about car seats and wee

[ShadowStar]

We are in the middle of potty training DS1.

So far we haven't had too many car journeys since starting potty training. today DH & I were discussing a planned day out, and the question of what to do with DS1 on the journey came up.

I'm all for encouraging him to have a wee on the potty before we leave, put him in pants, then sit him on a towel while in the car seat in case there's an accident.

DH wants him in pull-ups in the car because "if one drop of wee gets on it then we'll have to throw the car seat out"

AIBU to think that this is a ridiculous overreaction to a bit of wee?

Poundland have bed mats that come in a pack of 3 and are super absorbent. Cut one in half for each journey?

I've done exactly what you've suggested with all 3 of mine and then kept a potty in the car.

I'm a bit confused as to what your husband suggests, my kids have been sick, dropped sweets, juice, melted chocolate etc in their car seats. Can you not just take the fabric off and wash it?

Fwiw I do think your DH is being unreasonable. Wee comes out. At most the car seat would need steam cleaning.

Definitely ott. Most fabrics are washable . We used bed pads to line the set although don't recall any mishaps.

Use those puppy mats under him

If your ds is ready to be toilet trained, he should be able to tell you when he needs to wee with enough time for you to stop and get a potty out.

I agree with your DH about not wanting wee on the car seat, but you can get those mats with waterproof backing on them so that even if your ds does do a wee the seat won't get wet. Much better than a towel that I wouldn't choose to use either. I definitely wouldn't put him in pull ups while you're trying to train, that completely defeats the object.

In my limited experience, toilet learning should only take a week if the child is ready.

You could put something waterproof on the carseat, we put a folded up bin liner.

What happens when your DS is a bit older and is trained but still has the occasional accident? DD is 4 and has wet her car seat twice lately when she fell asleep in it. We just stick it in the wash!

Has he thrown out all the clothes your DS got bodily fluids on since he was born?

Erm,,, wash the seat cover. What car seat doesn't have a removable one?

disposable bed mat worth having about when potty training too.

My DD's car seat cover isn't removable. So I bought 2 seat pads from Close Parent (cloth nappy company). They have a waterproof part and an absorbent part. I was lucky enough to get them half price from TKMaxx (hence why I have them now even though DD isn't ready to potty train yet).

DS weed in his sleep once on the car seat. We washed the cover and wiped out the seat. There are little wells where the wee caught but was easy to clean. He is being ridiculous!

Oh, unless your cover isn't removable. In which case plastic bag under towel will be fine.

you can get training pants, we had a couple of those but actually never used them as DD was fine.

I wouldn't fancy her car seat smelling of wee, I must say, but there's ways around it other than putting him in pull-ups.

I put a pull up on my DS over the top of his pants for car journeys so he could still feel if he'd wet himself, he was really good at home either plopping himself on the potty or telling me he needed to go, but my first car outing with him involved a motorway so we wouldn't be able to pull over within the 10 second margin we got from "I need a wee" to "I've had a wee".

I used the same tactic for night time training too, did have some of those bed pads but DS is a wriggler, it was much easier than changing bed sheets in the middle of the night.

We have always just put a towel in the seat or one of those disposable bed Mats you get, the pet ones are cheaper and if you need/want you can cut them to size.

Carseat covers can come off and be washed.

You can buy a thin waterproof reusable mat for the car seat. They used to be called wetec mats. I know JoJomamanbebe which has free delivery sell them for about £8. They are slightly quilted, comfy, but with plastic backing so wee is absorbed and does not leak. You just put in the washing machine.
They are for buggies, car seats, high chairs etc.

I had one and tbh I think it was only weed on once.

Personally I would not out a pull up on, whether on top of pants or not. With potty training, the key thing is no going back once started.

Thanks for the suggestions about the disposable pads / waterproof mats - that's something I'd not thought of, and that sounds more effective than a towel in the event of a wee.

We haven't looked at bed mats yet, as we've decided to wait until DS1's reliably potty trained throughout the day before leaving pull-ups off at night.

My eldest did a few wees in his car seat. As suggested above, I just took the fabric off and washed it. It's like magic as it only usually takes an hour or so to dry on the line. Why would this not be an option?

We tried the towel thing but they ruck up and bag around the belt. The cover easily comes off and washes and dries easily. Accidents happen when they fall asleep in the car. My son naps on the sofa so we sellotape bedmats to the sofa cushion and cover with a washable blanket

Towel is fine but it needs something waterproof underneath. Carseat covers wash fine but ours is fiddly to put back on. The towel is easier and you don't want him sat on a wee covered seat for the rest of the journey.

We have used pullups for car journeys but in more complicated circs. For your basic, 'easy' toilet trainer I wouldn't.

We used the disposable changing mats to protect the seat, and pull ups for longer journeys (1 hour +), luckily neither of our boys ever had an accident in the car!! Not sure how we managed that one..../

By the way, the reusable mat I mentioned is designed for car seats, so has a slit for the car seat strap to go through (between the legs) so there is no rucking up.
Look on ebay and you will probably find one for a couple of quid. (Wetec mat or reusable potty training car mat)

Child car seats are easily washable. Remove the covers, launder and then wipe the rest.

We used bed mats

So far have toilet trained two boys and only had one in car accident luckily

On that basis surely he'd never let them in the car, they might be car-sick, that's far worse than a bit of pee! And what about when they have a runny poo that escapes their nappy? And when they're teenagers, what if they get a sick bug? They're not even in carseats then, you'd have to throw out the whole car!