Spoiler alert, yes, they do. But you need to know the signs that your child wants toilet training. They can be subtle, but they are there to see. We also talk about why kids toilet trains faster compared to disposable nappies.
Transcription: Why Do Cloth Nappy Kids Toilet Train Faster.
[00:00:00] Andrew: How you doing Vashti?
[00:00:26] Vashti: I'm good. Thanks Andrew. How are you?
[00:00:28] Andrew: Oh, I'm doing fine. Actually, funny thing, I didn't actually think of a response to that question because I, you always ask that question. I didn't have a I like, I outline the entire podcast but I never outline that answer.
[00:00:40] Vashti: It's the intro, like it's, I dunno if it should be outlined. Should it
[00:00:43] Andrew: I should have a rip a, a witie. Come back, oh, I'm good except for my big toe or something like that.
[00:00:48] Vashti: What's wrong with your big toe?
[00:00:49] Andrew: Oh, absolutely nothing
[00:00:52] Vashti: Oh, okay.
[00:00:52] Andrew: Add some, mystery
[00:00:53] Vashti: mum got somthing growing under her nail on her big toe at the moment. We'retalking about it. She's tried too book in for the doctor and it's three weeks away and it's talking about it. She's tried to so long to get an appointment with a gp? Honestly, I just don't know.
No, there's definitely not.
[00:01:10] Why do cloth nappy kids toilet train faster
[00:01:10] Andrew: So today's subject. Why do cloth nappy kids toilet train faster?
[00:01:17] Vashti: Oh my gosh. There's so much we can talk about this.
[00:01:20] Andrew: Is it? Is it really true?
[00:01:22] Vashti: Look, I think it's really dependent on the child. On average, kids do toilet train quicker or far earlier. When they use cloth nappies and when you go back historically, like when we were kids, the average age of toilet training was around 12 months.
Most kids when it was nothing but Terry toweling flats were all toilet trained by about 12 to 15 months with the introduction of disposables. The average age of toilet training has been going up over the years, And now the average age of toilet training worldwide is about three and a half years. And I think one of the things. behind that. Okay. Yes. As a, as families, we are all time poor and we're like, back then when we were in cloth nappies, it was generally single income families. One parent generally the mother stayed home all day with the child while generally the father went to work and earned the income and stuff like that.
These days we have lots of dual income families and it's
[00:02:24] Andrew: that's that's the way it was with my family. My, my father always worked. Mum never worked.
[00:02:28] Vashti: Yeah. So
[00:02:30] Andrew: she had a job before she met my father. And and then she got married and quit a job and stayed at home.
[00:02:37] Vashti: My my mom's next door neighbor when she was working before she got married, and then when she got married she actually had to.
ask for her job back, like it was automatically. She's in her nineties. But it was automatic that when a woman got married, she stopped working. It just, it was unheard of. You don't continue working when you're married. They had to reapply for their jobs and I'm, so when you look at today,
there's things that have gone backwards, but I think there's also some things like we're lucky that we don't have those restrictions these days. As a woman, like I can continue working as much as I want. We're now getting paternity leave, like paternity leaves increased. And more and more companies are recognizing that the father has just as big a role in the child's life. In those first formative mums,
[00:03:31] Andrew: Wow. We're so progressive.
[00:03:32] Vashti: Not really . When you have a look at
places
[00:03:34] Andrew: you compare us to where we. 50 years ago.
[00:03:37] Vashti: yes, , we're
[00:03:38] Andrew: too bad. Like we've done that in one generation. What are we gonna do in the next generation?
[00:03:42] Vashti: But will you have a look at things like Sweden and Finland, like those Scandinavian type countries, and both the mother and the father, or both parents?
I shouldn't just say mother and father. I should say both
[00:03:55] Andrew: Yeah. Cuz they the same sex.
[00:03:56] Vashti: Yeah. They have just as much to as much maternity or, parental leave as each other. And a lot of those Scandinavian.
