A tip for parents-to-be of small Ethio girls
Mar. 20th | Posted by Nicky
8 comments
This was one of the most specific, but USEFUL! tips we got from a fellow adoptive parent (thanks S!)
They toilet-train kids pretty young in Ethiopia (but breast-feed much longer,) which makes total sense if you think about it. On one side, kids get proper nutrition longer and a safer liquids-source. On the other side, they are toilet-trained quickly because who can afford diapers? Disposables are really expensive and even cloth ones require a ton of effort and available water, too. Plus there is the whole sanitation problem.
Anyway, the result of the toilet training is that lots of younger kids who are 2 and 3 years old who come from Ethiopia to Canada are 1. toilet-trained and 2. very small little kids!
At the risk of incurring wrath of other moms, I will comment that late toilet-learning/training really is a North American thing; perhaps all these millions of kids in so many other cultures aren’t scarred for life by learning earlier toileting. Maybe something our culture could learn from?
Anyway, if you have a younger kid coming, THE ONLY (I swear) underwear that fit girls as tiny as ours were are the Disney Princess panties (size 2) found a Walmart. Who knew? No other store remotely sells this small of panties. They are so tiny.
Some kids do end up needing some pull-ups at night, but I can count the times on two hands that our girls have had an accident (total for both girls) and some of those were in their warm and toasty snowsuits (they are like pee cultivators, or something.)
The good news is, after 8 months, our girls have officially graduated to size 3 underwear! They still are wearing the Disney Princess ones because any other brand size 3 is too big. So carefully check the weights on your kids and compare them with the package. Sorry, I don’t know the boy equivalent, but I’m sure someone could add it as a comment.
Who knew you’d be giving underwear advice on your blog eh?? Hee hee . . . I love it!
k
Thanks for the tip! Maybe it is an idea for moms of younger kids to buy some undies while in Ethiopia to be sure to get the right size.
Ah, I long for the day when I can go buy Disney Princess underwear…sigh…
I ran into the same problem when I went to find something to cover my daughter’s tiny little bum. She was just over two years when we finished toilet training. Not being a big “Disney Princess” fan, I was happy to find that Walmart sold teeny little panties with flowers and polka dots. When I took them out of the package they looked like they belonged to a doll’s wardrobe.
Mikiyas came home potty trained too. I was so happy because it was one thing I dreaded. And he was dry every night too. Until one night he slept through … and has been wet almost every night since. Apparently it’s a boy thing. He tries so hard but sleeps so deep now he can’t get up. We can even “wake” him up, make him walk to the bathroom, pee and make him walk back to bed, which he has to climb up the ladder to get into, and he won’t remember it come morning. He sleeps through it all. So he lives in pull ups at night now. Oh – and for tiny boys, finding underwear was difficult too.
LOL – Leslie, I wasn’t a Disney Princes fan either! It’s the only branded thing in their wardrobe (except for a couple of Mexx dresses) but when the panties fit, as they say… lol
I also found super tiny ones at the Children’s Place, size 2-3, our daughter came home an infant but practically trained herself before she was 2. Maybe it’s a genetic thing.
that’s funny that you mention the kids are tiny. I was just thinking today that we fully anticipaited a “little girl” when we requested 18-24month girl. what we were blessed with though was a very chubby, short(in height), round bum, big belly,silly girl. lol we have a bio daughter who is 6 months older and her panties are smaller.
Home and healthy for 6 months
So true! Babies are born with the ability to give signals when they need to pee and poop. We train them to ignore it. If babies are in arms all day, the mother/caregiver learns the signs for when the child has to go to the toilet. You can be talking to a mother,she will hold out her baby, it pees and she puts it back on her lap. She knew it had to pee. The children grow up that way. I have friends who have babies out of diapers at 4 months! so cool.
Natasha