Diaperless Nap Times

We have achieved a little victory in the P-4 household. Caitlin is no longer wearing a pull-up when she naps! Yeah for Caitlin!

A couple of weeks ago Caitlin started making noises about not wanting to wear her pull-ups when she took a nap. She would occasionally wake up dry, but it was *very* occasional, so I ignored her requests. Then it dawned on me that it was only after she'd made the decision to be potty trained right after she turned 3 that she had any success at all (of course, she'd also made that decision at 2 1/2, while on vacation, without much luck). Anyway, I went to the store and got a shower curtain liner for the floor. Caitlin has been napping, and mostly sleeping on her floor since early June. Why, I don't know. Our carpet is nice and padded, but certainly no substitute for a mattress! One can buy a waterproof mattress pad, but not a waterproof carpet! So, in an effort to minimize my daily maid duties, I spread the shower curtain liner on the floor, put a blanket on top of it, and she curled up and took a nap. And guess what - no wet pants! That was September 30th. Every nap since then has been dry. Doesn't matter if they are one hour or two. I'm so impressed! Let's hope this is it! Her constant rash, one that looks awful, is also clearing up. We've long suspected she was allergic to Pull-Ups, but even after we quit them, the rash never cleared up without help. I think getting rid of the mid-day diaper is also helping the rash clear up. Hopefully, in the near future we can get rid of the shower liner, too. Or I can convince her to sleep in her bed. The smell of the plastic - ugh- it's killing me! Caitlin has certainly not been the easiest to potty train!

I never wrote about Brandon's potty training here, since it happened before I started blogging. He was ready to go, and kept talking about wanting to not wear a diaper right about the time I was about to give birth to Caitlin. I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to handle a newborn and a potty-training toddler all the same time. I don't regret my decision. We thought we'd missed the window with Brandon, but two months later he was ready again, and we went for it. Once he got the hang of it all, he was done. He was 2 1/2. A month later, after weeks of dry naps and many discussions with a friend with more kids than me, Brandon went diaperless during his nap. Golden. In another 6 weeks, after countless dry nights, we were done there, too. This was three months before his third birthday. We were done! I boxed up the remaining diapers and pull-ups (and we had a lot), and focused on how to keep Brandon's pants up without the extra padding of the diapers (he was a skinny boy then, too!).

Many, many people told me how easy I had it with Brandon. I'm no fool - I knew he was a mellow child. Still, when you're potty training your first child you really have nothing to compare it to. Caitlin was always my problem diaper child. Allergic to everything, blowing out of the diapers, and unpredictable (for example, Brandon didn't poop anywhere but at home. Caitlin thought that anywhere was fine!). It seems, though, that when Caitlin makes the decisions, she really wants to do it. And I just need to say "okay". I'm thrilled! And the rash going away is such a bonus! I've gone back to the Seventh Generation chlorine free diapers as a precaution, just in case the Pull-Ups aren't the reason.

Now Caitlin's starting to make noises about not wearing a diaper at night. I'm not sure I'm ready for that just yet. Brian's in business travel mode, which means I'm alone with the kids for a while. It also means I'm worn out. Early mornings, late evenings, and doing everything else in between by myself just aggravate my chronically fatigued body even more, and I don't think I'm ready for a lot of late night pajama changes! So, I'll see how much she talks about it. I hope it's coming soon. She's almost 4. It would be a nice Christmas present to have a diaper-free house!