One in four children start school in nappies

silverlining48

We didn’t have a choice MissInterpreted. There were no disposables.

Thankfully I did. I might not have bothered otherwise.

MissInterpreted

Do childminders not do toilet training? Genuine question. Both of my children (and my GS) went to nurseries from a very early age, so when we decided to start toilet training, they just carried on with it while the children were at nursery.

I was a childminder for years and yes I did do toilet training with all my children ,trouble was some of the parents did not carry on with it when the children were at home and they would arrive in nappies , I had many a conversation trying to explain how important continuity was .

Yuck! A neighbour blocked the drains when the terry nappy she was sluicing was sucked off down the toilet with the flush.

When my DGC were born I, first checked that the DP approved, bought a complete set of the washable nappies and covers you describe Grandmarderby . It was quite costly.
They used them at first but it was more convenient to use disposables.
2nd family didn't use them. The DGC were in day nursery very early where they had to use disposables.

3rd family bought their own, 2nd hand and used nothing else, but they live in NZ where the washing dries on the line in minutes.

4th family tried to use them but in Northern Scotland in a tiny house, nappies draped on radiators it proved too hard.

Anyway they were all clean and dry at least by the age of 3.

We didn’t have a choice MissInterpreted. There were no disposables.

No thank you - disposables all the way for me! I'd rather pick up dog or horse poo all day long than have to wash terry nappies.

Weren’t they just! Nothing like being up to your elbows in a nappy bucket!

Franski

Using disposable nappies does seem to reduce the incentive to get toddlers potty trained. My own mother made it her mission to get us out of terries asap.

This is so true- and those Nappisan buckets were the best incentive EVER.

There are washable nappies now that are incorporated into waterproof pants that come in a variety of fancy designs. No safety pins just lots of poppers that adjust for growth.

They aren’t white either, more a sort of greyish soft cotton and a liner is inserted that gets disposed of. Then into a sealed bucket with a solution, then into the washer at 40degrees.

There are none of those “whiter than white washing line nappy competitions,” - and there are cloth wipes that are stored in a container with a lavender/chamomile solution from a dropper that is diluted with water. So ready to use at change times.

These are definitely for those who are concerned about the environmental impact of nappies but also the costs. They are a bit more bulky and my daughter in law was definitely keen to start the potty training as soon as possible- even though baby grandson was a slow walker and happy to sit on his bum for months.

The system was fine for those on long maternity leave. And at home. We had to be onboard with it all and the potty too. Didn’t take all that long now looking back. Boys are a bit slower traditionally apparently!

Pilch.
Pilches is the plural.

I suppose there were no plastic knickers when most of us were babies.

I've never heard of pilchers either. My two wore plastic knickers over their terry towling nappies.

My Danish SisiL knitted pilchers for her babies. I seem to remember not being too keen to have my niece or nephew on my lap too long. 😅
At least the babies weren't sitting in plastic or rubber.

silverlining48

Twas ever thus grammaretto.
I have never heard of pilchers …assume knicker things for over nappies? Not that any young or older mum would want the pattern I assume…

He or she doesn't look very happy.
Perhaps has a wet nappy.

I too was, apparently, clean and dry by 18 months. My mother was a war widow, my father was killed 5 weeks before I was born, so as soon as possible, I was enrolled at the many day nurseries that sprung up during WW2, as my mother had to go to work to supplement her meagre widows pension. I guess being potty trained was a requisite. I can just remember being there, odd flashes of memory such as being lifted into the baby seat on the back of my mother's bike, having a nap on a camp bed, playing on a climbing frame and not being able to climb into it! Just odd snippets.

I would have thought so … but maybe they know nothing else?

The cost of disposables must have an impact on families now, so it’s strange that the parents aren’t desperate to get their children toilet trained ASAP.

