What do you do when you are out & about

[cocobongo]

Started potty training my 22 month old a couple of months ago and she is doing really well. Dry most days and very few accidents.

Anyway, my question is- how do you deal with it when they need the toilet outside? I have been taking the potty with me and letting her use it in the street if needs be, as although she knows when she needs to go, she isn't at the stage where she can wait ages to find a toilet.

However, one of my friends keeps going on about how weird it is to do this, and that you don't see other toddlers using a potty in public, and that it must mean she isn't ready yet. She suggested that I should put her in pull-ups when we are out. But I think that is sending mixed messages- that she should use the potty inside but just piss herself outside!

Added complexity is that a couple of times, she has taken to doing a big poo in the potty outside! Not something I really want to encourage......

So- what do you do? Is it weird? AAAAAGGGHHH!!!!!

I took our potty out and about with us, too. Obviously I wouldn't sit dd or ds on the potty in a shop or restaurant, or anywhere indoors, but yes, I would put them on the potty if they needed it on a quiet side street. You can't mix and match between potties and pull ups - its all or nothing. Ignore your friend.

We used to take a large plastic freezer bag with loo roll, wet wipes and DS used to go in that and then use paper and wipes to clean him up. Much easier to carry a rolled up bag in a pocket than a potty.

Thanks for your responses. At least there are some people who have done the same as me- hopefully we haven't all mentally scarred our children!

MoreBeta- how did you manage to get DS to go in a bag? Was it just for wees or poos too? (Oh my god, why am I talking like this!). Don't think I would have the manual dexterity to get DD to go in a bag!

Obviously I would try and get them out of an enclosed public space if they wanted to go to the toilet because most people do not want to witness that.

we put pull ups on ds if we are out for longer than an hour or so as he refuses to use toilets that aren't in a home.

every time we try it ends up with shrieks for home and wet trousers. using a potty in public seems to really freak him out.

he will use the potty/toilet at grannys and friends houses, it's just seems to be public ones he doesn't like.

cocobongo - both and often at very short notice. It was a case of needs must. We dont drive so no chance of carting a potty around. Besides he was too big for a potty anyway.

We use one of the potette foldable potty things, get one second hand if poss as a bit pricey, but is a godsend. They wee (& yes, dd2 poos ) in a liner with absorbent stuff in then you just tie it up & sling it in the nearest bin. (I tend to use dog bins or nappy bins as putting human excrement in normal bins seems wrong to me!).

I don't use pull ups, I only take a potty in my car. Before we leave for anywhere she has a wee. If we go out and it's been a while since a wee then I sit her on the potty in the boot of my car so it's discreet and tip into a drain. (she's never poo'd). Then once at shops etc I dive into shop or restaurant etc to toilets. I always carry spare clothes. I just find she's learning to hold it better by being told hold on we'll find a toilet. It's rare she can't wait now at 2.5 she's dry at night and day except the odd trickle as she rushes to the toilet.

I waited until DS1 was ready to potty train at about 3. I remember one trip to the library when all I said was 'Do you need a wee' x 100

After that he was fine. No accidents and certainly didn't trail a potty after me for months.........

I don't have a car either, so the potty and all the cleaning stuff goes in a bag. very bulky to carry! We usually aren't close enough to a shop / restaurant with a toilet when she decides she needs. Plus, it's such a faff as I usually have the buggy with me (though she insists on walking most of the way, which is why we are always ages away from anywhere as it takes her so long to walk) and everything else, and there doesn't tend to be much room in local shops / restaurants.

We swear by the potette. DS is 21 months, and does prefer the home potty, but has used the potette quite happily.

Dd was nearly 3 until she decided that she didn't want to wear nappies anymore. In hindsight, I'm glad that she waited so long as her bladder was much bigger and stronger and she could hold on for ages from the first day out of nappies.

I carried a foldable toilet seat around for a week or so until she got used to using the toilet, but we missed the 'do you need a wee?' ad infim, spare clothes and portable potty stages out which was fine by me.

If she was caught short, we used a drain or a bush.

Porta potty was a godsend for ds1.

Ds2 on the other hand won't go near it!