Long car journey with a newly trained child

[iismum]

We are at the end of the first week of potty training and DD is doing well - she mostly knows when she needs to go and can hold it for a few seconds whilst we get the potty.

In a week's time we have to go on 4/5 hour car journey. Most of this is on the motorway so it could easily take us 15/20 mins to find somewhere safe to pull over for her. I'm not sure what the best thing to do is. We can put her in training pants, which will absorb some of the wee, and use pads for the seat so I'm not too worried about the mess, but it seems a bit unfair to put her in the position of (maybe) having to wet herself after training her not to do this. We can stop often for her to go but so far she's seemed unwilling/unable to go on our suggestion and instead tells us when she needs to go, so I'm not sure if this will help.

If I put her in pull-ups, is this likely to cause regression or loss of confidence? Maybe I could explain these are special 'car pants': she wears 'night pants' (i.e. pull-ups) now she's out of nappies.

I'd be very grateful for any ideas!

[lovemysleep]

i think I recall that we used pull ups for long car journeys - I don't think it would confuse her or cause her to regress.

Besides, even if it did, I'm sure it would be only minor, as you have only just started potty training. Sometimes, they do regress a month or so in, anyway - I remember my daughter was almost like a dog scenting its territory!!! Peeing in the most bizarre places...but she got back to normal quickly.

You know what kids are like - they keep you on your toes......

[sethstarkaddersmum]

'car pants' sounds like a good idea to me.
You can behave exactly as you would if she were not wearing pull-ups, but none of you will get as stressed if she does have an accident.

[moonminmama]

we used a portable potty with ds for the car. The one with the bags in that you throw away once theyve been. You could always pull over in the hard shoulder while she goes. We wouldnt make him get out of the car just sit on potty on back seat. Keep hold of bags (well sealed) until you fin a suitable place to dispose of them.

Sounds a bit yuck, but if youve got plenty of wipes (baby wipes/antibacterial wipes etc) with you no reason why it would work.

good luck

[sethstarkaddersmum]

don't pull over on the hard shoulder - that's seriously dangerous

agree about portable potties though - really useful. And it does cut down the time finding a suitable place to stop because you just need anywhere it is safe to stop rather than somewhere suitable for doing a wee.

[iismum]

Thanks for the advice. Using 'car pants' but trying to get her to use the potty as normal if at all possible sounds like a good compromise.

I'm fine with the yuck aspect - with two children and dog I'm used to having a lot of poo in my life! But I agree about pulling over on the hard shoulder - I'm not too happy to do that.

Is it worth getting a portable potty? Is this much better than just carrying a normal potty round everywhere? Are they not a bit flimsy?

[sethstarkaddersmum]

2 things about portable potty:

1. they fold up small so you can have one stuffed in the bottom of your buggy or changing bag or whatever
   
2. they use liners which tie up so you don't have to wipe them out or find somewhere to empty them
   

....which is a particular benefit when the child who has said they are going to do a wee ends up producing a poo as well....

[Snowstorm]

We used a portable potty (invaluable for many years - you can use them in shopping centres or anywhere, without having to walk around with a potty full of pee, trying to find somewhere to empty it) and those Pampers bed sheets which we put in the car seat under the DC's bottoms. So we didn't regress to nappies or training pants but with the Pampers bed sheets to absorb any accidents (and a change of clothes in the boot just in case), we and the car got off lightly and were actually pleasantly surprised at the distinct lack of accidents.

Over the years we've driven past cars that have had to pull over and obviously one of the children hasn't been able to hold on and you see the car seat stripped off it's covers and the parents trying to sort everything out. The big absorbant bed sheets stop that from being a problem (and are bigger than the 'piddle pads' that you can buy) and also ensure that the child's pee doesn't soak through the car seat and into the actual cushioned seat of the car ... don't know how you are supposed to get that out/clean that up ...

[Meglet]

We used pull ups and had a porta potty in the car too.

I think pulling over on the hard shoulder is possibly illegal, and very dangerous. Better for them to have to wee in their nappy pants than stop on a motorway.

We drove to cornwall in the summer (approx 5 hours trip) and I obsessively checked ahead and planned stops every hour (even punched the postcodes of the service stations into the sat nav ). DS never even pee-d in his nappy pants and we were able to whizz to the loo's regularly.

[mum2oneloudbaby]

we used bambino mio training pants as car pants it did not cause confusion and we told dd it was because they were more comfortable.

We planned stops ahead of time, have a portable potty (ready to go at all times)and made sure she didn't over drink before the journey.