No upstairs loo - will this be a disaster?!

[jumpjockey]

Inspired by the stairgate thread, I'm suddenly worried about what will happen when dd is old enough to go to the loo by herself at night (currently 11 months so not a problem yet!). We're in a victorian 2 up 2 down with the bathroom off the back of the kitchen, so to get from the bedrooms to the loo you have to go down the stairs, through the living room, through the kitchen and down a step into bathroom.

Has anyone successfully had a toddler in a house like this without lots of wees on the living room floor from not quite making it?
And/or tumbles down the stairs by dozy child? A few neighbours have put the bathroom upstairs, but frankly if would cost so much (and we'd lose the spare room) that it would probably be easier to move house if toddler+downstairs loo = disaster.

You'd be amazed how long a child can hold a wee for at nighttime. When we only had a downstairs bathroom, my lot never woke up for a wee.

Mine are 4 and 7 and still don't go the toilet by themselves at night because they are scared of the dark - their bladders are ENORMOUS anyway so it doesn't seem to matter

I don't think it is a problem

We've been in a house with a downstairs bathroom until last month. Dd was nearly 4 when we moved out.

It was never a problem. Dd would wake us up when she needed the loo so she wouldn't go on her own. We now have an upstairs bathroom and she still wakes us up anyway, so no difference there.

TBH, you just adjust to whatever situation. When we moved I was panicking because we don't have a bath - it's not an issue at all. Dd doesn't have baths but that means we can spend more time reading books before bed!

Phew! Had envisioned her needing a potty til she was 9 or some such...

agree with the others - but what someone very cleverly did in this house before we bought it was put a toilet upstairs.

The took a tiny section out of the back bedroom (the 3rd bedroom) - just enough space for a toilet and small sink - giving an upstairs toilet and still retaining all bedrooms.

we have an upstairs bathroom but due to design of landing can't put a stairgate up, so we have a potty in ds's room he is 3.6 and he uses it when he needs to in the night.

jump Funny you should say that.... Don't tell anyone, but my 6 and 9 year olds do have a potty in their rooms. They are both early wakers and it stops them waking everyone else up, since they are seemingly unable to go in and out of their rooms quietly. DS1 often doesn't use his, but still.

AIBU ?

We're currently in a house with a downstairs bathroom (plumber here as I type working on an upstairs one ) - but I have to confess the problem isn't the child - it's me! I'm pregnant, but even so, if you need to the loo in the middle of the night it's no bloody joke to have to go down the stairs, across the house (getting colder) in to the shack which is the bathroom (freezing) and return to bed... I'm wide awake at the end of it. There is no way I would want a child doing it without help because of the stairs. So I confess - I, at the ripe old age of 31, have a modern equivalent of a chamber pot soon to be replaced by a nice en suite which the children will then be able to use at night as well...