My three-yr-old has been wearing underwear for three weeks now, only a couple accidents. He still sleeps in pullups because he wets heavily in his sleep (going to cut liquids at 7 pm pretty soon).
We are going on a trip this weekend where he will be going from place to place and a long drive there and back... there won't be potties available everywhere. No we can't cancel this trip it's a memorial for a family member who was a firefighter who died in thel ine of duty and it's a two-day event two hours away. We will be staying at a hotel.
My question is... if I retreat to pullups for just this weekend trip will it mess up his potty-training when we come home??
Thank you for all of your advice! We ended up taking an empty capped bottle with us for the road for a just-in-case-side-of-the-road-emergency, and we ended up not even needing it because he slept the whole way there and the whole way back.
We DID put a pullup on him for the car rides but told him to let us know if he needed yo pee. I'm glad I did too because he wet himself of course since he napped in the car and he's not trained yet during sleep.
As for the places we went without bathrooms available..... welll... I decided to keep him in underwear and bring extra changes and I regret it because RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE of the ceremony for the firefighters, he had an accident and I had to leave and find a bathroom (good thing I chose a seat by the outside aisle!) But I missed the helicopter part of the ceremony. But at least I don't have to worry about him regressing this way. Thanks again moms!! You're awesome!
I would keep him in the underwear! I don't know if pull-ups would make him regress, but if he can tell you he has to go...then let him tell you. We were in a similar situation and I packed a few disposable cups. We would pull over on the road and let him pee in a cup...he loved it. You can also buy a car seat protector in case he pees in his seat.
I have a possible alternative solution for you....
A friend of mine uses a portable potty that you can buy at Babies 'R Us. The brand name is Potette and you buy the seat and the liners, it's really pretty inexpensive. My friend loves it, she just has it in the van with her and whenever they are on the road and her daughter needs to go, there it is. I also saw them on Amazon because I was thinking about purchasing one for my son since we are in the middle of potty training. It's small and really perfect for a road trip.
When my kids were potting training and I was going to be driving in the car I would put a potty chair in the car with us and you can pull over along side the road and use it anytime. I would put a plastic bag in it so that way you could dump it out and throw it away and not potty chair to clean out. I'm not sure if you would go back to pull ups if your child would retreat back or not. If you do maybe you can take some small rewards (M&M's, candy, small toys) with you and reward him every time he used the potty.
Hope this helps. Have a fun and safe trip!
Every kid is different, but we still put our 3 1/2 yo in a pull-up for long car rides & air travel. It is more relaxing for eveyone and she has never regressed (we've done this since she was 2 1/2). Have a nice trip.
take the potty chair with you and baby wipes. If there wasn't a rest stop near by when the kids needed to potty we would pull off on the next ramp and go to the on ramp to pull off because traffic is slower getting on the highway than the off ramps. I would get the potty chair out and set it beside the door on the grass side, I also had a few bottled waters available or thermos to put in the potty to rinse it and dump it right there in the grass. Most of the time we could catch a rest stop in time but was nice to know we had a back up plan if that wasn't an option. Every time we saw a rest stop sign with one coming up we ask the kids if they have to go to the bathroom so we have a few miles to plan to get over. If they said no everytime we would stop about every 4 hours and have them try and they usually had to go by the time we walked around a little bit. We made a lot of trips when the kids were very little with being a military family ###-###-####+ miles away from home and would try to visit 1-2 times a year and usually drove straight through because the kids would sleep most of the trip and never be tired at hotels so usually kept us awake anyway so may as well be driving further down the road and take turns. I would try without the pullups and see how well he does before going back to them right away. If he is doing so well he probably won't want you to put them back on him anyway. If he is too distracted from all the activity and has several accidents then you might consider using them while you are out and about but you could also use plastic covers over thick training pants and will keep his clothes dry but then you will need to wash them somewhere but if he stays dry then he is well on his way to doing well.
Hello S.,
We're about to be in the same predicament. Our son just turned three, and we've got a small trip planned to Colorado. We're in the process of training him this weekend, and our trip is planned for the end of June into the first of July.
