Navigating holidays abroad with a freshly potty trained toddler?

[Lavender14]

Taking ds 2.5 on holiday very soon. I started potty training back in May because he was showing all the signs of readiness and didn't want to miss that window. Figured 4 months would be a good amount of time. On the whole ds is doing very well with it all. Pees he took to very quickly and now only has the odd accident but he's still quite anxious about doing poos (though he has gone successfully in the potty/ toilet a few times) and he's VERY anxious about using unfamiliar toilets so I often bring his carry potty if we're going out for the day because he likes using it and we'll just use it in the cubicle instead of the main toilet. He's used a big public toilet few times but he gets very upset and sometimes doesn't open his legs wide enough so pees over himself.

Part of me is tempted to bring it on holiday but it's really large and has a bit of weight to it so I don't know if that's ridiculous or even how I'd fit it in.

With the hot weather ds has been drinking a lot more and has been peeing flat out as a result. While we're only going to be staying by the pool/ beach mainly I'm just thinking now about how I'll manage getting him to a toilet if he needs to go multiple times and having to leave all our stuff (lone parent so it's just me and ds travelling) to get him to a bathroom. For context he peed 4 large pees in the space of an hour while I made dinner last night.

Any advice, it's making me feel really anxious about going now and i just want to feel prepared.

I’ve never had a portable potty. Just took the one from home (or the spare). Just open out a nappy in it, they wee etc in the nappy and you wrap it up and bin it. If you’re in a rural area it’s wild wees

We're just going to be in a sun resort. There's no way I could fit his main potty into the suitcase and I'm not sure I want to reintroduce nappies during the day when he's been doing so well, but I will probably put him in pull ups for the airport I think just to be on the safe side. I guess if I could fit his carry potty in a backpack it could be his carry on luggage maybe.

Try a pottette plus - you can use it as a toilet seat reducer, or a potty with a silicon insert or disposable liner - great for traveling and you could get him used to it before you go.

We took the portable potty in our carry on when DS was that age (and a bit older). It was a pain having to lug it around but it would fit in a backpack quite easily and it was definitely worth having with us.

Second question- how do we feel about using the potty on the beach. Normally I take ds to a cubicle to give him privacy because God knows who's around, but if we have all our stuff on the beach then by the time I pack everything up and get to a loo it might be too late, but also I'd worry things would walk if we leave them.

We go out and to the beach loads but usually I can time it between when he's due pees and our weather is never usually this hot for very long, but the amount he's been today and yesterday I'm realising it's going to be a different kettle of fish and not as easy to predict.

If he's used to using the carry potty I'd just bring it tbh - we had one and I'm sure it would fit in a Cabinmax bag so it should be fine as hand luggage. Once you're on holiday you'd probably have a buggy with you and can just hang it from there or put it in the basket.

On a beach we usually have a beach shelter and can use the potty in there. But with older kids we usually made sure we set up our base near toilets so could get to them quickly. I don't think you'd need to pack everything up, just make sure you have your valuables with you.

I wouldn't reintroduce pull-ups, I think that sends the wrong message.

I use a potette travel potty and just take a big muslin that I can use for privacy. It’s annoying but it has to be done to avoid accidents!

So our son (2.5 at the time) was seven weeks into potty training when we went on holiday. We just made sure we took him to the toilet every few hours (more frequently on the plane!) and sat him on a Close Pop In reusable seat protector in the buggy and on the plane seat just in case. We also packed the My Carry Potty but didn’t need it in the end. What was more useful was a folding seat minimiser to place over regular sized toilet seats. It was just one we got from Amazon but I think it made him feel more secure on the ‘big boy’ toilet :)

Good luck!

We used a carry potty on holiday when DS was newly potty trained. It fits easily in my husband’s backpack which was his hand luggage. If you’re travelling with suitcases, you don’t need much as hand luggage so I just carried his stuff in my bag.

We also put DS in a nappy on the plane, since there’s so many times during a flight when getting up isn’t allowed. We stressed to him that it was only for emergencies and he still used the toilet when he needed to. Didn’t cause him any confusion with his training at all.