Usually the covers are for use over cloth diapers, not so much for training pants. You could still use them for that and they would work ok, but they may be a little more ackward to pull up/down. Not that it would be *that* difficult, but for a child just starting out and that has fine motor skills delays then this may be something to consider.

I would suggest training pants like the Mother-Ease ones that are both absorbant and waterproof. There are other brands as well, Mother-Of-Eden Trickle-Free trainers and Bummis are two that come to mind. They should all be able to absorb one small-medium sized wettting without leaks but even that might be pushing it if he wets very rapidly, with a lot of force or in great amounts. If he does then perhaps something like a cloth diaper that can be pulled up/down might be a better bet for now. Many have used either All-In-Ones or the Sandy's diapers as training pants for the early stages. The Sandy's might be more ackward if you really want to use a cover but perhaps you could use them at home with no clothing on top so that waterproofness isn't as much of an issue.

Ones like Gerber really are more padded underwear than they are actual beginners training pants. In my experience they're more meant for toddlers that need just a smidge more absorbancy than regular underwear can offer (for those few drops that sometimes escape while running for the bathroom kind of thing).

For nighttime I would stick with diapers or at least something that offers the absorbancy of diapers. Unless your son wets very little or very rarely at night then cloth training pants won't offer the absorbancy you need. You could go either with the Sandy's, AIOs or something like a bedwetter pant (although he might be a bit small for those right now). I wouldn't worry too much about nighttime training right now, that almost always comes after daytime dryness. Sometimes it's soon after but often it's weeks, months or even years later.

One general tip that works well for many toddlers is to let them go naked (below the waist at least) while at home. They really tend to 'get it' much more quickly (because they can see/feel the results much more easily and associate them with the feelings that precede them). Plus it removes the issue of figuring out how to quickly getting clothing out of the way. Might not be workable if you have carpet at home but works fine for wood or laminate. You'll be cleaning up more messes but it could well make the whole process go much more quickly.

HTH,
Karen.

Admitedly poop in a training pant (or underwear for that matter) isn't very pleasant. Usually the poop is solid enough and the child cooperative enough that you can pull it down with the child standing up and manage a minimum of mess. But this is something you have to deal with when it comes to the majority of training pants. I've only ever heard of two brands that come with snaps on them. One of them is the Mother-Of-Eden ones I recomended. They're very similar to the ME ones except for the snaps.

And ME does actually state that the training pants don't have the absorbancy of a diaper. They're not meant to though, they're meant to absorb small accidents, maybe one pee at most. They're meant to essentially be slightly more absorbant underwear with a waterproof barrier. You want the child to know and feel the difference. You don't want them to feel like they're just in a pull-on diaper, in a way that would defeat the purpose for many kids. Sure, the training pant will get soaked with a full urination, but in a way that's actualy the point as the child really can't 'miss' that they've peed kwim?

Of course all this means that there's more a chance of a leak than with diapers and poops are messier to deal with than with diapers, but then I guess if it's really becoming a huge problem then maybe it's best to just put them back in diapers for a while...

Karen.