Newly potty trained & v.long car journey? Help!

[Inyourwildestdreams]

2.5yo. Started potty training about 4 weeks ago and he’s absolutely smashing it. 1 proper accident the whole time and a couple of times he’s let a small bit of wee out then held the rest until he got to the potty or toilet. Currently wears pull up to bed and wakes up dry about 50% of mornings. Hasn’t napped in about a year unless he’s been in the car later on in the afternoon (which he hasn’t been since potty training so haven’t had to factor that in yet!).

Unexpectedly having to make a long car journey twice next week - about 6.5 hours each way if not stopping. Obviously we’ll be factoring in plenty of stops so journey will take much longer.

How would you navigate the toilet situation? I have a carry potty which we’ll take. I know if he falls asleep (which is very likely at some point) then he’s probably going to wet himself which would upset him a lot. Am I setting myself up for a huge fail if I put a pull up on him for the journey and explain that it’s for “just incase we can’t stop in time”?

Any advice is very much appreciated!

Totally use the pull up. A wet car seat will be no fun to deal with or sit in. Sometimes (on a motorway) you just won’t be able to stop in time. He’s learning the feeling of I need to wee and might get upset about being in a pull up, just reassure him it’s ok and just an accident if you cannot stop in time.

if you can pull over into a lay-by etc great but if not it’s not the end of the world and a pull up will save the car seat getting wet.

I'd avoid the pull up and just make a stop every couple of hours for a wee.

He should be fine to go two hours between wees even if he's asleep. He's wet overnight because it's presumably 10/12 hours.

I would line the car seat with a pad just incase and obviously take spare clothes.

@Uponastarr Thats exactly my thinking! It’s a lot of motorway and there’s just no option to stop sometimes so it would save that. Since 3/4 days in hes been easily going out and about and happily telling us when he needs to go and using public loos etc so I’m not concerned about him telling us, it’s just more for the upset if he falls asleep and does it then.

We did this shortly after training. We put towels on the chair, and stopped every 1.5 hours. My son thought it was great he discovered petrol stations and all the sweets you can get at each stop! (Still haven’t really untaught him that one years later!)

@NuffSaidSam Is it safe to put something in the car seat? I always thought that was a huge no?
How would that work with the buckles etc? 😅

I can't see why a potty training pad on the bottom of the seat would cause an issue? What are you worried about?

Surely only one of the buckles is on the bottom of the seat so just cut a hole in the pad and put it through...

You can also buy reusable pads made for this purpose that come with the hole pre-cut if that's a concern!

@NuffSaidSam Im not sure. I just know that it was drilled into me that I should never be putting anything in the car seat 😅

Just give him a pull up to wear. He's doing really well and what you don't want to do is make it into a drama if you get stuck in traffic.

Reduce stress for everyone. Plus you can't reverse potty training p+ his progress won't be undone if wees in a pull up on a long car journey.

@wellingtonsandwaffles 😂 he hasn’t discovered the world of sweets yet so his little head might explode at that one 🤣 I was thinking a little treat might help the situation lol

We had similar not long after training DS and honestly a pull up for one car journey did not impact him or his progress in the slightest. I would personally use the pull up, there's no point getting into a situation where he might wet himself when you have got a perfectly good alternative.

I used to put a pull up over pants when my two were little with trousers or shorts over that. I explained it was just in case Mummy couldn't stop in time if we were on a motorway.
That way they were still in big boy pants but we had back up just in case. I reused the pull up if try which reinforced the just in case

@Clymene @YourNameGoesHere Yeah that was my initial thought so I’m just going to go with that. He’s definitely capable of understanding that it’s just because it’s a long time in the car and it’s “just incase” so hopefully he’ll be fine with it.

@LostMySocks i had seen that as a suggestion somewhere else too. Definitely another option, thank you!

I put DD into pull ups when we had a similar situation. I saw it as a safety issue to be honest - I didn't think I'd be a very safe driver if I had a child who was very upset because they'd wet themselves/ were about to wet themselves in the back.

In the event she did keep the pull up dry, but it just took the stress out of the situation.

@110APiccadilly Another good point, thank you 😊

You can also explain to him that you put the pull up on him at night time because when he's asleep he doesn't always know if he needs a wee, and that how because it's a long car journey he might have a little sleep so explain it as ' putting it on just incase you want to have a little sleep' rather than 'just in case you have an accident'.

Also, limit drinks before hand by a few hours so he doesn't need a wee as much.

I'd still try and stop when he needs a wee even if it means getting off at the next exit on motorway rather than risk him weeing in the pull up though , I think I'd worry it was a setback

Pull up, and agree with PP that you explain it's in case he needs a sleep. Don't make a big deal of it and still stop for wees regularly. Did this with my recently potty trained child on a plane journey recently and it worked well. No accidents when we got home so it didn't set us back.

Use a pull up, that's what we did. It won't set him back. You can also get a portable potty so I'd get one of those too so if you're able to pull up at the side oct he road you can.

We used a pull up, still do 5 months in if it's a very long journey as sometimes he still doesn't give us much notice.

Or you can get something like this. We used them in early training when popping out and they were great. Would be fine in the base of the car seat as so thin.

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B08M69QSD1?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

We did potty training with our son at Easter and then eight weeks later took a four hour flight. Throughout the whole day we didn't go more than two hours without a toilet visit and went every hour on the plane. I was very worried about it beforehand but it was fine and we had no accidents. The six hour car ride up to see my parents a month later was also fine :)

My suggestion is just to take frequent breaks. We didn't bother with pull ups.

The other thing we got was a Close Pop-in reusable car seat liner.

I flew with my day time toilet training niece when she was 3, used a nappy/pull up in the airport/flight for a just in case. Worked fine and didn't impact on the progress!

Put a pull up over his pants. Call them driving pull ups (if you can get a different design to his normal ones)

We did a long journey at this stage and put a pull up on her "in case she got cold" as cars can be so chilly. Nothing to do with if she might need a wee 😉She didn't use it in the end but it made me feel about a million times more relaxed when she suddenly needed a poo and there was nowhere to pull over for a few minutes.

we’ve done 2 coach journeys since my son has been potty trained. We put on a just in case nappy with pants on top. He understood and called it his suitcase nappy haha