Actually encouraged the father to take up to two years off, and a lot of 'em have, really great parental leave payments and plans and things like that.
So there's as much ability for both parents to be at home with the baby in those first couple of formative years.
[00:04:22] Andrew: Yeah, I remember a book I.
I can't remember the name of the book and I can never remember the name
[00:04:27] Vashti: name.
[00:04:27] Andrew: when I've done the podcast, , but I'll fill that in later. Basically it said look at the company this way.
Will you be thanking the company on your deathbed? You're not. You're thinking your family. So family is more important, but sometimes it doesn't seem that way.
[00:04:41] Vashti: It you seem a lot of I know. I do the same. It's I'm there working for my family, but it's. My, my employment.
That is going to be the thing I'm thinking about.
[00:04:54] Andrew: No, you're not gonna say, oh, I'm so glad I own nest nappies
[00:04:57] Vashti: I glad,
[00:04:58] Andrew: time of life when But you're not gonna say that when you're on your deathbed.
[00:05:02] Vashti: No. No. I'll be like, oh, I'm so glad I had my. My three gorgeous babies and I was able to see them grow and develop and see their children grow and develop.
If they choose to have children, we'll wait and see but, I'm glad I had my friends around me. I'm glad I had those relationships.
[00:05:18] Andrew: Abby's not having kids soon. No. She works in the childcare center. .
[00:05:21] Vashti: That's completely turned her off. That's a good thing. That's a good thing.
[00:05:25] Andrew: Fantastic. Ah, so let's get,
[00:05:27] Vashti: yeah, so no, definitely when you look back to, before disposables, yes, there was more time for one of the parents to concentrate on toilet training and a lot of the time families had their children much closer together. You'd have a run of kids. Very close together. And so you'd be wanting to get one child toilet trained before the next one came along.
So you didn't have two in nappies, you weren't washing two lots of
[00:05:51] Andrew: naps. Yeah. That kind of also explains why disposables have been why people switched from cloth
[00:05:56] Vashti: As disposable, as
came along, there was more and more happening,
[00:05:59] Andrew: they, and they also marketed them as a time saver.
Yeah. But in reality cloth nappies of today, . Just as quick to put on, just as quick to take off. And you wash 'em with all your other washing, yeah. So
[00:06:10] Vashti: one load of washing every two days. Like it's not much.
[00:06:13] Andrew: And so many people have said to me, oh my kids outta nappies, but I'm still washing as much.
[00:06:18] Vashti: Yeah, exactly.
[00:06:19] Andrew: Kids get
realy
dirty
[00:06:20] What are the signs your kids are ready to toilet train?
[00:06:20] Andrew: Back to the subject, what are the signs that your kids are ready to toilet train?
[00:06:24] Vashti: I think like it's, it is a lot about watching your child for cues. So things like, the next time you go to change their nappies still dry, so they're going longer periods between changes.
There,
[00:06:37] Andrew: you
That'd be a demoralizing. Ah, change is nappy . He wasn't even wet.
[00:06:41] Vashti: Yeah. , I remember as each of my children came up to that toilet training age, it's you'd be sitting there and you'd be like, you're getting into the two to three hour mark, and you're like, no, that's still dry.
And so you pushed it out a little bit longer and you are like, nah, look, you've gotta have, you've gotta have wet it. It's definitely time for a change. This nappy has been on for four and a half hours now. And you take it off and it's bone dry and you'd be. Okay, we're ready to toilet track. As soon as you put the new nappy.
It's because you've disturbed it and you've opened it up and there's that fresh air getting to those genital areas, it's oh, okay, we'll do a, we now when they are going longer between changes and when you are taking that nappy off and it's dry, that's a really good sign.
Them showing an interest in you going to the bathroom. So if they're actually starting to ask questions about what you
[00:07:29] Andrew: That's freaky when happen. Oh, daddy, where you going? Oh, can I come, can I watch?