Twas ever thus grammaretto.
I have never heard of pilchers …assume knicker things for over nappies? Not that any young or older mum would want the pattern I assume…

Grammaretto

If we young mothers in the 1970s ever dared grumble about our lot, it would trigger DM to tell us how she had to cope;
The winter of 1947, dad had flu, no washing machine, nowhere to dry anything, a bombed out flat in Central London, rationing, hand knitted woollen pilches (no plastic pants back then.
....
She would prefix all this with you are so lucky 🙄

She gave me to Grandma in c1950 who had me potty trained, out of
nappies at 13 months. We had moved to NZ by then.

😀

I have a pattern somewhere for knitted pilches if any young Mums would like a copy.

I was potty trained by 15 months, apparently.

I am a boomer and when I started school, age 4, in the mixed infants back in the 1950s there were over 40 of us in the class. Only one teacher and TAs had not been invented.

I do remember the odd wet pant incident but not anybody being still in nappies. Mind you it was a very time ago.

I started teaching Infants in 1967, and I do not recall any children arriving at school in nappies until c,2005. Initially the children started in the term in which they were five, but in poor and deprived areas they were frequently allowed to start earlier, and all were toilet trained.
And many families lived in tenement blocks, flats or terraced houses with outdoor toilets, many did not have washing machines and relied on launderettes, and little outdoor space for clothes drying.
The four who arrived in nappies all had mild special needs, and all four were toilet trained, and pleased to be so, well within the first month by the TAs. Therefore capable of being trained.

If we young mothers in the 1970s ever dared grumble about our lot, it would trigger DM to tell us how she had to cope;
The winter of 1947, dad had flu, no washing machine, nowhere to dry anything, a bombed out flat in Central London, rationing, hand knitted woollen pilches (no plastic pants back then.
....
She would prefix all this with you are so lucky 🙄

She gave me to Grandma in c1950 who had me potty trained, out of
nappies at 13 months. We had moved to NZ by then.

I do remember putting, by mistake, a yellow duster into a nappy hot wash, and the nappies involved turning bright yellow!!!
Better than green or purple. More like what my DB would call baby-sh*t yellow (please excuse the language).

I remember my children bringing me a little bag with wet knickers in them when they had had an accident in reception class, they were toilet trained but as the reception class teacher said ‘they get easily distracted at this age and forget to ask for the toilet.’
They always looked a bit abashed bringing out the bag and were obviously upset they had wet themselves. I wonder if kids still in nappies in reception class feel similarly uneasy/upset about being in nappies when the majority of kids are using the toilet??

Oh yes, the dreaded nappy bucket with nappysan! My mother used to tell me of washing nappies by hand using yellow carbolic soap, rinsing them in cold water, (war time) then wringing them in a hand wringer!!! I had a twin tub, a gift from my parents who had upgraded to a Keymatic, and thought myself very lucky indeed not to have to wash anything by hand, never mind nappies! fragile clothes being the exception, but I didn't have many of those!! I do remember putting, by mistake, a yellow duster into a nappy hot wash, and the nappies involved turning bright yellow!!! Nothing would bring the colour out, and no way could we afford to replace them. It taught me to be more careful that's for sure.

Half a century ago (plus) we were trained to empty bladders when stuck on a potty/ loo seat rather than when the bladder was full. Children then learnt how to empty on demand- control learnt possibly before awareness. Maybe now children learn in a different order- awareness followed by control.
Eneuresis clinics for children ( for children who have not attained dryness despite years of training) did not used to accept children less than 7 years old because it was thought that some children ( mostly boys) will not have developed sufficient sensation ( the nerve connections) for awareness and control.

Harris27

I’ve got four in nappies in pre school room at nursery. Yes they are starting school in nappies three if my children went in September in them. So it’s ok to change nappies in a nursery setting but not as a teacher?🤔

I don’t think it is so much about the aversion of teachers for changing nappies whereas nursery staff do it all the time. I think it is more about children who do not have special needs not being toilet trained at school age. Whether the stats are exaggerated or not I think it is tempting with the extra absorbent comfortable nappies used these days for parents to keep postponing toilet training which can be time consuming and messy.