Potty training

[Lola2321]

Advice please.

our toddler is 2years 5 months and showing signs of wanting to use a potty, in fact he has done a few times. He seems to be aware of when he needs to go for a wee and when he’s had a poo. he is still very much in nappies.

however we are going on holiday in 6 weeks. the holiday involves plane so
limited number of toilets and likely not to be readily available. We’ll be swimming a lot so I’d imagine we’d stick with swim nappies?

what would you do? wait and potty train when we’re back or crack on? With view we may need to use nappies on the plane etc?

Personally I'd wait and do it as soon as you get back. I was in exactly the same situation with DS1, I went ahead and it was quite frustrating how much he went backwards due to the holiday.

Don’t miss the window of readiness as it gets harder after. If it goes well you could be in a good place in 6 weeks. I didn’t have any accidents with either of mine by the third day. I’d rather be on a plane than a bus or an underground with a toddler who needs a wee. Swimming nappies maybe yes if he’s not used to being in the pool as it can make them want to go.

I’d wait; I’d much rather have a toddler in nappies on a plane than one that’s just potty trained - as there’s always some accidents!

I'd probably go ahead and do it if you think it's the right moment. My DS had been trained longer than 6 weeks (more like 3 months) when we went on holiday, but just in case it's useful, we used a My Carry Potty on the plane and I don't think anyone noticed there was a toddler doing a wee just in front of his window seat. He is pretty reliable about saying when he wants a wee but would have been freaked out by the plane toilets. He didn't have a single accident on holiday.

It's fine to still use swim nappies even when toilet trained - most swimming lessons will insist on it. But you could get a reusable one so he just thinks of it as part of his swimming costume rather than being 'back in nappies'.

Go for it, in my experience if they're really ready it happens very quickly and easily. Frustrating with the plane though, portable potty with a lid maybe?
Also i wouldn't go back into swim nappies but maybe reusable absorbent swim pants? So he doesn't realise it's a nappy but will contain any accidents just in case

For the sake 6 weeks I’d wait and then clear the schedule as soon as you’re back. Last thing you want to be dealing with on holiday is loads of washing if there are accidents!

That is a fair point about the accidents - but I think in 6 weeks you should have a pretty good idea of how it's going and you might end up pausing if he's still having multiple accidents. With my DS I think being on holiday together actually helped as he was with us much more intensively than normal.

Thank you for all your views, seems like it’s a fine balance between going for it and waiting. Good tips on the reusable swim nappies and carry potty, will def look into both x

I would crack on and make the most of his readiness now. My DD has been potty trained for nearly a year now (she's 3 years 2 months old) and I still put her in nappies for long car journeys - it hasn't caused us any problems with confusion or regression, and the nappy comes off as soon as we arrive and she goes back to using the toilet without issue. It's so much easier than dealing with 'I need a wee' while on the motorway nowhere near a service station! She still has nappies for her nap and bedtime, so unless your son is also ready to be dry at night (which is unlikely given it's a different biological process), then he'll still be used to having a nappy anyway. And finally, on swimming, it's so rare for kids to poo in water past the newborn phase, I wouldn't bother with a swim nappy whatever you do about potty training