Potty Training Thoughts

I have a 3 year old as well, and stressed about the same thing as both my parents and my husbands live a distance away. I have kept a small training potty in the trunk just in case, and in the past 6 mos she has only needed it once. Otherwise we've stopped in at Mcdonalds, ect if we can find one. I have found that my daughter can actually "hold it" much longer then I would have thought, and we rarely have to stop. Good luck!

when they were first in the potty training stages I brought along a diaper. There was one time we were in a traffic jam, literally cars not moving at all, and Tara said she had to go. I put the car in park, got her out of her carseat and put a diaper on her, then put her back in the carseat. She peed in the diaper and didn't regress at all. After that I always had a diaper in the car just in case. That is until they got way too old for diapers, lol, or could hold it for over an hour when the urge struck.

Another thing I did on a cross country trip was take a potty seat with me with plastic bags to line it with. Again, sometimes when you are going across the nothingness of the country there are no bathrooms for literally hundreds of miles. And little ones just don't pee in the grass that good!

My daughter is almost 3 and when she says she has to go, she means it. Unless you want a wet seat, I'd pull over. Also, make sure she goes before you head out the door and limit the drinks. We've used diapers on long rides, but that seems to allow her to take 2 steps back.

I have 6 yr old who does the same thing to me always. As a matter of fact I will only be going to the grocery store which is maybe 1 1/2 mile up the road and he'll pull that on me. At first I would always accomodate him by taking him but then I started thinking, this is ridiculous you just went potty. So now I don't give in, I threaten him w/things like if you potty on yourself before we get home you won't be able to ride your bike or you won't get any ice cream. Next thing you know all thoughts of I have to go potty have gone away.

Here's some resources that might help...

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/10/T106600.asp#T106606

http://drphil.com/articles/article/264/

Best wishes,
J.

There are a few options...
http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/search.jsp?N=0&Nt...

Hi T. -

I had the same situation with my son and he is now five and we still sometimes have this issue. I try to take his mind off of having to go by singing songs, playing 'I Spy' and asking what he wants to do for his next birthday party. It seems to help him forget about having to go, at least until we arrive at our destination. However, if this doesn't work and it's an extreme emergency, then I find the nearest restaurant/store/whatever and let him go. Otherwise, you can purchase a portable potty seat for the car at One Step Ahead for like $16.95 (http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId...) Good luck!

We carry a portable potty (Baby Bjorn) in the trunk and pull over if necessary.

We recently took a road trip to Atlanta with my son who was a newer potty trainer. We stopped when he had to go, but he did have a few accidents. The trip itself helped him figure out when he had to go better, because he couldn't tell me at the last minute. I would highly recommend NOT using a pull up because it might revert her a bit. I have read that there are portable potties for travel, maybe you could buy one of those for just in case? Still have her go before you leave and when you get there, but if she has to go on the road at least you wouldn't have to find a gas station or a fast food place in a questionable neighborhood.

Good luck!

I just tell my daughter to hold it. I make her go potty before we leave the house and when she says as we are driving she has to go I tell when we get where we are going then she can use the potty again. If she isn't having accidents over night she can hold it for an hour. I've found a lot of times she says it because she doesn't want to be in the car anymore. Just like when she is in trouble she says she's sleepy.

i have the perfect thing for you..the potette or potette plus:
http://www.kalencom.com/main/page.asp?id=8&s_cate_id=...=

i know the toys r us on western has the plus version. we keep one in the car and one in the stroller. if we ever need a potty we have one at our fingertips. we can easily set it up on the floor of the backseat or in our trunk (we have a SUV). it's absolutely GREAT and works wonders in a pinch.

good luck!!

My 24 month old son just potty trained a week after his birthday. We drove 8 hours to Missouri for the holiday, and we brought his potty with us. When he said he had to go, we pulled over and let him try. You have to listen to their cues. They need to know they can tell you when they need to go.

Good luck!
T.
www.Readandgrow.com

Hi T. Try without holding liquids from her until you get to where you're going or just stop at a rest stop or gas station so she can go.

I have a thirty minute commute every day to and from work on a county highway so the first time my daughter had to go potty on the way home I tried pull off onto a side road so she could go. She wanted no part of it. From then on I put her potty chair in the back and if she needs to go we pull over and she goes in the potty chair. I also keep wipes, plastic bag, gloves, and spray disinfectant. My mom also did this when she took her on an hour long ride out of town. It works wonders. She no longer uses the potty chair at home so we just leave it in the back.

I would tell her she needs to wait until you find a suitable rest area or gas station for her to use the bathroom. If it's an emergency, than I would find something right away. Part of potty training is learning control, so I don't think telling her to hold it if it's not a potty emergency is out of line. We are just staring this wonderful phase with my 2 year old daughter. Good luck!