I gotta be honest and say that if he is running free with a belly band on you can almost be assured that he won't ever learn to hold it all day. I think it's so great that you are such a caring mommy that you don't want to lock him up, but I crate trained Jamie and he really loves his crate now. I leave him with full run of my master bath now when I go to work and most days when I get home he's curled up in his crate sleeping.
Interestingly enough before we moved to this new house last month (wood laminate throughout), our rental house had carpet, so Jamie always had a belly band on when he was out of his crate when we were home. We tried to take him out on a schedule but he still had accidents cause we could never bring ourselves to put him back in the crate if he didn't potty outside cause we felt bad that he was in there all day. AND you could never tell when he was pottying in the bellyband so you couldn't catch him to correct him. Now in the new house, he holds it til lunch and then til 5pm (his crate schedule from the old house) even with the whole bathroom to play in. However, he just isn't catching onto holding it after 5. I think that has a LOT to do with having the belly band before. So in that aspect I think it may have caused a set back in his training.
Now we are back at square one after 5 oclock and I watch him like a hawk. Now with no belly bands I can catch him in the act and correct the behavior by taking him outside.
Either way I'm sure that you'll make the right decision for your baby. I just wanted to tell you about my experience.
__________________  Misty & Jamie
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