Using the restroom in public

Hello all!

So the potty training has gone great, and we've had very little accidents during the day while we are home. When we are out running errands or just in general is another story. The refuse to use the toilets in public! I even bought one of those fold up seat things so they can sit on so they don't fall in or anything. If we even go near a public restroom they start making a huge fuss! DH refuses to use the pullups for emergency and I can understand not wanting to take a step back, but that limits how long we can stay out in public doing anything before one of them pees their pants and he wants to run around w/them ALL DAY practically! It's just getting frustrating. Has anyone else gone through this and/or have any tricks or advice that might help them get over their fear? They were fine the first weekend after we PT and then won't do it at all! TIA for any help!

 

I'm in the same boat right now with my 2 1/2 year old... she does great while at home but not so well lasting a while out in public. In addition to the public bathroom hang up, I'm finding we have trouble at playgrounds or her siblings' baseball games where there aren't bathrooms. My older DD would never use public bathrooms but was pretty good at holding it. I can count on one hand the number of accidents she had as a result of not using a public bathroom.

I saw some friends recently that carried a little potty (the free-standing potty training kind) in the back of their car. I think I'll go this route for the spring/summer when we are out so much. It's kind of gross (cleaning it out? riding home with the smell and cleaning it at home?) but I think for us it could be a life saver when we are at a game or park and we're stuck. I'll stash plenty of wipes and maybe some paper towels and bathroom cleaner in the car, I guess!

Good luck!

 

Thanks Eileen. Yeah, I thought about something like that too. We have a little potty chair that they kinda trained on, it's one that the back folds down and makes it a stool, but the thought of putting that one in the van seemed kinda gross to me too. It's not very secure, so if we didn't dump it or something I'd be worried about the pee sploshing around and getting on the floor. If we're in a parking lot, where would you dump it out, right? Lol, Yuck! I found something on the Target website that looks a little better, what do you think?(if this link works?)
http://www.target.com/Boon-Potty-Bench-Training-Toilet/dp/B000ETTVWA/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&searchView=grid5&qid=1274664216&frombrowse=0&fromGsearch=true&node=1038576|1287991011&keywords=training%20potty&searchSize=30&id=Boon%20Potty%20Bench%20Training%20Toilet&searchBinNameList=purchasing_channel%2Csubjectbin%2Ctarget_com_age%2Ctarget_com_gender-bin%2Ctarget_com_character-bin%2Cprice%2Ctarget_com_primary_color-bin%2Ctarget_com_size-bin%2Ctarget_com_brand-bin&searchNodeID=1038576|1287991011&searchRank=target104545&sr=1-6&searchPage=1

I hope things work out for you too! Let's see if anyone else has anything to add.

 

We have a potty chair in the back of our SUV and it works fantastic. I dump the pee wherever we are (yes, even in the Target parking lot, on a grassy spot). We've never had a smell and cleaning it out is easy - I just take the bowl part into the house when we get home, wash it like it was used at home, and put it back in the car for our next trip.

 

I've also taken the little potty with me before. If I can't dump it right away, I put a clean diaper in it, absorbent side down, to absorb the pee. We've never had poop in the little potty in the car. Thank God! That would be much harder to clean.

 

Don't know that I have a solution but I guess I made it fun to go in the public bathroom from the beginning b/c as soon as we walk into a store, they want to use the bathroom. Even if they went at home and this is the first stop. I just have to laugh at them. They get a kick out of the different kinds and sizes of toilets. So I kind of hhave the opposite problem but can you find a way to make it more fun to see other toilets or have a sticker chart in the car for when they use other toilets. Talk about it at home and see if you can make it exciting to do it at the store.

 

Too funny! Thanks, I'll have to keep that in mind and remember to always park near grass or something! Our van doesn't really have a good place to set a little potty, but I might try it out soon.

Jessie, good idea about using a diaper to absorb. I didn't think about that. If there's not a lot of pee...

LV twinmama, how did you make it fun? I've never tried sticker charts before, but even other "bribes" or rewards still don't seem to motivate them much to go out in public.

 

Me too!

Do they pee standing up? If so, you might try having them stand on the seat [with you holding them of course]. I started doing this early on with DS for sanitary reasons in public restrooms and he loved it. It was a game to him and one less kid to me touching the public toilet.

Best of luck!

 

The first weekend we were out and they had to go, and my DH took Nick and I took Alex. Well, DH had Nick use the standing urinal in the mens room and Alex would not go for me. So DH tried the same w/Alex he did for Nick but still wouldn't go. So Alex won't pee standing up at all. Nick only wanted to use the mens urinal after that but I couldn't take him to the mens room of course when I took them out by myself so that's when it seems he started to refuse going at all when we were out. Now he won't even go to the mens room w/DH either! I've tried to get them to go standing up at home, but they won't do it. It's just been frustrating...

 

Ds was terribly scared of public restrooms for the longest time. I think it was the noise. I just kept taking him in, but didn't always make him use it....I mean, when dd or I had to go, he had to go with us. Eventually he got over it & now he's fine.

