How many pairs of underwear do I need for PTing?

I just joined here but am hoping to PT my twins before their 3rd bday. Sometimes they will go on the potty - once for the whole day and then do nothing for weeks. So I just put the potties away and wait. They are starting to say they want to be big girls so I am crossing my fingers that they are ready. I don't want pullups b/c they just think it's a diaper they can pull up and down as they please, or take off and run naked like crazies!

So I bought the thick Gerber training panties and some Dora big girl panties. Which ones should I use? Both? How many pairs do you recommend?

I hope I can do this without losing my sanity.

Plus my younger sister, who has 1 child, who I KNOW was not PTd until he was almost 3, keeps asking my girls if they want to be big girls or not. I don't feel this is her place. Plus her and my mom keep saying that they should be training already. I've tried 5 different times already!!! They were born 10 weeks premature and their pedi told me not to even expect them to want to try until 2 1/2 adjusted age. They will be 3 on June 6th. This is almost May, so they are now 2 yrs and 8 1/2 months (adjusted) so just over the 2 1/2 mark the pedi mentioned. He also said that it was highly likely it would be closer to their 3rd bday if not AFTER. So I know I shouldn't expect it to happen before but it would be bonus if it did. I just hate that my sibs seem to think it should be so easy and should be done by now when they have no freaking clue. And my SIL keeps saying her dd was PTd before her 2nd bday which is a crock of bull, since I PTd her and it was the summer between her 2nd and 3rd bday and she turned 3 in December.

Sorry had to vent a little too. I hope that you can shed some light for me.

Mandi

 

Each child is different, but both of mine started with cotton training pants during the day. My son trained at 2.5 with maybe 3 accidents -- very quick, very easy -- total surprise. He wore diapers for nap until just over 3, but still wears a diaper at night. In the past 2 weeks, he has woken up dry 2x, which is a first -- he will be 4 this summer. My daughter on the other hand, did not train until just over 3, but was diaper free within a week. For the first month or so, she was not comfortable sleeping through the night in underwear so slept in a diaper even though she was always dry in the AM.

Best of luck!

 

AMEN to FRICK and FRACK!!! They are all SOOOOO different!!!

It's SUPER easy to do a LOT of things when you have ONE baby at a time! We are just lucky we get to do both at once - because we love a challenge! lol!!

Just do what you know they are ready to do! :hug:

 

I didn't bother with the training underwear, I just bought them whatever they had at Kohl's. I ended up getting princess, Dora and Minnie Mouse which was a good thing because Mia only likes to wear Princess and Dora and Emma only likes Minnie and Dora. I think I got about 20 pair and the first 3 days I think they wore all of them! I did a lot of laundry! By day 3 they were accident free, though I still have them in diapers for nap and nighttime. Oh and the first week or so they were allowed to wear a diaper when we left the house.

Personally I was in NO rush to train them. Diapers are SO nice and easy and now it takes us forever to get out of the house because everyone needs to pee before we go and finding bathrooms when we are out sucks. I actually miss diapers - never thought I would say that!

 

We had a ton of underwear. My first (singleton) PT'd at about 2.5 yrs. old. The twins, Abby trained a bit quicker than Gabe right at 3 yrs. old and Gabe followed within 2 months or so. He was hard to poop train. Each kiddo is different and when you're trying to do 2 it can be trickier. Mine just stopped wearing a pull up if they napped, but still wear one at bedtime.

 

I will tell you what happened to me this week - my DD (will be 3 on 5/9) decided she was going to go on the potty - and that was it! All last weekend she kept telling me she had to pee - finally on Tuesday I took the plunge to panties - she had one pee accident - I completely expected her to poop in her pants because just mentioning pooping on the potty elicited tears...she did poop her pants on Tuesday and Wednesday...yesterday she told me she had to poop - and she went...once for me and once for DH....and thats it...she's been dry after nap and in the morning also for a week!

her brother may be going to the prom in pull ups but I have a feeling now that his sister is doing something he isn't it won't be long...

I'm not a big attachment parenting guru but in this case child led was the way to go! She did it when SHE was ready and ONLY when she was ready...and it just clicked!

