To put a nappy on DS

[Nymeria01]

Tomorrow I'm driving back home to London from Durrham with my 5 year old DS2. He is prone to not very reliable regarding the toilet and will wait until he is bursting to go. In the car on a motorway I'm thinking it my be wise to put a nappy on him not to replace the toilet but just to take the panic out of getting to a service station in time. He is still in them at night (otherwise it wouldn't be an option) and on the journey up he was wearing one as it was late in the evening. However tomorrow I'm leaving mid day so its a bit different. I would make sure that he was fine with wearing it but I'm still not sure whether it is the right thing to do. Any thoughts?

OK. After all the suggestions, what about a compromise?

WashingFanatic's idea of having a bottle in the car was popular with her two boys after they'd been 'trained' how to use it. I suggest taking a bottle with you, stopping every 90 mins or so at Services ( cattyPussClaw's idea here), take the bottle in with you and see if he'll pee in the bottle in the Men's loos and proudly bring it out to you. It'll give him a bit of fun. What about marking the bottle every so often up the bottle's length and see how high he can fill it?

Just put tge pull up on, he's fine with it so what! You do what's best for you and your situation! All this bottle stuff sounds a but complicated, he's still only little so might drop it, hence wee everywhere! Btw what do you do with girls if tgey want to wee on a car journey!

Speaking as an adult with urgency issues, I'd personally love it if stopping every set amount of minutes worked! It is an issue for some people, children moreso but there are adults who wouldn't be able to do that either...

Well, it wouldn't be a precise set of minutes before each stop because Services are not exactly spaced apart, are they?

And what about when you get stuck in a traffic jam between stops?

Just go with the pull ups. All of my children were potty trained during the day by age two, but I had no qualms at all about using the odd pull up for long car journeys to save on stress. Driving with children can be stressful enough without worrying about them sitting in a wet seat.

My five year old would not be able to pee in a bottle on his own, especially not in a moving car, with a seatbelt on.

Exactly kelda it's a one off long car journey with a young chikd. A pull up will not harm especially as you used one for the way there.

Op you do as you see fit!

Happy Well no, of course not, but planning out the stops just does not work if there are urgency troubles involved, which it sounds like OPs child has. The M23 and M25 are pretty standard for services though, every 25 minutes or so on the east side of the M25.

It all sounds hugely complicated... Just let him wee in a bottle. Sorted.

Glad you sorted it Nymeria.

RTFT rest of you lot.

Weeing in a bottle even worse! He still little and might not have the coordination or control to wee in a bottle in a moving car, in a car seat with a seatbelt on. Pull up much easier.

Just thought I should follow up by saying that I made the journey with him wearing a nappy. He had no problem with it and it made the drive significantly less stressful. I was relived that he was wearing it as twice he said on the motorway that he needed to wee and both times he used his nappy.

That's great nymeria, so it won't scar him for life

I doubt it will Aeroflotgirl

Why make life hard for yourself! A bottle noway all over your car, unless the child is a lot older. If you stop at services your ds will not go and will wait until he is bursting, which is more likely on the motorway which you just cannot stop like that!