The recession is making life a little messier for some toddlers and their parents.
Disposable training pants, long viewed as a staple in potty training children, are becoming dispensable as some parents choose value over convenience.
These days, an accident here and there has become an acceptable tradeoff for saving some $30 to $100 a month. And many parents say that doing away with the crutch has had an added benefit: surprisingly quick toilet training.
Industrywide, sales of disposable training pants declined 3.2 percent to $731.2 million for the 52 weeks ending June 13, and the number of training pants sold is down 10 percent, according to data from the Nielsen Co. That’s despite the fact that, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates, U.S. births rose 3 percent in 2006 and 1 percent in 2007.
