Questions about PT

Hi Ladies,

I have questions about PT. We have been back and forth with PT. My kids were ready last summer, but I wasnt. So I kept putting it off and wasnt serious at all. This week, I decided go for it. And we did. My son is 99% trained. He doesnt have accidents in 3 days. He can stay dry for 1 hour or longer. But my daughter still has accidents couple times/day. She is a milk lover. And she drinks alot. They have access to milk and water all day long. She has to use bathroom every 30 mins. Can i do something about it? Should I cut down her liquid intake for a week until she is totally trained? Its kindda mean to do this though. And I think she is going through a growth spout now.

They are doing great if I set timers and ask them to go. But they dont ask me to go. When will they start asking for it? Last year, they did come and ask me to take them to bathroom though. But they stopped like 3 months ago.

I plan on taking them to Safari drive thru zoo on monday. But its 3 hour driving away. Should I just let them wear diapers? We dont use pullups. We went straight to underwears. But we use diaper at night. I dont really want to mess with night time PT though. However, they stay dry during their naps (1-3 hour naps).

Thank you so much!

 

If you went all out no diapers/pull ups this week I would not do diapers for a zoo trip. For the car (if you have room) take a little potty with you and put some diapers in the bowl part for them to pee/poop in and then you can fold it up to dispose of. For all of mine their first trips out, I did undies with a pull up over top so that way they would feel the wet from the undies if they had an accident but not make a big puddle in the middle of wherever we were Just plan and I'm sure they'll surprise you!
As for your DD and going every 30 mins, yes cut her liquid off to just meals and maybe a little water in between until she can hold it a little longer, I had to do that with my boys. Asking will happen when you stop asking them I changed my questioning from "Do you have to go, lets go" to "Let me know when you have to go potty" and just little reminders like "We don't want to have an accident so go to the potty when you need to" and stuff like that. Eventually they would just go themselves

Good luck!

 

If she still has accidents, I'd do diapers, personally. Just not worth risking it IMO. And you can't exactly go out of your car for her to potty in the middle of the Safari. Just doing diapers for 6 hours one day isn't going to mess her up forever. And I'd keep doing what you're doing at home (although I'd cut out the milk... at this age they shouldn't drink more than 16oz a day or something). Maybe just leave the bathroom open or have a little potty available where they can go whenever they have to.

 

I don't think there is a right or wrong way to handle it as long as you are consistent at home. At this age, changing things for an outing shouldn't hurt as long as you are clear that it doesn't change things at home. When we first started I told them that Pull-ups were for bed and bye bye only. I also did keep a potty in my car, so even though you can't stop in the middle to pee, you can pull over if they tell you they have to go and you can have them go in the parking lot when you get there. One of mine still won't go on a big potty in public so I have to get her to go before we go in. Also, mine would never ask to go. I told them, "let me know when you have to go" and they would not. Eventually, I set up the potty seats in the bathroom and told them to go on their own if they needed to go. They actually went more when I gave them the independence to go on their own! As for night training, I didn't really want to mess with it either but I did put 2 potty chairs in their room and told them they could use them at night or nap if they wanted. Over time, they are using them more and more and my daughter got to the point pretty quickly where she was waking up dry so I switched her to undies at night. My son will use the potty before he goes to bed but he still wets a lot in his sleep, so we do pull ups overnight with him. He's been told that he is expected to poop in the potty but it is ok if his pull up is wet in the AM. I dreaded potty training, but after a few false starts we actually got there pretty quickly and I have been impressed with how well they've done.

 

We did diapers for long car rides (over 1-1.5 hours) for 9 months after PT'ing because we knew they would nap in the car, but they were not PT'd for naps for 6 months or so after PT'ing. So I just told them that the diaper was for their nap which they would be taking the car. Sometimes they still ask for a diaper for car rides although they are fully nap-trained; I don't mind as they can clearly distinguish the situations.

We never limited fluids during PT'ing; one of mine drinks a lot too and just needs more frequent potty trips. I do watch what they drink if we are out and about and have to drive home in rush hour traffic when stopping the car and letting them go potty would really be difficult, but that is rare. And mine never get anything to drink in the car, they drink before the drive or when we stop but not on the go; we implemented this "not on the go"-rule because of choking hazards (one of them was very prone to choking as a baby and gave us a few scary experiences) but it proved useful for PT'ing too.

We have regular times when everyone goes to the potty "to try", like before meals, before leaving the house for an outing, before nap and baths and bed. That is just part of the routine. In between I remind them on and off to listen to their bodies and tell me when they need to go and will directly ask them whether they need to go if I see the potty dance or other clear signs being ignored. It took a few accidents including those when they told me but it was too late to make it to the potty or to stop the car etc. but it did not take them long to tell me in time.

GL and enjoy your trip!

 

I would also suggest keeping them in their underwear. We take them to the toilet just before we put them into the car and then on a road trip we stop about half an hour later ( along the road if need be) and take them to the toilet again. I don’t ask them if they want to go, I just take them and usually they have to go. Don’ t know if it just the excitement of going on a road trip. Mine has gotten quite good at telling me when they need to go on a road trip, but usually there is no toilet in site and a potty in the car has worked well. I also keep dry clothes in a bag that I can get hold of easily.
I am sure that they will surprise you. Mine are usually good when in the car and most accidents happen at home when they are too busy with something and forget to go.

 

Oh I suggest the potette plus... you can pop it on any public toilet too. I was never comfortable letting my kids use a potty in the car (not private enough IMO).

 

Thank you so much you all!! I got so many great ideas. We didn't go to safari today. But we had a great day with friends at the museum and park...

I left 1 potty trainer in the car. Man it's the brilliant idea, so so convinience. The kids did awesome today. They ha so much fun.

Something very funny happened today: we got to museum. I took Michelle to the bathroom. She peed!! Then 5 mins later, she was playing puzzles. She told me "mommy I poo". I was freaked out. I told her "hold" and I carried her rushed to the bathroom. She did poo in toilet. She was so happy and screamed "mommy mommy I poo a BIG one." And tried to describe how big it was with her hands!!! Lol so many ladies were there. Then she continued "mommy mommy I can't poo too fast. Oh I poo another big one" lol all I could say was "baby I'm so proud of you" lol. All the ladies there laughed. Lol!!!!

We had a great day!!! Thank you so much again for all the advices!!!

 

I ordered one on amazon. Yeah my boy had no prob using potty trainer in the car. But my girl, she was nervous at first. But then later she did pee 3 times in the car. I am so happy. I was so stressed out because she got stuck in the house with the whole PT thing. Now we can go everywhere lol. Yes, we love to be out and have fun! Thank you!