4 Drawbacks to Disposable Training Pants

Disposable training-pants like Pull-Ups are used in almost all homes with toddlers. Many children begin wearing them as early as 18 months and continue wearing them to bed well into their school years. For many parents, the convenience of disposable training pants may be worthwhile, but I'm glad that my home is Pull-Up-free. Here are just a few of the many reasons to avoid buying disposable training pants.

1.Pull-Ups Cost Too Much

Think diapers are expensive? Toddler-sized Pull-Ups cost nearly twice as much as standard disposable diapers. During the first several months of potty training, you'll probably need to change your child's Pull-Ups as often as you would disposable diapers. Depending on how heavily your child wets and how often he makes it to the potty, you may find yourself throwing away more than $100 per month in soiled trainers.

2. Disposable Undies Hinder Potty-Training

When my daughter is wearing a disposable diaper, she can barely tell when she has wet. If I don't check, she may not notice that she has wet herself until hours after the fact. When she is wearing panties, she instantly notices. Cloth training pants help toddlers become aware of their bodily functions. Furthermore, the discomforts of wetness help to encourage a child's desire to use the potty on time. I have known many children who used disposable training pants who took a year or more to master the potty.

3. Environmental Impact

During most of my daughter's infancy, she wore cloth diapers. When these proved to be insufficient, we eventually switched to biodegradable disposable diapers made from renewable resources. While there are plenty of "alternative" diapers for environmentally conscious families, I have not yet found any earth-friendly disposable training pants. I value our the health of our planet more than I value temporary convenience, so we'll be sticking with regular panties as much as possible.

4. False Convenience

You may think that Pull-Ups are more convenient than regular cloth trainers, but the convenience of disposable products is largely an illusion. Is a midnight-run to Wal-Mart for extra Pull-Ups really more convenient than tossing some panties in the wash? Consider the extra hours you may have to work to cover the cost of disposable training pants-- overtime isn't such a convenience. Cloth training pants also aren't terribly inconvenient to wash: they come clean after just one hot-water load, and they can accompany other household items like sheets and towels.

Nevertheless, some parents may be forced to use disposable training pants. Many day-care centers will not accept the extra work that comes with handling wet children's clothes, so parents who work outside the home may be left with no alternative. If you are considering using disposable training pants for your toddler, I encourage you to try the old-fashioned method first. You'll that it is faster, simpler, greener, and far less expensive than another year of overpriced diapers.