What do you do in public restrooms?

[egoldber]

We have just started seriously potty training. She is doing well at home, but DD and I are often out and about. It occurs to me that we are probably impeding our progress by not being consistent about potty use everywhere.

What do you do when you go out? Or should I just resign myself that things will take longer because of our lifestyle.

Also, she goes to preschool summer camp in a few weeks. Should I sen dher in pull-ups and have them work with her on the potty? Or should I just send her in diapers at this point?

Thanks!

[loewymartin]

Ugh, I was just going to ask you about this! I was just looking at Babycenter at this portable potty http://store.babycenter.com/product/safety_babycare/potty_training/3689 I think we'll end up getting one for Alia. The reviews sound pretty good, and we need something to take to the park (the bathrooms are disgusting) and to the in-laws in July.

Has anyone else used one of these? I don't want to do the inflatable one from OSA because I don't want to have to leave something in the car (I'd rather have it with me).

As for the preschool - what do they allow? Do they help with potty training? If so, I would ask them what to send her in. If they help they should be willing to do the panties (or whatever you are training her in) and ask her/remind her.

Michelle - Mom to Alia born 5/16/02

[ismommy]

We used a fold up seat that went on top of public toilets. I got it at buybuy baby. When I trained Bella - almost from the beginning we used public bathrooms. I knew that accidents would happen but thats part of learning. I just tried to limit how muhc liquid and to make sure we went before we left the house. Now if we are going on a long ride I will put her in pull-ups or if we are doing something very new and different - like on Saturday going to a baseball game.
I do remind her though that she needs to tell me whne she needs to go and she is not supposed to go in her pullup. I feel as though it sends a mixed message to say its okay to pee in these.
Also I meant to respond to your other post about how. The first weekend we trained I did the naked thing with Bella and she had tons of accidents. Our advice nurse told me that of course she did becuase there are no repurcussions - she is not feeling wet so doesn't bother her. The same reason pull-ups arent good for training. Anyway after that I put Bella in clothes and within a week she was down to no accidents most days. She has been using the potty since October and does great. We still occassionally have accidenst but I figure that's what happens.
Also I would let Sarah pick out some real princes undies that will help.
Also are any of her friends potty trained - that helps too. When Bella was first training we spent time with her buddy Aria who was also training and both would wear their Dora panties and neither wanted to not match so thats incentive:)
HTH
Helene
mommy to Isabella
baby x EDD 1/11/05

[egoldber]

Thanks, I may have to look for that. We did get her princess underwear and she adores them. I have found that by putting her in underwear, she has very few accidents. Today she only had one accident at home in underwear, first thing in the morning. After that, no more accidents the rest of the day.

But I do notice that as soon as I put her in a pull-up (to go out or whatever) she will pee in it. So maybe in a week or so, when I am a bit more confident, I will start trying to leave the house in undies. Yikes!!!

[Jeanmick]

Helene's experience is very similar to mine with my DD:

1. We make sure she's had a chance to go before we leave, even if she think she doesn't have to. If she decides not to go, so be it, but usually she ends up peeing.

2. I also carry one of those fold-up potty seats and it's been helpful. I usually put a paper cover on top of the toilet, then the potty seat. The fit on public toilets is not all that great, but it's good enough. She didn't have any problem with sitting on the seat, but she's never had a seperate potty chair at home; she's always used the big toilet with a toilet seat. I don't know if that makes a difference for kids.

3. For a while, I was carrying 2 pairs of underwear and a couple of pants in the diaper bag for the inevitable accidents. Funny thing is that after a couple of accidents, she stopped having them and started letting me know that she needed to go. In the beginning I would make it a point of stopping by a bathroom every couple of hours (under the guise of me needing to go) and encouraged her to go to the bathroom, even if she didn't think she felt like it. If she went, fine. If not, not a big deal. At least it got her used to sitting on the public toilet and helped me get more comfortable with the routine too. Now I don't make a big issue of it and she tells me when she needs to go (I do stop by the bathroom after a meal, though).

