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In a book about Japanese manners for children (written in Japanese) there is a section which has basic "言葉のマナー", and two versions of several phrases: normal and more polite.

It says that in response to ”ありがとう" the normal (less polite) thing to say is "うん", with the more polite ”どういたしまして”.

This translates to ”うん” means "You're welcome", which I've never heard or seen written anywhere before. I guess the indication is this is said in an undertone as sort of a 相槌?

I thought いえいえ was another common way to say "You're welcome" but I guess children don't use this.　

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  • I think いえいえ is more along the lines of "Think nothing of it" than actually "You're welcome". And no, I haven't heard kids use it that much/at all.
    – istrasci
    Commented Jan 27, 2017 at 22:54

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うん is contextually closer to English "yeah", as a very casual response to someone saying "thanks". Contextually, "yeah" can be used in place of "you're welcome" in certain circumstances. So too can うん apparently be used in place of どういたしまして in certain circumstances. But that doesn't mean that the one literally means the other.

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