Diaper Diaries

One Family's Diaper to Pull-Up Experience

By Lisa A. Goldstein

Matthew Dunn recently made the big transition from diapers to Pull-Ups. How did he do it? Read about his family's experience with this big step.

Matthew's mother, Christine, used Pull-Ups briefly with her daughter when she started potty training around 18 months of age. "I was fascinated by people's reactions to them since this was my first experience with them," says Dunn, who was working outside of the home at the time, and had her daughter in a daycare program. "It seemed that people either got really into using them or really shunned them." Because Dunn's daughter potty trained herself pretty quickly, the family didn't use Pull-Ups much – until Matthew came along. "[Now] it's a whole new ballgame," she says.

Because Matthew has the interest, but not all the muscle control, Pull-Ups became the ideal option. They were even encouraged by his preschool teacher. "He started potty training this fall in earnest after he learned that the high school football team members and soccer players he likes to watch practice in the fields don't wear diapers," Dunn says. "He wants to be a big boy, and join the big boys in all their sports. 'When I'm bigger, I want to play football and baseball and soccer and ride a skateboard,' he likes to say. 'But I won't wear diapers.'"

Matthew's initial reaction to his first Pull-Up was indifference, however. Two months later, it was a bigger deal, "because he's reached the age where he wants to be a big boy and sees underwear as a way of graduating out of diapers," Dunn says. Mom and Dad told Matthew that Pull-Ups are like underwear, and they'll leak if he goes too much in them, so he needs to let them know when he wants to go to the bathroom.

Want to see more?

• A Hard Habit to Break: Part Two
• Toilet Training Your Child: Just the Basics, Please
• Toilet Training Twins or Triplets: Tips for Teaching Multiples to Use the Potty
• Check out our Article Library.
• Talk about it!