Taking pants off totally on the toilet and public toilet issues

[luvmypeanut]

We're starting the PT once again and it's not going too badly. But DS has a habit of taking off his pants completely before sitting down. He just can't open his legs wide enough with them on and now I'm worried about public toilets. And how do you keep them from holding onto the seat of the toilet with their hands?

[Neatfreak]

And how do you keep them from holding onto the seat of the toilet with their hands?

I am not certain if there is a way for my daughter not to hold on without completely losing her balance! She's only an intermediate regular toilet user! We just wash with soap after using the toilet.

[JBaxter]

Teach him to pee standing up in public toilets None of my 3 boys have ever sat on public toilet.

[o_mom]

We had this with DS1. He still sits to pee all the time as he is short and even standing on my feet he can't reach most toilets, not to mention I need him to go independently so I can help DS2.

I think there's a couple ways to handle the pants. Either keep him in crocs or easy-off shoes and plan to take at least one leg out every time. Or, make sure he is in loose pants, like sweatpants, pull them down to his ankles and see if he can get them wide enough that way.

On the touching the seat, there really isn't anything you can do about it. Just wash his hands well right after and think of all the studies that show the toilet seat is about the cleanest thing in a public restroom :)

[KBecks]

Alek also likes to get naked for the potty when he's at home. I think it's easier for him to remove the clothes than to sit with them still on.

When we're out, I haven't paid attention to if he holds onto the seat. I don't think he does but he's had several weeks of public toilet experience. In the beginning, I held him under his arms but then he seemed steady. I haven't worried about him touching anything in the restroom because we wash hands afterward, so it doesn't matter to me if he touches the floor or toilet or wall or flusher, etc. It's not like he's putting his hands in his mouth immediately afterward. I'd use hand sanitizer after the hand washing if I were a germaphobe, but I don't think it's necessary.

So anyway, in the restroom I would help DS pull his pants and underwear down and then lift him onto the potty and hold him. Now I think he climbs on himself, or I give him a little boost. He's very comfortable now. We have had some accidents where he has gotten pee on his clothes even though he was on the potty, so I'm going to try and watch him more closely. I had been giving him a little privacy while he used the toilet.

HTH.

[shburks]

We had this problem in the early days of PTing...shorts and underwear had to come completely off and it drove me CRAZY! I agree with the pp who suggested Crocs. :) You need easy on/off shoes. We just didn't it. After a few months when he started to pee standing up, we tried that in public toilets and that's where we are now. As for holding on, it totally icked me out and I would try to hold onto him so he wouldn't touch the seat, but truthfully--it usually just came down to him touching the seat and washing his hands really well afterwards and knowing that that phase would end fairly soon!