Potty Training with Lora from Bippy Diapers

Potty Training...

A milestone we look forward to and dread with the greatest of intensity.  I remember when I had my daughter Olivia I wondered how in the world will I accomplish all these milestones in the future?  Every mom wants to give advice or has the tried and true method.   I mean do you ever really know how to start?  I thought when she was 2 or so that we could start.  “Yes!” I thought to myself today is the day we move on from the diapers (mind you we cloth diapered so it wasn’t a huge financial burden).

I took Olivia to the local store and told her she would get to pick out her big girl panties.  She stared at all the cartoon characters, Mickey, Dora, Princesses, too many for my 2 year old to even comprehend.  She finally selected an assortment of Disney princesses.  As we took our new found prize to the front cashier, Olivia was pointing out and telling me every princess that was on that package (she had and still has a slight obsession with Disney Princesses).  We payed for our purchase and politely told the employee “Olivia is going to be a big girl today and we got big girl panties so we can go on the potty.”  Olivia just nodded and continued to stare in awe at the 7 rolled tiny panties in the packaging.  

While in the car we over communicated the going on the potty scenario, how she would tell me, what we would do, how it makes mommy happy if she goes on the potty.  All the while, she still stared in awe at those panties.  We get home with all the tools necessary to start this journey.  Panties, check.  Little potty, check.  Talk with daughter, double check.  Okay.  We can do this I think to myself.  I then walk Olivia through every step of taking her diaper off, and putting the big girl panties in.   One leg in the first hole, she can hardly contain herself.  Second leg in, we pull them up.  It’s as if the world no longer exists and only princesses on panties exist.  The only thing that matters in this world at this moment is Cinderella is on the front of her panties.  She proudly walks around with only panties and socks on pointing out to everything (living or doll like) that she has Cinderella on her panties and she is going to be a big girl.  “Mommy, I a big girl” she says over and over. 

I am thinking to myself, “This is going to be a breeze!  Sweet!”   30 minutes go by. 

Tick tock tick tock. 

“Olivia, do you need to use the potty”

“Nooooo,  I have Cinderella.”  

15 more minutes.

“Olivia, do you need to use the potty”

“Nooooo,  I have Cinderella.”

15 more minutes.

“Olivia, do you need to use the potty”  

Silence…..               

“Olivia, what are you doing?” 

Silence……..  

“Olivia???”  

Nothing.  I go to check on her, a puddle stands below her legs, on the carpet, oozing down into the cracks of the floor.  She had the first accident.  Okay, I knew this was going to happen.  Its okay, I tell myself.  We clean the floor, change Olivia.  Round two will be better. …… 

Round 2 was not better, we had #2 mixed with round 2.  Round 3-43 were the same as rounds 1 and 2.  Round 44, slight success.  Round 45-60, just as bad as round 2.  

A year later and we are still working on potty training.  My moral of my story is do not judge your child against what others say or tell you to do.  Trust your instincts and don’t ever give up on your child.  It will be difficult, but remember they won’t go to college in diapers.  When you decide to start potty training keep this first rule in mind. 

Lora founded Bippy Diapers in 2010. With two children under two, a full time job and earning her master's, she decided that enough was enough and it was time to work for herself. Thus, Bippy Diapers was born. After toying with cloth diapering with her oldest daughter Olivia she decided to cloth diaper her second child, a son named Lucas, full time. She began to enjoy the cloth experience and wanted to share her knowledge and tips with others.

What I Wish I Had Known from Jess @ Top to Bottom Baby

As with most things in life, everyone has an opinion about cloth diapering.  Even my non-cloth diapering friends had opinions about using cloth.  I spent a lot of time researching cloth diapers and listening to everyone's opinions when I was pregnant with our second child Z.  We had started with a cloth diapering service when C was born, but by that time we were beginning to have leaks and fit issues.  At this point, I have to mention our babies were only 15 months apart, so by that point we were actually pretty new in the cloth diapering scene anyway.

No matter how many opinions I heard, blogs I read, or information I gathered, I still distinctly remember times when I thought to myself "Wow, I wish someone would have told me that".  So, for all of the new moms or the new-to-cloth moms, here is all of the things I wish someone would have told me:

1)  Switching from disposables to cloth diapers, especially prefolds, will have challenging moments.  Heck, there are probably even going to be moments when you think to yourself "Why in the world did I think this was a good idea?".

2)  No matter how many of the above mentioned moments you have, there is no way you are going to tell hubs about those moments because, most of the time, hubs already thought you were crazy for trying it and there is no way he gets to think he is right if even for a minute.

3)  Diaper laundry isn't big, bad, or scary.  I remember reading all of the blogs, posting on discussion boards, and spending hours "reviewing" the perfect way to wash diapers.  I've decided simpler is better.  My word of wise, get a good soap and keep it simple.  We do a rinse, a wash, and pop in the dryer.  I have heard a hundred ways to wash diapers and I think sometimes the more complicated routines do more harm than good (that is only my opinion after trying a million different ways).

4)  This one I actually just heard recently from another retailer (Thanks Julie):  Diapers are like jeans.  When you buy jeans you have different choices, you can buy the $8 jean, $25 jeans, or $100 jeans.  The $100 jeans won't last longer but they do fit better than most.  The $8 jeans will fall apart in the wash after a couple months.  Finally, the $25 jeans will last long enough and will fit well enough for most people.

5)  Another great point from Julie:  If you wash anything every day it is going to wear out a lot more quickly than something you wash a couple of times a week.  This will hold true with clothes and cloth diapers.  We can't expect a diaper to survive what we wouldn't expect a shirt or pair of jeans to survive.

6) Last, but definitely not least, diaper is an addiction....wait, I'm sure you've heard that.  But, then comes the obsession.  I remember keeping my computer next to my bed so I could check the diaper websites when I was up nursing in the middle of the night.  I heard of a friend who would hide her new diapers in the wash so hubby wouldn't "notice".  I can't advocate the hiding, but I definitely know that obsession exists.  Just so you know...you've been warned!

Jess and her husband Justin are the co-owners of Top to Bottom Baby in Omaha Nebraska.  Top to Bottom Baby grew out of the need for diapers after their second child was born a month early.  During her master's program, Jess had to write a business plan.  As graduation approached, Top to Bottom was born.  Nowadays, Justin runs the business, while Jess and partner Robyn, get to spend their weekends playing with diapers and spend time educating moms and dads about natural parenting options.