My dd, 3 1/2, has been using the potty at home very well with little to no accidents. However at a friends house recently she had an accident. I just figured she was excited about being at a friends house and didn’t want to stop to go potty. But then she kept having accidents when out running errands or at friends houses while not having any problems at home. When I asked her why she didn’t tell me she had to go potty, she responded “NO, I only go on my potty.” So now what? How do I teach her it’s ok to go on other potties?
This may sound really strange, but we often took our kids’ little potty with us in the beginning stages of potty training. I remember one road trip when we had to pull over 3-4 times, open the back hatch of our van, and let a little one potty in their own toilet. Thankfully, those potties don’t take up much space and can be emptied on the road side.
Maybe you could try this for a while, just until she gets used to the idea of going outside your home. I’m sure your friends wouldn’t even mind if you brought her potty into their homes for her to use. And you may have to take her to the bathroom anyway, even if she doesn’t tell you she needs to go. If it’s been a couple of hours while you’re out running errands and she hasn’t had an accident, take her to the bathroom anyway and make sure she goes.
Another option – get an inexpensive soft potty seat to toss in the car and use “just for when we’re out”. It can be her special seat to use out of the house.
We did that for our son when we traveled cross country since we wern’t sure if he would make it to the gas stations. I should have mentions that at home she uses the big potty. She just won’t use anyone else’s.
Will she go if you are running into a store? That would be my only issue with the potty thing. You can’t carry it around everywhere and personally I (only my opinion obviously) don’t want my child to think I will or that there is something scary about going on another toliet? Just my thoughts. When we potty trained we just took them often when we were out. But I didn’t use a potty chair they were taught on a toliet. Maybe that’s the difference, if that’s the case maybe you might need to start at home having her use the BIG girl potty and not the little one now that she knows how to go all by herself! Misty
My kids were so itty bitty when they started potty training (usually 9 months and 2 years – I got lucky, I know!), that I was afraid to not have a toilet seat while we were out and about for fear they would fall in the toilet. I use a foldable toilet seat – http://www.onestepahead.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=150774
I used a folding toilet seat. Actually I kept a little back-pack for my little ones during this stage (or a diaper bag, if I had a younger one in diapers) – The little back pack, which the young one would carry him/herself would have in it a change of clothes, a pull-up (or underwear – depending on if multiple accidents were likely) some wipes, a couple of plastic bags, and the folding toilet seat. It was light and compact – and we would be prepared for using the toilet or for an accident.
My daughter had a ton of “potty anxiety” at that stage. She was scared of “automatic-ers” (auto flush toilets) as they frequently go off when you are still sitting on them and since we usually went into the handicapped bathroom the toilets were larger than our normal toilet at home and she was convinced she would fall in. I got a folding potty seat and kept it in a backpack like Suzukimom and carried it with us when I thought it likely to be used. Usually she is fine now, but occassionally she or my son who is now also trained will ask to use it if they don’t like the look of the bathroom for whatever reason. It has saved our bacon a couple times while on road trips!
Well, I don’t carry potty chairs but I have had this problem too. I was surprised that my oldest daughter went in her car seat one time after being potty trained.??? When she had problems with other toilets I would put a diaper on her when we left the house to go somewhere. She didn’t like this and asked why she had to wear a diaper like a baby. I told her that we were going to be out of the house and she doesn’t like to go to the toilet and I don’t have time to clean her messes up when she doesn’t act like a “Big Girl”. After a couple of times of wearing that diaper she decided that it was enough. I told her what I expected of her. I always kept the couple of extra diapers near the seat just in case she was having problems and needed reminding. Eventually after a few times she said, “Mommy, I think I can go in the big potty when we are out.” I was so relieved. So, when my other kids were learning I knew what to do without having to worry about an accident.
Sometimes children don’t like to go on the big potty for reasons. Some of the reasons my children came up with was…. They didn’t like the noise the big potty made. They also were afraid the swirling water would take them too. Then their was that they would fall in and get their clothes wet/poopy. So, I learned to that they have reasons why they won’t go in that big scarry potty.
It was a little different with short boys though…… especially when the lid hits them in the pee pee the second time they try it. 🙁 Also if you put a few cheerios in the toilet for boys to hit the target it gives them something to aim for instead of the lid. 🙂
The good news is they will learn eventually. I don’t know of any kids that wear diapers…..Only a few adults but they have been potty trained and because of age have regressed….. Tehe he
I have friends that bring their own potty everything. We opted for the toilet-seat-in-a-bag trick. We have done cross-country moves 10 times in 9 years (plus vacations), always with littles. We had a special potty bag (big beach type bag, but manly enough for my husband to carry) that held the potty seat, a supply of garbage bags big enough to hold it, a container of Clorox wipes, some kid wipes (to use instead of toilet paper, if necessary), and some hand sanitizer. And a change or 5 of clothes. As soon as we used the seat we’d wipe it down with the Clorox wipes and stick it in a clean garbage bag then into the potty bag.
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