Diapers offer a convenient and hygienic solution for managing your baby's urination and bowel movements, especially since babies lack control over these functions. They maintain cleanliness and dryness by absorbing urine and stool, ensuring the baby's skin remains comfortable and less prone to irritation.

Nevertheless, children won't rely on diapers indefinitely. There are specific stages and milestones in development when babies naturally start transitioning away from diapers and learning to use the toilet.

At what age should babies stop wearing diapers?

Each child is a unique individual and has a different pace of development. So age is not the only thing to consider when deciding when to stop using diapers and start toilet training.

Although research shows that most children are ready for toilet training and stop using diapers at the age of 18–24 months, there are several other factors that need to be considered when it comes to stopping using diapers, including:

• Physical readiness

In determining the time to stop wearing diapers, you need to look at your child's physical readiness, which includes his ability to control urination and bowel movements. Some children may develop skills faster than others so they are ready to say goodbye to diapers early.

Signs of physical readiness are shown through dry diapers for at least 1-2 hours, they tell when they want to urinate or defecate, they will try to remove the diaper and go to the toilet to urinate or defecate, they show signs that they will urinate or defecate but do not do so in the diaper.

• Emotional readiness

Apart from being physically ready, children must also be emotionally ready to stop wearing diapers. This involves their comfort and interest in using a potty or toilet.

• Child's interest

Note the child's interest when you show the potty or toilet. This interest may come in the form of questions or observations of how to use the potty or toilet.

• No pressure

It is very important to avoid pressure when the child stops using diapers. Children should feel comfortable and not be too burdened by this process.

Switching to training pants

Sometimes children are not really ready to take off their diapers so you may need to introduce them to training pants. Training pants are products specifically designed to help the toilet training process while still giving children the opportunity to learn independently and manage their basic needs.

Training pants are often equipped with additional protection against urine or stool leaks so that children can still study toilet training without feeling anxious. Training pants also have a feature that allows children to pull and take them off easily so that children learn the process of changing underwear is similar to wearing regular underwear.

It is important to remember that the use of training pants is only a tool to help the toilet training process. This process still requires consistency, support and positive communication from parents or caregivers. Consult a pediatrician if you have difficulty teaching your child to get out of diapers and learn toilet training.

If you need medical advice or consultation, you can either visit a doctor or make use of the consultation features that are available in the Ai Care application by downloading the Ai Care application from the App Store or Play Store.

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