that involved training a toddler to use the toilet or clean up the messes while I was still growing 3 babies... oh yeah, and I was in the hospital on bed rest for the last 5.5 weeks too. Then one day when she was 27 months old (10 months after her sisters were born) she simply declared that she was done with diapers, and literally that was the end of them for her.

We got our second break about 4 months ago when Sarah dropped diapers for daytime in the exact same way Ella had. She just started refusing to wear them, and I was fine with that as long as she stayed dry.... and she did! After she had worn nothing but panties for a couple of weeks I finally realized she had trained herself with only one or two little accidents, and I almost didn't even realize it.

Even still, with only 2 in diapers during the day and 3 at night, we go through 8-10 diapers per day. So diapers still cost us about $75 per month. Maggie and Kate are completely ready to start training, I think, but being less forceful willful than their potty trained counterparts, I've been able to hold them back somewhat because of all that we've got going on these days. Perhaps once Scott returns to Iraq following his 2 week R&R that's coming up, we'll get down to business.

At any rate, here are a few of the things I've learned about becoming diaper free:

• My girls HATE pull-ups and all other similar types of training pants. I think they are just as bulky and not as comfortable as diapers or panties. They also must feel a lot like a diaper, though, because they often confuse the two.


• I HATE them too.... when the inevitable accident occurs (because they think they are the same as diapers), the entire bottom half of clothing has to be removed to replace them. We usually just switch back to a diaper at that point because they are so much easier.


• Ella used a potty chair for a short while. It was extra work, and I didn't enjoy cleaning it out every time she used it. It was just gross! We switched to the little seats that go on our toilets and have never looked back. All the little girls use these with no problems. I highly recommend them as opposed to the chairs.
  

The biggest thing I've learned so far about becoming diaper free is how easy it is to do when they are completely ready. If, once we get started, I can tell that Maggie and Kate aren't ready, we'll just wait and try again later. After all, the $75 raise per month will be nice, but I'm not looking forward to always having to worry about 4 little bladders while out in public.... I can see it now, someone will have to go upon entering the grocery store, someone else on aisle 3, another on aisle 15, and then the other on the way out to the car with our grocery cart loaded! Fun times ahead!