DIY Waterproof Training Pants (Cloth Pull-Ups) - Feel Dry Liner

 

I just made a half dozen cloth training pants using the free Easter Bunz training pants pattern I had downloaded years ago and saved (here is a list of other free patterns- this one seems to have been removed).

Why, you ask, am I still making training pants?  We do EC and my second child is 20 months old.  He is pretty much daytime potty trained.  Poops go in the potty 99% of the time [and man, does he let us know before the other (and so so rare) 1%], and we have a daytime pee miss maybe once every 5 days.  He wears underwear except when we go to someone's house, in which case he wears nonwaterproof trainers (like these)

Naps and nighttime are another story, though.  He has to pee during both of these times (yes, even when he pees right before he goes to sleep), and often does it then the wetness wakes him up then we have to get him back to sleep.  He sometimes wakes to have us take him potty, though, which is the idea we have been working towards with EC (the "communication" about "elimination").  My "brilliant" brainstorm was to make him waterproof training pants with a feel-dry liner.  The idea is that they would absorb his pee and keep the bed dry, and help him feel dry as well.

I used PUL on the outside and Halloween fabric from Joann's on the inside (I can't believe I forgot the name of the type-- it is a synthetic that wicks moisture-- Wazoodle makes a similar fabric called Diapermaker but it is stretchy and the one I used is a knit, which is easier to work with. You could also use fleece or microfleece). The soakers are a combination of Zorb, knit scraps, hemp fleece, and fleece.  I used regular thin (3/8" maybe? I bought it so long ago...) elastic for the inside, making sure to sew it into the seam allowance on the PUL side).  The snaps are on both sides and KAM.  I chose not to top stitch because I didn't want any extra stitching around the elastic to take away from the elasticity (I have done this in the past and it has flattened it out).  I did, however, use a wide decorative zig-zag in attaching the soaker to the liner.

I chose the Easter Bunz pattern because it is sized larger than my usual EC favorites and my son is now around 30 pounds.  He wears sizes 2 and 3T, so is now in the more traditional training pants sizing categories.  I also wanted a bit more space for more of a soaker (the ones I have preferred in the past have been more of a trim feel).

I was quite impressed at these, and showed them to my son at naptime.  He promptly refused to wear them. Not only did he refuse to wear these, but he then refused the nonwaterproof trainers he had been wearing and would only wear underwear.

Note: Come back tomorrow to find out more about how nights are going/ our nighttime "innovation."

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