Objective:
We investigated at which age children who started caregiver-assisted toilet training (diaperless child care) under age 1 stopped needing diapers.
Methods:
We conducted a cross-sectional study using a self-administered mailed questionnaire in Tokyo be tween April and May 2012. The participants were mothers who started toilet training their children under age 1. At the time of the study, the children had to be ≥2 years old. Questionnaires were dis tributed to 175 mothers, and data from 125 were analyzed.
Results:
A total of 116 (92.8%) children stopped needing diapers during the day, and the mean age of the chil dren who did not rely on diapers was 21 months. Mean age did not significantly differ by characteris tics such as childʼs or the motherʼs age, family structure, or employment situation. However, it tend ed to be related to the frequency of using paper diapers and age of starting diaperless childcare.
Discussion:
An increase in the number of children using diapers at 3 years of age has been reported in recent years. However, the mean age at which children in this study did not rely on diapers during the day was <2 years. Our findings suggest that early caregiver-assisted toilet training can facilitate indepen dent toileting in children.
