To potty train now or wait?

[buzzkills]

Hi

I have a 25 month old. First DC. We are going on holiday in a couple of months. I can't decide if we should potty train now or wait till we are back. If we potty train now I suppose we are going to have the hassle of staying near loos when on holiday? We will be driving and will have a few long car journeys so it could be difficult. Am I being daft? If we do it now he will have been trained for 10 weeks prior to us leaving. Any opinions from people that have done this?

I'm in a similar situation to you except we go in 3 weeks.

Can you give it a go and see how it goes for a few days, and if it isn't successful leave it until after the holiday?

A few friends with older DC said they would try it and see that DC were clearly not ready and just leave it for a few weeks.

I'd wait till you get back. I trained my DC at a similar age, and then we went on holiday a few weeks later (can't remember how many weeks - less than 10) and he had several accidents due to not being able to get to a toilet in time and it really set him back. I practically had to start from scratch when we got home!

I would try it now and in a few weeks, if he hasn't got it, then leave it until you get back.
I found carrying a travel potty no more or less awkward than bringing a big change bag.
By 10 weeks in my DC was very able to hold it while we found a toilet, tell use in plenty of time and would be fine on a long journey as long as we went to the loo before and after, but you wont know until you try.

Wait

How many months will dc be when you get back from hols? They've only just turned 2 so unless your dc is showing lots of signs of readiness such as taking nappy off and using language to tell you when they've pooped etc I'd probably just wait. I trained my ds at 2yrs 5 months which was 3 months before a holiday and we did have some issues, we were on a train (only for 30 mins) which had no loos and he subsequently wet himself as they really can't hold it for very long when first trained.

If they’re really ready they’ll get it in a 2/3 days, so it’s worth giving it a go and if by the end of the week they aren’t asking to go to the toilet independently and no accidents I’d go back to nappies.

Wait.

If you think he is ready and have time I would go for it. I just potty trained my DS and the first 3 days were hell. We fell out the whole time and I wasnt feeling great which didnt help. On day 4 I thought hes obviously not ready, let's just take a step back and get a nappy on and get out the house and be friends again. Nappy was dry the whole day and hes never had an accident since and no nappies at night or nap time either! I would do it and if you are feeling anxious about travelling you can always stick a pull up on over his pants. He still knows he is wet but theres no puddle on the floor. This really helped my son as he was getting really embarrassed the first couple of days and didnt want to go to the toilet.

I've got 3DC and all of them we started PTing at about 24 months but did it gradually, few hours at home every day with a bare bum but back in a nappy if we needed to go out. It is very obvious if they are not ready vs able to control. None of them got confused wearing a nappy out and about, they all asked for the loo but wearing the nappy gave them security, I strongly believe putting a small child in a position where they wet themselves purely because they can't access a loo quickly enough teaches them nothing (and I couldn't be arsed to carry a travel potty into town on a cold wet winters day).

They also wore nappies to nursery as well for the first week or two, told staff we'd started training so let them use the loo if they asked but to still check the nappy regularly for wee. Once they were secure with pants at home they went to nursery in pants. When we went on holiday (which included 6h drives) they wore nappies in the car for travelling.

I think it's better to test the waters now, see how ready he is, if he's ready go ahead but get the pull up nappies for your holiday so he's got security if you don't have access to a loo.

I would wait.

I would wait

I've got five children and my advice is wait until they ask or refuse to wear nappies, two of mine were 28 months when they did it themselves but my twins were nearly three and they needed encouragement (did one first and then the other), my nanny tried to do it too early with my youngest and it failed but four months later my daughter was ready

Just before a holiday, definitely wait

I think you should give it a go and see how it goes. DS started showing awareness around 18 months. When he did a poo, he would lie down on his back and raise his legs to "nappy changing position". But for nap and night he still wears nappies. He wears pants for short journeys but the other day we were at a bday party and he was too excited, so I just put a nappy on. We came home and he webt back to pants. (He is 26m now, doing really well.)
But even with my DD 5 years ago it was a long process, accidents happened.
I find that even in nappies, they ask for the toilet, so I don't think it causes a confusion.
Try and see.

I would wait, the stress of it and finding loos, it also might put them off if they have accidents.

My DS is 28 months (I know each child is different) but he's telling me when he's pooed, needs potty ect but I still don't think he's ready and I'm waiting until Christmas when he's a bit more aware of things.

In the mean time, what I've done is buy potty books, talk about poos and wees on the potty and getting stickers for it. I also leave his potty downstairs where he has interaction with it near everday. Even if I leave nappy off he's had a few wees on it. What about doing that until you go away and seeing how DC reacts to it?

I've heard of parents saying it took them a week to potty train and I can assure you that that's not always the case. We started when our little one turned 2 as he seems ready. We've had quite a few set backs with starting preschool, moving home, new sibling. he's nearly 3 and he still has accidents. If I were you I'd hold off because your holiday will be very stressful if you're constantly changing pants all day long. Do pull ups and just practice