I got a travel potty, but you actually put a ziploc baggie in it so when you're done you just zip it up til you can find a trash. We loved it! I wish it was better made, though. The plastic was a bit thin. Then it got left outside last summer & I hadn't used it in forever. Last week I went to fold it up & the plastic side just broke. But, I guess it was left in the sun & it's about 2 years old now.

 

We also have the little potty the pp mentioned, but I got mine from OneStepAhead.com. It's great! I've had to drive with poo in the ziploc bag when I couldn't find a nearby garbage, but it's contained! And I got cheapie ziplocs from the dollar store, so it's not setting me back any.

Last fall, when my boys first trained, they were used to sitting. I couldn't STAND the thought of them sitting on all those public potties (blech), so I just held them up. They're 'kinda' standing, but since I'm holding them, they felt more secure. Now they're getting heavier & I look forward to the day that they're tall enough to stand & pee without 'it' touching the toilet (again, ICK!). Daycare taught mine how to pee standing, so I have no advice for you there!

As for public bathrooms in general, I also have no advice. Mine LOVE them. I think we have to 'pee' in every place we go. It's awful. Because I can just lift them, we usually get in & out without anyone touching anything (whew). I've had to tell my children NO when they've asked to pee, just because I know they're wanting to check out the bathroom. Apparently I was like that as a child, too.

Now that it's summer, my DH has taught my boys to pee next to the house. Greaaaat. He said he didn't want them running in & out of the house wet from the pool, so he taught them to drop their drawers & pee behind the deck. I'm hoping the novelty wears off because they seem to want to do it a LOT. I'm thinking of setting up one of our old potties on the deck to avoid that, but boys will be boys, won't they?

Oh, one side note, I've read about carrying Post It notes with you to put on the automatic flushers so that it doesn't scare your kid. Mine don't 'like' them, but they do ok with them, so I've never tried it. Maybe that would help?

Good luck!

 

We had a travel potty too, slightly different to the one pp linked. It was basically the same as this and comes with special liners that are little tie handle plastic bags with an absorbent pad in them. They worked great for us, I would use them when there was no public toilet around. The potty folds flat so it doesn't take up too much space in a bag. If you do have to carry the used liners with you for a little while you don't have to worry about leaks, it's just like having a used nappy in a bag.

Good luck, I hope they get over their dislike of public restrooms soon.

 

I have a potty that we keep in the back of our SUV. DD will use it. I have on more than one occassions had to pull off on the side of the road and let her go (in the potty sitting on the side of the road). I just find a grassy area to pour it in. Today, we went to Seaworld and she would not pee the whole time we were there. She went into the bathroom w/ me and when it was her turn she refused to sit on the potty. Two hours or so later, she tells me she needs to go. So, we rushed to the nearest potty and she started flipping out as we were walking into the bathroom with "no, I don't want to go wee-wee...no, I don't want to go". When we got back to the car, she went in her potty. She held it for 5 hours! So, needless to say, I have no advice for public bathrooms. :unknw:

 

use this one:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Kalencom-Potette-Plus-2-in-1-Portable-Potty-Trainer-Blue/13012706?sourceid=1500000000000003260330&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=13012706

it's a fold up for public restrooms but also folds up into a little potty on legs, for outings where there are no bathrooms, back in the car or whatever.

it comes with bags that attach to it, I found though they are expensive so I use regular plastic grocery bags, work fine too.

we love it!

 

I lined the kiddie potty with a plastic grocery bag. Worked great!

 

We love our Travel Potty...we use it for road trips, park outings and long shopping outings.

This is the one we used: Travel Potty

 

My boys decided one day that peeing standing up was the greatest and they prefer that now. Watching daddy helped with that, plus letting them go outside helped.

Now when we go to a public restroom, they stand on the seat and I hold them under the arms for leverage and they'll go. At home, they use a stool and use the "big" toilet.

For us, the standing pee just kind of happened...we didn't do anything to get them to do it.

 

Thanks ladies! Yeah, I guess I need to go get a new travel potty to try out, cuz the fold up one isn't cutting it with the boys. Thanks for all the suggestions w/the different travel potty links, I like the one that looks like you can use regular plastic grocery bags or whatnot. Makes me feel a little better knowing that some of you are going through the same thing. I hope it gets better for you all as well! Thanks again everyone!

 

One of my girls will not use a public potty either. She watches me go, her sister go. She will not go. If I try to put her on it she screams bloody murder. So we have the Pottete potty as well. She loves it and will do anything on it anywhere. The grocery bag thing does not work for me. They always seem to have holes in them and cleaning pee off a disgusting public restroom floor is awful. We got biodegradable bags at the store. My biggest concern is how in the world I am going to ween her off the thing. Every once in a while I try putting her on the public potty and it is the same old story. Ugh! I swear she will be taking it with her in her backpack when she is in highschool.