2 year old potty training behaviour when out and about, please help !!

[plottybell]

He's grasped it very well at home and at nursery.

He takes himself to the toilet and has no accidents.

It's been 2 weeks since he's gone without nappies.

However, when we are out and about, it's difficult.

He has a tendency to have accidents in the car and if we go to restaurants etc, he just says he needs the toilet but does nothing - a million times, just to get us to walk around with him of course cos he's bored.

He sometimes then does his business but not always.

I try to get him to go before we leave home or between the times we are at whatever place it may be, but it's definitely stressful.

The accidents tend to happen in the car. Sometimes he asks to go to the toilet, but as other times he just ' takes the piss ' and doesn't really need to go, sometimes I miss it. Like the other morning we were in a massive rush and I had tied to get him to go before but he wouldn't. He started saying he needs to go when we sat down in the car but he had done that the previous day, I had unbuckled him, dragged him inside and he didn't need to go and was just messing around.

I don't really want to send mixed messages by putting a nappy on him. I also think we've gone too far down the road to go back ? He's turning two in a couple of weeks.

Any advice ?

I put cheap puppy pads in the car seat and also had a potty in the boot so we could access it with only a short wait.

Same. You can also get a car seat washable liner that even fits around the buckle especially for this

And I guess a bunch of spare trousers for when an accident does happen, right ?

How long did that phase last ?

He’s not even 2 yet and in the early stages of potty training, do you have to be dragging him to restaurants where he’s bored? Maybe try and keep outings to a minimal and make sure they’re child friendly for a few weeks until he’s more confident communicating when he needs to go and better at holding it. It’s a lot to expect him to transfer the skill to lots of different environments so I’d try and avoid unnecessary outings.

Age 2 and only 2 weeks in I think we had 3-4 emergency changes of clothes everywhere we went for best part of 6 months (just spare pants, socks and some cheap joggers). He rarely needed them but it was good to know they were there if he did.

Also used puppy pads in the car seat.

We carried two or three changes of clothes around for ages, possibly a year? It's just the same as taking a nappy bag everywhere with you. Tiresome, but better to be prepared!

Get a travel potty for the car and a folding toilet seat. They have them on Amazon. They fold up small enough to go into a bag and you put them on public toilets to make them smaller for children to sit on.

Carry as many spare clothes as you would nappies until you're confident he's fully trained. Even then I'd still carry two sets of bottoms and a spare top around.

I would have bought a small folding seat for the toilet in hindsight.

Ds was trained at 2, and still now 2 years later he falls down regular toilets out and about so wants us to hold him and he panics and then doesn’t go sometimes. and they are a bit too high alone. Then we have to go back 5 minutes later as he actually does want to go. At home we still use a toilet seat and step at toilet so he can go alone.

i think you have to change your routine a bit
stay at home more

This. They also went before we left the house - normally they would say I don’t need the toilet - as excited to go to wherever. We went and then again after a certain frame. They will be distracted in the car / fall asleep etc and you are expecting a lot from a two year old. Puppy pad in car and changes of clothes. Mine are over 10 and we still have changes of clothes in the car - not in case they miss the toilet but in case we go on a walk and they get muddy soaked etc

It could be that he does need to go when you're out in restaurants etc, but then gets stage fright in the unfamiliar loo. Mine were all terrified of the hand dryer at that age which didn't help. We kept spare clothes and a potty in the car too.

We had potty training liners for DS's underpants/training pants for a while. They are a bit like sanitary towels but will catch a little bit of week in case of accidents.

How many restaurants have you been in over the 2 weeks he’s been without nappies???

Looool I know.

Twice !! We've also been to soft plays and a farm.

Today we are supposed to go on a day trip around london. Not sure how I'm going to do it !

I do have a travel potty and also the small toilet seat.

He's also become so bad in restaurants now. I'm not sure I can take him for a while. It could be liked to the potty training or it's just the terrible twos. But he just won't sit down at all and just tantrums around until you let him out of his seat.

He was never perfect in restaurants but now it's basically unbearable. Two year olds I guess !

Tbh when I potty trained I didnt take Ds places out and about like restaurants and long day trips straight away. I trained him at the beginning of Summer (June time) knowing we then had about 2-3 months when we could stay local ish. We went out but places I would aim to use toilet at home first, then know he probably didn’t need to go the next 1-2 hours. Long day trips were occasional and not every other day so he had time to get used to it mainly at home. and only when dh was with me so we could tag team toilet trips

We had a memorable long train trip when he was nearly 3. 4hrs. He discovered the toilet onboard about an hour in then told us every 10 mins he was desperate and we didn’t know if he was or not so had to keep walking the three carriages to nearest working loo

At this point, you need to plan life about what he can and will do. And that’s it.

A day trip to London for a jolly is not an essential. You just don’t go.

A day trip to London for a funeral or medical appointment or some such needs to be organised on a military scale. Plan your toilet stops. Pack a bag with plenty of extra clothes. Communicate clearly. No matter how rushed you are in your head, you need to be relaxed with dc.

Oh, and well done for getting this far with a two year old. That’s really good.

Keep yourself local. Why do you need to go to London. Dd found London too much at 2.

He was alright some how when we went to london. He went to the toilet and I used the travel potty in the car. He didn't wet himself on the london eye thankfully.

Anyway, now the only issue I'm finding is that at nursery they don't want to touch his willy to point it into the toilet bowl when he's doing a wee, so he gets it on his trousers and needs a change a lot.

Any advice? I push it down for him and tell him to push it down. I suppose eventually he'll just do it himself ?