Potty training is often a major milestone that is celebrated by both parents and children. Many parents choose to use disposable training pants to aid in the transition from using diapers to using the potty. For many years, Huggies Pull Ups were the main brand of disposable training pants available. A few years ago, Pampers released their own version, which is called Easy Ups.
For diapers, we always used Pampers, and so I started out using Easy Ups. I found a great deal on Pull Ups, and I decided to try them as well to see if there were any major differences between the two.
The Design
The concept for both brands of training pants is the same. They are meant to look and feel like “big kid” underwear, but they still have the absorbency that is offered by diapers in the event of an accident.
Huggies Pull-Ups come in two different designs: Cool Alert and Learning Designs. The Cool Alert pants have an area that becomes cool when it comes in contact with your child’s urine. The idea is that your child notices the difference within seconds of becoming wet and learns to identify when it is time to go to the bathroom. The Learning Designs pants have designs on the inside and outside of the pants that fade when they become wet. This is supposed to help your child learn to stay dry.
Pull-Ups offer designs for both boys and girls with additional protection up front for boys and in back for girls. They offer special character designs for each gender. Currently, their line of girls’ pants pictures the Disney princesses and the boys’ pants feature DisneyPixar Cars. The pants offer stretchy sides to make it easier for children to grasp them and pull them up and down and the sides also tear away easily so that parents can open them in the event of an accident. They are available in three sizes: 2T-3T (up to 34 pounds), 3T-4T (32-40 pounds), and 4T-5T (38+ pounds).
Pampers offers two different designs: Easy Ups and Feel ‘n Learn. The Easy Ups are designed for younger children who are just getting started with potty training. They look more like underwear and can be pulled up and down, but they offer the additional absorbency provided by diapers. They also include customized leakage protection (up front for boys and in the middle for girls). The Feel ‘n Learn line is advertised as “advanced trainers” and offers a suspended wet sensation liner. Children immediately feel the wet sensation which helps them learn to identify when they need to go to the bathroom. The pants offer a stretchy waist band as well as designs that fade when wet.
Easy Ups and Feel ‘n Learn pants both come in gender-specific designs. Easy Ups offer pictures of Dora the Explorer for girls and Bob the Builder for Boys. They are available in three sizes: 4 (16-34 pounds), 5 (30-40 pounds), and 6 (37+ pounds). The Feel ‘n Learn pants for girls include pictures of Dora the Explorer and friends while the pants for boys include pictures of Spiderman and friends. They are available in sizes 3T-4T (26-40 pounds) and 4T-5T (34-50 pounds).
The Results
We tried all four types of pants. My advice is to skip the Huggies Learning Designs and the Pampers Easy Ups completely. I have yet to figure out how the Learning Designs alone are beneficial for children. Unless they are running around in just the training pants, they cannot see the designs anyway. You and your child have no way of knowing when they are wet, and even when you try to go potty, you don’t know when the designs disappeared and you miss the teaching moment. If your child still needs to extra absorbency provided by the Easy Ups, then he or she is probably not ready for potty training yet and your efforts to jump start potty training may actually be a setback in the long run because your child gets used to going potty in their “big kid” pants.
The Huggies Cool Alert pants and the Pampers Feel ‘n Learn pants are similar in concept and design. For my child, the Pampers pants fit tighter than the Huggies pants. This makes it difficult and frustrating for a young child to pull the pants up and down without assistance. My daughter seemed to notice and respond more to the cooling sensation from the Cool Alert pants than she did to the wet sensation from the Feel ‘n Learn pants. In the event of an accident, the Cool Alert pants offered more protection than the Feel ‘n Learn pants. The Feel ‘n Learn pants leaked quickly and easily. The tear away sides on the Cool Alert pants open quickly making it easy to deal with accidents while the supposed tear away sides on the Feel ‘n Learn pants are difficult to open and you literally have to tear them apart to get the pants off. On a less important note, my daughter was more motivated by the designs on the Huggies pants than she was on the Pampers pants.
Both brands of training pants are in the same price range and typically retail for $8.49 to $9.99 for a package of 26. It is relatively easy to find coupons for $1 or $2 off both brands online or in the Sunday mailers.
