Adopting a toddler from China
Our son Kai Dong came home with us at age 2 ½, and was tiny (20 lb) even for an Asian child. Our pediatrician, who is also Asian confirmed what we already felt – he is completely healthy but just a petite guy!
Most children from China are raised without diapers and potty training begins before they are walking. Our son had been toilet trained long before he came home with us and would tell us “Mama, Papa nyow nyow! (Mandarin for pee pee!) from our first day together. We soon discovered that Western clothing is sized for kids who are wearing diapers. We discovered that we had to get pants with an adjustable waist or sweatpants for a much younger child or they just fell down!
I have seen on other sites web postings from parents saying that their toddler screamed when forced in a diaper – perhaps they didn’t realize that the diaper was perhaps not needed! We didn’t even have any accident on the long plane trip home. I don’t think Kai has ever worn a diaper in his life.
We’re adopting our second child from the Fengxin SWI via WACAP, and will hopefully go to pick her up in March. She is listed at being 18 lbs at a little over 1 year. If this is true, she will be wearing the clothes that Kai wore at 2 ½!! We’ll see. At any rate, clothes are inexpensive and easily available in China. We’ll just make sure to take at least one set of really warm clothes and improvise from there.
And please, especially if you adopt a Toddler – don’t be in too much of a hurry to stuff them into diapers,and make sure that you ask the representatives from the SWI (Social Welfare Institute) about their toilet training.
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