Advice for Potty Training Outside the Home

The best thing we did was to get a potty with the potty bags for the car! It has been a great save on many occasions. We can't leave home without it! Good luck!

With my daughter we made sure that we carried her Elmo toilet seat topper so she was always more Comfy (so to speak), we carried an extra potty seat and toilet paper in the back of the SUV (this was a sure life saver)! YES, it meant we had to pull over into a parking lot of some sort but she almost ALWAYS used it because she was in a place that was familiar to her. I would try to park in a parking lot of a restraunt or store that had a bathroom and I would dump it, rinse it out and keep going so I would ALWAYS allow myself XTRA time on every single trip anywhere to reduce the stress of being made late by having to stop. Worked like a charm. Also, if I knew we were going out for a long period of time, I wouldn't give her much to drink. I would make mini-popsicles out of organic juice and give her one after her breakfast so she never missed not having a lot to drink. This was a big help to me. Good luck :-)

I bought a "My First Potty" by Baby Bjorn and put it inside of a plastic grocery bag (in case of leakage/drops and to keep it clean) and then inside of a canvas tote bag. I would carry it EVERYWHERE we went. One time when my DD said she had to go pee pee, I whipped it out right in the middle of the grocery aisle and she went right there! You have to then find somewhere to pour out the pee pee but I found it to be ok. I liked using that kind of potty because the other portable ones use so many plastic bags which just end up in a landfill.

big bathrooms are scarey sometimes for kids..... I would try carrying a plastic bottle for the car rides.. this is a great help especially when you have a boy.. if the bottle can fit into a bag.. bring him into the bathroom in a store.. and dump it.. show him it's the same.. flush... this will help... then tell him the next time to try the toilet.. the bottle is only for car rides... good luck

Get a car potty.

We have one, since my 1st child was at that stage. It is GREAT!
From Amazon.... "on the go potty."
We still use it, and our girl is now 7, and can use it when we are on the road and there is no bathroom in sight or we are stuck in traffic or at a park where there is no bathroom or it is filthy.

Or, put a potty chair in your car.
MANY of my friends do that too.
Use a plastic grocery bag in it, with a pad in it (the kind for menstruation) and it works fine!

Go slowly... he will get it. It takes time. But don't let him hold his bladder too long... not good for the bladder and you don't want him to get UTI infections.

I just finished potty training my boy last week and had the same problem with the public restrooms. I bought a potty for the car like most moms have suggested here and he refused to use it. I ended up buying a small package of pull-ups (in case of any accidents) and a folding potty that goes on top of the toilet. It was hard to find but i found one at the Babies R Us in Calabasas. I think you can order it online as well. After some coercing to just come inside the public restroom with me, I took out the folding potty and placed it on the toilet. I don't know if it was curiosity or seeing a "small" toilet made him feel better, but I put him on it and he peed with no problem. i have been using it now for two weeks and have had no accidents.

Good luck!

Yes! We had the plastic potty & he loved it -- so we broughtour plastic potty for weeks then just the inside part and soon he said (peer pressure) he didn't need it. Pathetic but I carried it in a plastic bag in a large purse. Also the first times out I set it in our SUV just to get his mind around moving outward.

Hi R., I think the problem here is you are waiting for him to show interest, I have never understood this concept. You are the parent what you say goes, or at least that's the way it is supposed to be. It's like he's the one in control. If he can hold it til you get home, that's OK too I guess, just keep working with him but be the one in charge, and try using a reward system out side the house. J.

I agree with the others on the carrying a portable potty in your car. I continued to do this for quite a while even after my sons were totally trained. Can't tell you how many times that saved me when the car was closer than any restroom and they just can't hold it! I do have one thing to add as far as public restrooms go....be aware of the "Self flushing" toilets!! My son had a bad experience with one (It scared him when he was going potty and it suddenly flushed on it's own - VERY loudly!) and we had quite a setback with going in public after that!! GOOD LUCK!

Just keep an extra potty chair in the vehicle! Use one where the "thing" slides out so you can just set it in the grass (anywhere-along side of road, etc.) and they can sit on the chair and still go potty on the ground! Less mess.

SO easy......find a portable one for your car....I remember only too well how GREAT it was to have that...for those 'times' you just did not want to hassle going into strange places. Great to have in the back of the car...

http://www.mytravelingbuddy.com/Merchant2/graphics/000000...

LOVE this travel potty. I just leave it in the back of the car. I have a 5 and 3 yo. We use it ALL the time! Fits underneath my stroller too. On one side it stores a whole box of gallon size ziploc bags and on the other side it holds a whole thing of wipes.

Both my kids would go into the bathroom stall with me whenever I went potty. But the loud noise of the flushing always scared them. But I just kept taking them in with me and encouraging them to go. We'd make a game out of it where they would cover their ears and sit on the toilet while I made funny faces at them or mouthed words to them and they had to guess what I was saying. Both will go on the big potty now without issues..but the loud flushing still sometimes startles them. When that happens I just start giggling and say "Wow, that was a loud one" and then they start giggling too.

We use the toilet seat toppers with the cartoons on them. Ours is Thomas the Train. We actually trained her on that one at home and then would bring it in a plastic bag to stores. Fits perfect on any restroom toilet. Then once she was regularly going pee out and about, we just stopped using it and would place her on the very front of the toilet and hold her back. It was kind of an easing into it kind of thing.