 

Our DDs both started using the potty sporadically around age 2, but we kept them in diapers (not pull-ups) until they decided they wanted to wear underpants. I never pushed it (though I did "suggest" occasionally). They both PT'd around the age of 3 -- one a few months before, the other a few months after. We've had a few accidents, but it's really been very smooth. I'm not very AP in general either, but I'm a huge advocate of child-led PT.

Even if you go that route, you still might want the training pants for excursions, if you're afraid they'll have an accident before you can get to a potty and you don't want a huge mess. (That's why I bought them, but we never used them.) But for daily life and hanging out at home where there is a potty nearby, I don't think they're necessary, and may just confuse the issue.

I started with about 10 pairs of underwear for the first child who PT'd -- then when the second one switched to underwear too, I bought about a dozen more. They each have a few pairs that are "special for them" (bought at Gymboree), in colors or designs that I thought they would especially like. (Sarah's are yellow, Amy's have cherries on them.) I think this can help motivate them to keep their underwear dry. But when the special ones are dirty, they both share all the other Target-bought underwear and seem fine with that too.

Sorry you are getting pressure from other people. If your family are saying things directly to your kids about PT, they may think they're being helpful and supportive. Is there a way you can delicately ask them to back off?

 

If you are doing underwear bootcamp More power to ya!! If you are doing two at the same time, I would stock up. Im not even sure how many pairs you would want to get. Im still working with my DS. DD pt'd pretty easily and just has the ocassional night time accident. Ive been encouraging DS almost daily. He's not enthused about it. Even if he does go pee on the potty, he will tell me "Dont say yay" with a pouty face. Or if I do say or do something encouraging he'll tell me to stop. I dont know why that is, but I think I have the only child who will start K in diapers! lol. Not funny. I really wish he would get with the program. Mine will be 3 in July and he will not get to move up to the next preschool room if he's not PT'd

 

:welcome: Mandi

first, I did use the thick cotton training panties for a little bit but not that long. I never did 2 at a time. Not sure the point of that. I then just went to the regular panites. Either way they don't like the feeling of peeing on themselves. When training I do think the amount of panties you need and how often you want to do laundry are related. The more panties you have the less often you have to do laundry. I fyou do laundry a lot anyway, then you won't need as many.

I'm not sure why you think PT comments have anything to do with singleton moms. The comments, no matter who are saying them have nothing to do with twins or singletons but the fact that it is really none of their business. your kids will do it in their own time and it means nothing. Now if you child was 8 y/o then I think there would be an issue but otherwise, they need to keep their nose our of your girls anties: and you should tell them so.

 

Alison, congrats on working the "big girl panties" smiley in. :ibiggrin:

 

:welcome: to Twinstuff Mandi!



I never used pull ups either and never used the thick training underwear either. Just went straight to regular underwear. I probably started each with about 15 pairs of underwear. I did have to throw some away, so I have had to replace them as well. I just bought plain Hanes unerwear from them. Once they were PTed, I let them pick out character underwear, so Emilie did get Minnie Mouse and My Little Pony then.

Trevor is still working so he just has some hand me down character undies from my nephew. I keep telling him once he poops in the potty all the time he can pick some out too. He doesn't seem to care about that though. <_<

Anyway, they are all so different. My girls were both really easy to train. They both trained about 4 months before turning 3. We didn't start with DS until he turned 3 and he likes wearing underwear, which is good, but doesn't care if he poops in them.

Good luck and once they are ready it will be easy.

 

QUOTE(2plusbgtwins @ Apr 24 2009, 04:27 PM) [snapback]1287049[/snapback]
If you are doing underwear bootcamp More power to ya!! If you are doing two at the same time, I would stock up. Im not even sure how many pairs you would want to get. Im still working with my DS. DD pt'd pretty easily and just has the ocassional night time accident. Ive been encouraging DS almost daily. He's not enthused about it. Even if he does go pee on the potty, he will tell me "Dont say yay" with a pouty face. Or if I do say or do something encouraging he'll tell me to stop. I dont know why that is, but I think I have the only child who will start K in diapers! lol. Not funny. I really wish he would get with the program. Mine will be 3 in July and he will not get to move up to the next preschool room if he's not PT'd



:lol:

My DS did the exactly same thing!! He loves to get irritated when I praise him. I can almost picture your son because I can definitely picture my son with the same exact face! My kids turned 3 last July. Amanda PTd very quickly last summer. She had a few accidents but was pretty much done by the time they started preschool in September. DS is a completely different story. If you look through my postings in the potty training subforum from late last year, you'll see that I was terrified that Aidan would go to prom in a diaper. It actually clicked right around New Years. He is now completely potty trained with only a few accidents in the past 2 months. I am a firm believer that they will get it when they're ready. Some kids just don't want to do it until they are a bit older.

