The Diaper-Free Baby_ The Natural Toilet Training Alternative - Christine Gross-Loh [22]
Side snaps make training pants easy to take off a crawling baby.
TRAINING PANTS AND TINY LITTLE UNDERWEAR
Once you and your baby are really in sync with each other and are having very few misses, it makes little sense to keep your baby in cloth diapers or costly disposables. Unfortunately, one of the biggest challenges for EC’ing families has been finding pint-sized training pants and underwear. Luckily, a growing number of small companies are producing these goods for EC’ing families, and there’s now a wonderful variety of products from which to choose. Many of the EC-oriented infant training pants available have a small layer of absorbent cotton cloth on the inside to absorb about one miss. They are similar to the fitted diapers described on pages 48 to 49 in that they have snaps on the sides so that they can be taken off easily without having to take baby’s entire bottom layer of clothing off. However, training pants are much trimmer than fitted diapers. Many training pants, such as Poquito Pants and Snap Pants, have a water-resistant nylon or polyester layer on the outside and a soft cotton layer inside, against your baby’s skin. Snap Pants, KISSes, and Poquitos are all available either waterproof or nonwaterproof. Other products, such as Bright Bots, may not have a water-resistant layer, but are basically training pants that are sized to fit an infant. There are also training pants and underwear available in pure organic cotton. These pants are thick enough to absorb just one pee, but this is the point of them; if you’re EC’ing, you don’t want something that will absorb pee after pee and leave your baby in the equivalent of a wet diaper. You can also find extra small underwear and training pants, although many families resort to buying size 2T underwear and shrinking them in a hot-water wash until they fit baby, more or less. Hanna Andersson training pants and underwear are favored by many EC’ers for their high quality, fit, and durability, but there are several other suitable brands as well. Gerber training pants are another option; they are widely available and inexpensive. If you find you need a little extra protection, you can put a diaper cover over the training pant.
Bright Bots training pants
By the way, remember that if your baby is in underwear or training pants, her clothes are going to fit differently without a bulky diaper. You might have to keep a couple of smaller-size pants or leggings if you have an EC’ed baby. My son stayed in three-month-size pants from three months to nearly a year.
(See the resources section at the end of the book for purchasing information.)
EC CLOTHING
You EC’ing parents today don’t know how lucky you are! When I was EC’ing my sons, I found myself making homemade adjustments to regular clothes, like opening the crotch seams in tiny leggings or buying knee-highs meant for an older child to keep my baby’s legs warm while he was in a training pant at home. In just a few years, the number of special clothes available just for EC’ing families has grown tremendously. There is now a great variety of EC-friendly clothing out there.
A woman once asked at a DiaperFreeBaby meeting if practicing EC meant that her baby would never be able to wear normal clothes, like all those cute things you received at your baby shower. I’m here to say that’s absolutely not the case! Don’t worry—you will get use out of “regular” clothes. I know that dressing those tiny babies in cute clothes is part of the fun of having a baby (not that EC clothing isn’t cute too, because it really is). But since getting your baby’s clothes off quickly when she needs to use the potty is part of what makes EC’ing so achievable, it’s worth looking into a few items of EC clothing, even if just for occasional use when hanging out at home.
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One Mom Speaks About Going Diaper-Free
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