[00:07:34] Vashti: watch
[00:07:34] Andrew: Little girl . You can't watch. You go watch Mummy . Mummy. Mummy does it the same way you do it. You go watch Mommy.
[00:07:40] Vashti: think it's just as important for little girls to see how their dads wee and little boys to see how their mums, we like,
[00:07:46] Andrew: No. That'll ruin them. right. Oh, gee, daddy, that's so much easier than the way I to do it.
[00:07:51] Vashti: As a dad if you've got daughters, why don't you sit down to.
[00:07:54] Andrew: At all.
Because then I'd be wing for a half an hour because I'd pull my phone outta my pocket.
[00:08:02] Vashti: But
you have your daughter there watching you. So
[00:08:08] Andrew: you just
imagine she'd learn that. Go, I'm grabbing my iPad, daddy go under the
toilet. Yeah, .
[00:08:11] Vashti: But yeah, no they're asking you questions and it's, they're showing an interest in what you are doing. Telling you that they've got a poo.
It's I've got a poo mum, or I've got a poo Daddy. Daddy, I've got a poo. I'm doing a poo.
[00:08:22] Andrew: Or they want a nappy To poo in. Exactly. Yeah. That's what the way Gabriel was. For a while he wanted a nappy just to poo in.
[00:08:28] Vashti: Yep. And he'd go without pooing for
[00:08:31] Andrew: Yeah. And it took a whole day to get him to do it. And he oh, there was a bit of pain involved in there because, he wanted to go and wouldn't put a nappy on him. Until he finally, but yeah it's the leaving the body that's for some.
[00:08:42] Vashti: it's part of them. There, there is actually a psychological issue there. Not that there's a psychological concern, it's, but it's, it is a psychological thing, like they're losing a part of
[00:08:53] Andrew: The girls' name had a problem.
because like, oh, that stinks. I'm glad that's gone.
[00:08:57] Vashti: Asking to go to the toilet it's like when they say, and then that's the same as asking for a nappy when they want to go, they're asking they're telling you that they've got a wee or they've got a poo and they wanna go to the toilet.
Like doing, like you'd doing in summer, you're doing like nappy free time or something, some playing out in the backyard. And then they all of a sudden stop and. say, I've got a wee and spread their legs and wee on the grass, like that's another one. Toilet training little boys outside was always good in summer because my ex used to sit there and get them to wee on the trees.
It's not that I really wanted them to, sometimes it was the easiest thing to do is getting them to wee on the trees. So
[00:09:44] Andrew: Gabriel would never do that. Do you know
[00:09:45] Vashti: Why?
[00:09:47] Andrew: Vicky taught him,
[00:09:48] Vashti: oh, I remember this.
[00:09:50] Andrew: to wipe his penis? Yeah. After he'd weed. So that meant that if there wasn't any toilet paper, he wouldn't wee.
so he never wee outside. And Vicky always said, oh I'm, I'm helping his girlfriend.
[00:10:02] Vashti: Yeah.
[00:10:03] Andrew: it's okay,
[00:10:04] Vashti: No. Kylen loved wing on trees. He actually got to a point at one stage where he was like, I've got a wee, we need to go outside. No mate. You can go to the toilet
[00:10:16] Andrew: No, we have toilets inside had that for 50 years.
[00:10:20] Vashti: And but yeah it's about following those cues and showing, like letting them lead you, I suppose you could say.
So that they are letting them know that they're in control as well.
[00:10:34] Buy why, that is it about cloth nappies that makes them know they need to go.
[00:10:34] Andrew: Cool. Kids are train faster being cloth nappy kids.
[00:10:37] Vashti: Some kids do, yes.
[00:10:38] Andrew: But why, what is it about the cloth nappy makes them know that they're weed?
[00:10:43] Vashti: So with a disposable, they use. Certain fibers in chemicals to actually draw the moisture in.
