How to Go from Potty Training at Home to the Real World?

Updated on September 15, 2011
M.U. asks from Tampa, FL
5 answers

My son is 27 months old and has been using the potty fairly consistently for the past 2-3 weeks when at home (and barebottomed). He is in a diaper at school and has just started to occasionally use the potty at school. We put a diaper on him whenever we go anywhere out of the house. I am wondering what people do to transition to not using a diaper (or training pants since they seem to be just like diapers except easier to put on and off) outside the home where there is not a toilet always nearby and no small potty like the one my son likes to use at home. It feels sort of like taking a big leap of faith that he won't have frequent accidents outside the house. I'm curious how other mom's have handled this transition. Thanks!

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So What Happened?

Thanks to all for your helpful advice. I am looking into buying a portable potty (potette?) as well as a car seat liner. Once my little guy can consistently use the potty with underwear on at home, I will start getting him out of the house for short trips, perhaps around the neighborhood. Thanks mamas!

More Answers

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V.B.

answers from Miami on

At some point, when you're comfortable that he knows what he's doing and can tell you a little bit ahead of time, you just have to do it and carry around extra clothes for the accidents. You can keep a little potty in the back of your car if you want (I have never done this, but know people who have) so that you can just pull over and let them go in that (or if you're at the park, etc. where there may not be a potty handy). They also sell foldable, portable potty seats (I think I got it at Babies R Us) so that you can keep it in your purse to use when you're out (It comes with a case to put it in). They also make little covers that you can put in their car seats (I think it's called a piddle pad) so that if they have an accident in the car, you don't have to clean the whole car seat cover. Anyway, those are just a few of the conveniences they have to make the transition easier, but with my son (who is also only potty trained a few weeks), we just went for the gusto (I use the piddle pad, but that's it). He is my second though....with my daughter I carried around the portable seat. Not so much with him. Good luck!

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M.M.

answers from Oklahoma City on

I liked the idea of the foldable pottys to TILL I BOUGHT ONE they dont fit on the toilets so i bought a http://www.walmart.com/ip/Mommys-Helper-Contoured-Potty-S...

it has ducks and white so gender nuetral and i threw it in a tote bag and place it on the potties when out and about. Also we went straight underwear no more diapers. I KNOW YOUR THINKING WHAT ABOUT ACCIDENTS. i carried extra underwear and easy pull on pants AND made the 5 buk investment and bout puppy training pads folded it in half and put it in the car seat THAT WAY if the accident happened in the car seat it didnt get in the car seat pt on the puppy pad!!! DONT ASK IF THEY NEED TO POTTY JUST PULL INTO A GAS STATION AND TAKE THEM was my method of preventing accidents. I went potty first and then place my child up there and said ok your turn i made a silly face (like i was grunting or peeing) and said ok make a silly face and pee pee or poo poo. My daughter will be 3 in november and has been a toilet goer for almost a year! GOOD LUCK

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A.G.

answers from Mayaguez on

Superhero, comics, fun character underwear! Start using the real toilet at home and notice how often he goes. If you're going out, ask him to go before leaving the house and ask him if he needs to go often. Always carry a change of clothes, in case of accidents.

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A.F.

answers from New York on

My daughter is about 2 months in with potty training, I do the same, I carry a foldable potty seat with me for public restrooms, the small travel toilet paper and wipes. Definitely carry one or two extra pairs of clothing and put something down in his car seat. The first time I was driving with her (without a diaper on) and she yelled pee-pee. I pulled into a parking lot and was going to let her go on the side of the car but I saw a sand pail and put her on it and it worked perfect. So now I carry a pail with me in the car its much smaller then a training potty. You just got to do it gets so much easier, just try and keeo him out of any kind of diaper, if he has an accident thats ok it will teach him how to hold it. Good luck

A.W.

answers from Kalamazoo on

Yes - like Valerie said, buy one of those foldable potty seats. I kept mine in a plastic gro bag in my diaper bag. I did pull ups out side of the home for a long time, probably a few months even after they seemed trained. I would put the pull ups on OVER their underwear.....if they stayed dry while we were gone than I would take it off when we got home and save it for the next time (since it didn't actually touch their skin you know). The first few times we went out in just undies, I made sure they just went potty at home before leaving and then kept the trip short!

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