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Dry Like Me Pads
by jo1976
My two year old son is doing really well with toilet training and is now generally dry during the day and just wearing a pull-up throughout the night. This only leaves the issue of dealing with his daytime naps and long car journeys where, for convenience and reassurance, I have also been using a pull up nappy just in case of any little ... accidents. I had noticed these relatively new 'Dry Like Me' pads in the supermarket and wondered whether these would be more convenient and less confusing to use during the daytime so I was delighted to get the opportunity to try them out and review them.
The Dry Like Me pads are very much like pantyliners but designed to slip inside the pants of potty training youngsters to capture 'little accidents.' I do like the idea of these pads as I have found continuing to use pull-ups as a potty training aid can lead to laziness on the part of some children but moving straight on to pants can be a messy and time consuming alternative. I am a little torn on the design of the pads as the predominantly white colour scheme (with a few odd orange splodges dotted about) is very reminiscent of standard pantyliners and I wonder whether something a little more kiddy friendly might be better. Having said that, these pads can also be used for older children, up to the age of seven, so I suppose the neutral colours are a little more discreet.
Using the pads is very simple and I find them to be much more convenient than using pull ups, as these simply press on to the base of my son's pants. This is much handier when we are just about to travel somewhere as I can quickly pop one of these in rather than needing to undress him and mess about removing underwear. The liner has a strong adhesive on the back and I have never experienced any problems with the liners moving around once in place. Positioning the pad is pretty straightforward and logical. As I'm using this to capture any stray wee from a little boy, I tend to position the widest section quite high up towards the top of his pants. This can be moved accordingly to accommodate little girls or used in conjunction with another pad to deal with poo as the woven outer section of the liner helps to capture these accidents and protect underwear and clothing. Each pack of 18 pads comes complete with a waterproof plastic pouch which is handy for either carrying a clean, unused pad in the changing bag or potentially containing a soiled pad ready for convenient disposal.
My son is usually more than happy to wear one of the pads at nap times or before we go in the car - barring the odd moment of toddler unco-operation- and has never complained or appeared to be uncomfortable whilst wearing them. My son is a pretty active little boy and is able to run about and get up to his usual mischief with the pad in place! The fabric on the surface feels soft to the touch and he has not experienced any signs of irritation or nappy rash since using these.
Using the pads during the day has surprised me by revealing just how rarely my son does actually have daytime accidents now, even when fast asleep in his pushchair. The vast majority of the pads have been completely dry when he wakes up, with only the odd one or two having a slight smell to indicate that he has produced anything. When using pull ups, by contrast, my son would often end up weeing in them, even when awake, as I think the association with nappies was still too strong.
I do always try and make sure that my little one goes to the toilet before having a nap or travelling so that helps to minimise accidents as these liners are not intended to be a replacement for a nappy and clearly will not absorb as much as a nappy would do. Fortunately, my little one has only really put this to the test once - when a broken night's sleep resulted in an extra long daytime nap the following day. During his two hour sleep (twice as long as usual) he had clearly weed heavily. The liner was completely swollen with urine but my son's pants were still soaking wet and had to be changed, although his trousers were not as wet as would normally be the case under those circumstances.
I do think timing when to switch to these pads, rather than nappies or pull ups, needs some consideration to avoid disappointment. Pricewise, at £2-£3 for a pack of 18 pads, these are not particular cheaper than pull ups so it would be frustrating (and costly) to begin using these too early and have the expense as well as the inconvenience of washing wet clothing as well. Over the long term, however, I do think these can save money by potentially speeding up the process of potty training, whilst helping to deal with some 'near misses', as the child is more aware of any small accidents, avoiding the complacency that can come with prolonged nappy or pull up usage.
I did consider using these during the night time but, having tried them out during the day, I don't think they are absorbent enough to deal with the volume of urine that my son currently produces during the night, although they may be something to move on to for extra reassurance once he is at the stage of being dryer at night. Perhaps the company might consider producing a thicker version specifically for night time use?
Overall, I think Dry Like Me is a useful new product for toilet training, particularly for the convenience of using whilst out and about, although I would recommend using them once a child is fairly confident about using the toilet as they will not cope with larger accidents. The pads are widely available from most supermarkets and frequently on offer for the lower £2 price.
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