So a lot of disposables have those moisture absorbing beads in them and things like that. It's like a pulp that's really quite small when it's dry, but it expands and it puffs up when it's wet and that draws all that moisture away from their skin. So it's always dry against their skin.
Whereas cloth nappies, even
though that's,
[00:11:11] Andrew: that's why some kids have trouble. With disposable nappies because before they're weed, it's actually drying their skin.
[00:11:17] Vashti: Yeah. Some sometimes , I've got my own views on this, but nappy rash cream wasn't a thing before disposables. , but that's a whole other topic.
[00:11:25] Andrew: So you're saying with cloth nappies after they wee, they feel wet for a
[00:11:28] Vashti: yeah, they do. And like even if you've got cloth nappies with stage dry layers in it, like sway cloth and micro fleece and stuff like that, it. It is still a material, so it will still feel slightly damp to the touch while bamboo velu is this magical fiber that really does feel dry.
It is still it does still feel slightly damp, so to speak.
[00:11:51] Andrew: Plus that also feel wet as soon as they've done it too. Before do, before wicks. Yeah.
[00:11:55] Vashti: So they definitely, they start to associate bodily functions with the feelings of discomfort and so therefore tend to on average toilet train a little bit quicker.
[00:12:06] Andrew: And they've had that training since they were born.
[00:12:08] Vashti: Yeah.
Since you started using them anyway. . But yeah
[00:12:11] Andrew: for most of our customers that's from birth.
[00:12:13] Vashti: Yeah. We do get a lot. Yeah. Or quite young, under six months. So you've got that time that, a child is sitting there and associating their bodily functions with those discomfort.
And they've also. I find that cloth parents generally tend to talk to their children about that change a lot more. Whereas a disposable parent, and I'm not saying it's definite, like some disposable parents might talk to their children about ch, about changing their nappies and stuff. . But I tend to find that as a parent who uses cloth nappies, most of the time you will spend more time engaging with your child at the change table because you're talking to them about the colors of the nappy and the prints on the nappy.
You're getting them to choose the nappy when they're a little bit old. You know it, while changing a cloth nappy is no real difference changing disposable nappy, there's a, I find there's a little bit more engagement . That's, I could be wrong. It could just be the families that I'm associating with, but I tend to find that when you are using cloth, you're a little bit more engaged with your child at that change table.
[00:13:17] Andrew: Yeah. And get the kids to put the nappies together for you after they've
[00:13:20] Vashti: Yeah, exactly. And that because you're doing that a lot of the time you're putting your nappies together while your child is playing in the lounge room or something like that. They're seeing you're out in the sun with them while you're hanging nappies on the line, like they're seeing you do these things.
So the nappies are always there with a disposable. They see you buy a plastic bag at the grocery shop, they see you change the nappy, but then the nappy disappears cuz it goes in the bin. Like they're not there all the time. And whereas cloth is always there,
[00:13:48] Andrew: Yeah. And all that fecal matter actually just going into landfill.
[00:13:51] Vashti: Yeah.
[00:13:52] Andrew: A lot of people don't know that with disposables, you're actually supposed to get rid of the poop out of the nappy before you throw it in
[00:13:57] Vashti: Yeah.
[00:13:58] Andrew: Before you throw in the bin. But, and the manufacturers don't say anything about
[00:14:03] Vashti: it. It's in the fine print on your packaging, but it is really fine print, and I know there's at least one nappy manufacturer or disposable nappy manufacturer that puts some of their award stickers over the top, the instructions for use.
[00:14:18] Andrew: Yeah, as soon as there's a promotion, that's where the sticker Cuz that's as far as air concerned. That's the least important part of the box.
[00:14:25] Vashti: Yeah. . But yeah, no, definitely. Yeah. But no, I think I, I think it's definitely, yeah, it, there's a lot of things there that help children be more aware.
[00:14:34] Andrew: Cool. Okay. Thanks Vashti.
[00:14:37] Vashti: Andrew. Bye.