Those travel pottys-are they good?

[AntoinetteCosway]

We're (finally) going to start potty training this week. For when we're out of the house should we take the potty with us or is it worth investing in a portable one? Or is there such a thing as a portable toilet seat thing? Her bum is definitely too small to sit on a regular loo seat!

The Potette is a travel potty and loo seat combined.

It is basically a mini loo seat shape, with legs that either fold down to make the seat self-standing at potty level, who thin which you put a plastic bag with absorbent pad. Or you fold the legs outwards, making it into a over-the-adult-seat loo seat.

We take ours to all sorts of places. Used it in car parks (open both car doors and use in between for a bit of privacy!), behind bushes in parks etc. But never use it on a shop floor, or you'll end up with a pasting in AIBU!

They're £15 or so from amazon/eBay/mothercare.

Brill, thank you-will look them up.

(Just don't use a Potette in a soft furnishing department)

Noted! We're going out for lunch with friends next weekend and then the weekend after that we've got to do a 4 hour drive. That journey is pretty doomed I think!

If you decide to not use a nappy for the journey, I recommend getting a pack of puppy training pads from pets at home and cutting them to line the seat of the car seat. You can also use a piece of puppy training pad in a normal carrier bag instead of the expensive Potette liners.

You can get disposable and washable car seat/buggy liners for potty training, but puppy ones are bigger and cheaper

I found the Potette quite awkward with a boy, but it is perhaps easier with a girl. I kept finding that DS weed over the side or I didn't have the liner in properly and it leaked. Going alfresco is probably easier. It is much smaller to carry than a proper potty however.

Puppy pads are a great tip!

The liners are one of the things putting me off. Is there any reason not to just recycle a plastic bag from Tesco?

I use tesco bags, with a piece of puppy pad in the bottom to absorb the wee. I wouldn't use just a tesco bag, as I think it'd leak and would be particularly grim if you had to carry it a while to a bin or stick it in your car footwell.

I cut up a puppy pad from PAH into about 16 pieces and just put one in the bottom of the bag. It soaks up the wee.

My DS hasn't had a problem with it, but we do make a point of reminding him to tuck his willy down on the loo/potty every time.

Ok, will do the puppy pad/carrier bag combination, thanks

I don't know what we would have done without the potette. We used as a portable loo seat more than a potty with the bags. It basically meant that we could plonk DD on any public loo and wipe her bottom without having to hold her in place (saved my back). If using as a standalone potty the absorbant pads in the bags are kind of essential if it is a wee, not so much if it is a poo. Carrier bags from Tescos remember also have anti-suffocation holes - the wee will fall out, sandwich/ nappy bags won't be big enough to stretch round the hole.

Potette is great. Both DSs are toilet trained now but it's still in the car in case of emergency.