What we've got planned is taking his portable chair with us and using plastic pants while we're in the car. Otherwise, we'll just keep reminding him to go while we're at the hotel. We also plan on taking lots of spares of everything! (shorts, jeans, underwear, plastic pants) We may even make some time to go to a laundromat!!
As for the nighttime, this may sound harsh, but we wake our son up before we go to bed so he can go potty. He's really good at it. We get him up, take him to the potty, he does his thing, washes his hands, get him dressed and he goes back to bed wonderfully. He wakes up dry the next morning.
About your question concerning the pull-ups; we don't use them. We simply use the plastic pants over his underwear, and it works beautifully. Of course you can use what you want, it's your choice.
Hopefully both our trips will be successfully dry!!
ls
If it were me I would put pull up's on him but tell him to let you know when he has to go. For a boy it is quite easy if #1. Just pull over and either take his potty chair or let him go at the side of the road. Try to remember to remind him every hour or so also. It would be be a mess if he couldn't hold it and you could not find a place for him to go so pull ups will at least make things easier. If he does revert I'm sure he'll get back on track quickly after you are home.
Yes, it would be a very bad idea. Just stop frequently and take a potty along. This is the reality of your newly trained kid: he will have to go often.
Good Morning S.. May our Lord give all of your family peace and comfort through this event. May he place on your hearts wonderful memories of a True Hero. God Bless each one.
S. as far as potty training, I think he will be ok. If he has to go while driving, since he is a boy, well there is always a tree daddy can take him too. Or Just tell him since you have to be in the car for a L-O-N-G Time, let's use a pull up to keep you clean. Two hours isn't that long a drive for some children unless they go to sleep and wet.
Once you arrive just go back to your routine. If there is a potty available at one place make sure he tries before going to the next. You can tell if it is going to be harder on you then it is on him. You might want to take a umbrella stroller even at 3 they get tired of walking.
God Be with you as you travel, may he send His angels before you.
K. Nana of 5
have you thoght about bringing a potty chair with you on the trip that way if he has to go, u just pull over? bring a bottle of cleaner to clean it out after each use or line it with walmrt/trash bags and tie it up and throw away when u get to a trash can.
Sounds like some really good advice, I would take a jar with a lid or a small kids potty, thats what we did we have a mini van and sat it in the back and our granddaughter just got in and used it and we carried a plastic bag to empty really stinky things in. We used it when we would go to garage sales, It saved so much hassle about having to stop our sales and look for a bathroom, we had so much more fun. She never had an accident she liked getting in the back to potty. shes 11 yrs old now, and we still laugh about those days. Enjoy your trip.
Hi S., When we went through this with our girls we did put the pull ups on them and told them "it's only for emergencies" and we stopped and tried to potty every chance we had. Just try to make it clear to him that tis is not a green light to use the pull up this is because there won't always be a potty and a wet pull up is better than wet pants or car seat. We had the same worry, but they did outstanding. I'm sure that he will surprise you. Good luck and have fun!
We went on a trip for a family reunion with my youngest son newly potty trained. After a couple of accidents, I went back to the pullups during the trip because he was distracted by the activity going on and got so busy that he had accidents. We kept taking him to the bathroom when able, so it didn't interfere with the potty training at all.
I felt everyone was able to enjoy the trip and not have to worry about accidents and not having a change of clothes if he got wet. Well, he did play in the puddles, so he did get wet!
In my experience, it would not have messed up my son's achievement.
I took (and still take, though my kids have been potty trained for 3 years and for 6 months) a potty in the car. When it was really early on, I might put plastic pants over the undies, but we never went for pull ups. It couldn't hurt to have them, but you could see how he's doing without. You might avoid salty snacks too, so he doesn't want to drink excessively on the road, and make it more a point to ask and stop than you usually would.
As long as he's not wetting through the diaper, I wouldn't worry about cutting liquids out at night just yet. Many kids take another year (2 years for my oldest daughter) or so to get night time down. It's a whole different thing.
I hope it goes well.
K.
I would say it depends on how offers he has accidents. You maybe fine if you have him go before you leave and stop every hour for him to go. You might want to put a water proof pad on his catseat just in case. Good luck
