Making leggings for easy infant pottying

Recently a friend with an older baby brought around a bag of clothes that included no fewer than six pairs of baby tights. Now, tights are no good for infant pottying (just another thing to try and take off with one hand), so I was about to take them off to the op shop. Then I thought...we really need some more Baby Legs. They're those stretchy leggings you can get for about $20. Our one pair is always in the wash.
So....
A few snips and a bit of simple stitchery later, Umi had some new Long Socks.

To make, simply cut off the legs of the tights. The longer the better.
Then cut off the top elastic at the waist of the tights. This seems to be, very usefully, the exact length you need to cut in half and use as the top elastic of each sock (depending of course on the girth of your baby's thighs).


The elastic is usually folded in half, so fold this over the top of each leg and stitch in place. If the elastic isn't easy to re-use, just use some fold-over-elastic (the kind Spotlight sells for making lingerie).

These are even better than Baby Legs because you don't need to add separate socks. Or if you prefer leggings you could cut off the feet. You don't really need to hem them - the ribbing seems to hold OK along the bottom, in a kind of bootleg cut.














For those in colder climes, it's easy to knit some in simple rib stitch. Here are a pair a lovely friend made for us (thank you Ruth!)

Infant pottying out of doors, revisited

I got a few comments a while back about how to conduct infant pottying out of doors!
People seemed to think I meant it was OK to leave baby poo just lying around in spaces others are using. I didn't really mean that! I was talking mainly about wees. Babies surely should be able to pee on bushes, just like dogs (and little boys) do. I also don't really see that much of a problem with baby poo out in the bush if you cover it up afterwards with lots of earth.

When you're out and about in more frequented areas, and your baby signals that she wants to poo, however, you do need to have something up your sleeve, so to speak. Sometimes baby will give you enough notice to get to a public toilet. However, last week I went to pick up Torsten from preschool, and was sitting on the front step waiting for the doors to open when suddenly Umi announced (with a few ladylike grunts) that she wanted to poo. There was no toilet available. I was nonplussed for a moment, then remembered I had a plastic bag in my backpack. I fished it out, opened it up, and let Umi poo in it. Then I tied it up and took it home. I have no idea what the other parents thought of the process - I was too shy to meet anyone's eye! :)

A better idea would be to carry a couple of sheets of newspaper for this purpose. Not only would it be easier to aim a pooing bottom on to a spread-out sheet of paper, it would also be easier to dispose of later, and more environmentally responsible.

By the way, when I said I was nonplussed, I meant in the English sense of being perturbed, and not in the American sense of being not perturbed! That usage really nonplusses me!!