4. I will confess that I do put her in Pull-ups after a busy day (i.e., Disneyland) and have a long drive home ahead of us (1 1/2 hours or more). She really doesn't have accidents overnight anymore, but I do it for convenience. It's doesn't appear to be a big deal in wearing pull-ups or underwear. It's all one and the same to her at this point in time.

As far as your question regarding pullups or diapers when sending her to camp, I'd go ahead and have her in pullups. It'll give the preschool a chance to work with her and maybe if she sees other kids her age going to the potty, she'll be able to try too. Diapers would make that difficult for her. Besides, pull-ups are just as absorbent as diapers anyway.

Gosh...sorry for the long response. Good luck and HTH!

[egoldber]

Is this the fold up seat that you guys use??

http://www.onestepahead.com/product/61179/150774/117.html


Thanks!

[sugarsnappea]

My posts keep disappearing. :(

A lot of our friends have minivans and keep potties in them for this purpose. This works out well for afternoons at the park.

We use these when out and about http://www.onestepahead.com/product/61179/123761/117.html I bought a pack at Target for $5.

I agree with the others about keeping Sarah in pull-ups for camp.

[ismommy]

That looks similar to ours. Not sure if ours has the handles though.
Helene
mommy to Isabella
baby x EDD 1/11/05

[Jeanmick]

Yup, that's the one! We bought ours at BRU, but I recently noticed that our local TRU and Target have them.

[egoldber]

Thanks all!!!!

Well, I was brave today and took her to playgroup in underwear! And NO ACCIDENTS! She did great! I guess I am just going to have to suck it up and really get into this whole potty thing, LOL!

[ismommy]

YEAH!! Great job! Both my friends and I have found more accidents seem to happen at home. I still carry a change of clothes just in case.
Helene
mommy to Isabella
baby x EDD 1/11/05

[atlbaby]

Whoo Hoo, Beth!! Way to go, Sarah!!! Arielle's doing amazing, too. It's so exciting (and frightening!), isn't it? Things are moving so quickly. I can't believe I said to her this morning, "Now Arielle. There's no potty at the park, do you need to pee?" Who IS this girl I was talking to? :)

And Michelle, I just ordered the fold up potty from BabyCenter--thanks for the suggestion!

-Rachel
Mom to Arielle, 10/30/01
and Daliya, 10/27/03

[Jeanmick]

Whoo hoo!!!! Great job Sarah (and Mommy too, of course :) )!

[raynjen]

We have this seat (the Potette) in our minivan. My DD LOVES to use it - she calls it her 'special potty'. She sometimes will ask to use it when we are in the driveway (like she prefers it to the regular potty). I don't know about their claim that it 'fits right into your diaper bag' - it probably would fit in the diaper bag I carried when she was a baby - but I have been paring down for awhile now and it wouldn't fit into my toddler undies bag (no diapers). I DO prefer it to the folding potty seats which we tried for awhile - DD didn't like that they slid around (never a perfect fit).

We are in a slightly different situation here in Japan for several reasons. In public parks most of the potties are 'squat to pees' - they look like a urinal set flat in the ground. Unfortunately when you pull down their panties little girls can no longer straddle the potty (can't pull their legs far enough apart). So Noelle and I have developed a method of me holding her in a seated position in the air so that she can pee. I'm sure it is quite hysterical to watch. This, however, has served us well when we are out in the woods with no pottys around (I carry tissues for clean-up).

Also, in Japan, a lot of the public restrooms in malls and such have a disinfectant solution dispenser in each potty. So you dispense some of this stuff (looks kind of like Purell) onto toilet paper, wipe down all the touching parts (I do the seat, the handle, and the door latch) and Viola! instant cleanliness. I swear I will miss the toilets more than anything else when we move back to the states!

Jen in Okinawa
Mom to Noelle (2 1/2)