Frustration is part of the battle but they all get it eventually.

To answer the original question, I bought 2 packs for each child at the beginning (which is 6 pairs each). I wanted to make sure they were comfortable and fit appropriately. I think both of my kids are up to a dozen pairs each. I did not use training pants. I kept pullups on them when we left the house until I felt comfortable they could handle telling me that they had to go to the bathroom. I did carry a spare diaper and a spare pair of pants for each child whenever we left the house.

 

I went to a free potty training seminar 2 nights ago. i was told to buy them white underwear only at first. Once they keep them dry for a while, they can go to the store to pick out their colored ones (with designs).

 

One of my guys pt'd just before three and the other was just after. We went "comando" underneath sweats until they got the hang of it. If we went out of the house in the begining they wore pullups but that was it and we would still check with them to see if they had to go. But training twins is stressful enough with out pushing them before they are ready. Oh, we did pull ups overnight as well and similar to PP one my two one day decided they did not want to do pull ups over night and that was it. They are almost five now and I can count on one hand how many accidents we have had overnight. Listen to your gut and your kids. They will let you know when they are ready.

 

All of my children (so far) potty trained themselves at 3. If anyone tries to tell me anything, I kindly remind them that its none of their business.

 

:wavey: Mandi!!! Welcome to TS! Our kids share the same birthdate. :Clap: I think alot depends on the child wanting to go potty. My dd said about a month ago that she wanted to be a big girl and she was pt'd in four days. :good: Now my son is a different story, and that's okay because they are different people. Don't let your anyone tell you what your kids should or shouldn't be doing.

 

QUOTE(2plusbgtwins @ Apr 24 2009, 12:27 PM) [snapback]1287049[/snapback]
he will tell me "Dont say yay"


My kids say this exact same thing! I have not figured out what is the proper amount of enthusiasm to show them about the potty yet.

Mine are about a week younger than the OP's girls and have about zero interest in potty training. I'm hoping it will come magically to them as others have described. And I'm actually hoping it will be after we have completed our long road trip next month -- I'd way rather still be in diapers for that!

 

I think we started out with 6 pairs each. I attempted to PT them at the same time at first, but that didn't go well. Bagged it and I did end up using pull-ups so they had the option to go potty if they wanted. Bea was ready at about 2 yrs 8 mos. She kept a pull-up dry for several days, then switched her to underwear with very few accidents. Poop took a few days to get the hang of, but she got it pretty quickly. Ainsley was not ready, and she didn't train until more recently. I had to use a sticker chart with her. She really needed to be motivated to do it herself. Going to the potty just wasn't high on her priority list, even with wearing underwear.

I did get those think Gerber training pants, but I wouldn't say they are necessary. I used them for taking a newly PT'ed girl out in public, at least it absorbs a little more so the accident isn't quite as bad, but you could skip them.

Both are still in pull-ups at night, and I have no idea when they might night train. BTW, both took a while to break the habit of pooping in their pull-up at bedtime. It was like clockwork, put the pull-up on, five minutes later, "I pooped!". It could have been a stalling tactic. Bea would poop on the potty during the day, but I think Ainsley would save it for the pull-up. Had to do some sticker rewards for pooping before bed too.

My only real word of advice is don't think of it like you HAVE to train two kids at the same time. Unless they both show signs of readiness at the same time, you can certainly train them one at a time. I don't feel like it was much different than training a singleton. Just ignore all the "they should be trained" stuff. I got some slack because of how late Ainsley trained, because girls are supposed to be so easy. Well, she wasn't.

 

QUOTE(~* dfaut *~ @ Apr 24 2009, 02:50 PM) [snapback]1286888[/snapback]
We are just lucky we get to do both at once - because we love a challenge! lol!!



Ok, I have no advice as we're not there yet, but this has to be my favorite quote of the day!!! :Clap: