How do I waterproof my son's carseat?

[bangzoom6877]

We are driving to WDW in July, from NYC. My 3-year-old son just became potty-trained, and now the new worry is if he has an accident in the car. Of course we will take frequent bathroom breaks, but what I am thinking about more is if he has an accident while napping in the car or something like that.

I researched on the internet and found two things. One is called Piddle Pads, but you have to machine wash them if they get dirty, so those are a definite no as I will not have time to do laundry while touring theme parks! The other is called PeeWees, and they are disposable and come in packs of 12 for around $7. Anyone have experience with this product?

Besides the products I listed above, does anyone have any suggestions for saving his carseat from a possible wetting accident? I was also thinking of taking one of those disposable changing pads (which is lined underneath so it does not leak through) to line the carseat, and placing a cloth diaper over that for absorption. We have plenty of cloth diapers in the house, I would just have to buy some disposable changing pads.

We are looking for more disposable options if anyone has any advice. We would really appreciate it!

Thanks,
Bonnie

 

[mom2nca]

I would just get a pkg of pull ups for the trip and have him wear them while in the car. I do that with my older girls as they sometimes dont tell us they need to go until it too late and then they cant hold it until we find an appropiate place to stop. most of the time they do make it but there have been times when the pull up came in handy and saved the seats from the flood!

 

[mom2nca]

oh, I also do use cloth diapers at home for my youngest but will be doing the disposables on our disney trip.

 

[Minniemouse07]

When you introduce extra layers between your son and the car seat...you are changing the way he sits in the seat and it may make it so it works differently in a crash situation.

I would just do what the pp suggested, have him use pullups while in the car!

 

[becca011906]

I'm a seat tech and seen a lot of good things abou the sunshine kids piddle pads, they are an extreamly thin layer compairable to using a diaper... but as you said the washing issue could be a pain... maybe by 2 of them??? wash in the tub when you stop...

personally with my 3 1/2 year old who has been potty trained day time for almost a year and 1/2 but still wears diapers to bed so for the 14 hour trip the first day she will be in a pull up for the trip.

 

[tadamom]

I used the piddle pads when my DD was first potty trained -- they were great. I would just suggest buying two of them. When one gets wet, replace & wash.

 

[bangzoom6877]

I was under the impression that you have to machine wash the Piddle Pads. If not, then we will definitely use them for the trip and I can wash in the hotel room by hand. DH went to Babies R Us this morning to buy two of them for everyday use right now anyway, so we will have them. We figure two for everyday use so we can keep the extra one in the car just in case of an accident, and then wash in the machine when we get home. But again, on a vacation it is more complicated.

Does anyone have experience with the disposable ones, PeeWees? I was considering buying those just for the trip so we can throw them out, and making sure to buy many of them (they come 12 in a pack).

I'm afraid that Pull-Ups might make my son more lazy. He only wears them to bed and he knows that at bedtime he does not wear underwear. He was just completely daytime potty trained recently, and the only thing that finally worked with getting him potty trained was keeping him in regular underwear. He knew the Pull-Ups were absorbent and so he was lazier in them. Wouldn't use the potty at all while in Pull-Ups, but does all the time, consistently, in underwear.

Thanks,
Bonnie

 

[becca011906]

They have thoes other pull ups that stay wet on the child when they wet... maybe thoes would work better... but if you really want to do w/o i'd do the piddle pads that wash... i've never seen the other or heard anything about them so i can't say on thoes at all... you may want to check out car-seat.org and see if anyone other there has tried them, there are great techs and many car seat people that might know!!!! HTH! Also i don't see why you would be able to hand wash the piddle pads, anything can be hand washed with some elbow greese!

 

[bumbershoot]

We didn't really have this issue b/c the first potty-learning DS did was during sleeptime, it was actually the signal to us that he was ready for daytime underwear.

However, I do wonder if you've paid attention to his "gotta pee" signals. Especially once DS got out of his fuzzibunz and swaddlebees, his signs became un-missable, b/c he so did NOT want to wet his pants. Squirming, noises, funny facial expression. Big big signs to pull over.

Another product I learned about from planning for home birth, and it's "chux pads". You can buy them really expensive from the potty training aisle at stores or from homebirth sites, or you can go to the puppy section of a big store and get the puppy house-breaking pads for mega-cheap. Same product.

 

[SueM in MN]

I'm afraid that Pull-Ups might make my son more lazy. He only wears them to bed and he knows that at bedtime he does not wear underwear. He was just completely daytime potty trained recently, and the only thing that finally worked with getting him potty trained was keeping him in regular underwear. He knew the Pull-Ups were absorbent and so he was lazier in them. Wouldn't use the potty at all while in Pull-Ups, but does all the time, consistently, in underwear.

Thanks,
Bonnie

A way around that is to put on a pair of training pants and put the Pull-Ups over the top of them. If he wets, he will still have wet underwear, but he won't get his clothing or the car seat wet unless he is totally soaked.

Another product I learned about from planning for home birth, and it's "chux pads". You can buy them really expensive from the potty training aisle at stores or from homebirth sites, or you can go to the puppy section of a big store and get the puppy house-breaking pads for mega-cheap. Same product.

Chux pads are one of the products that hospitals use.
I noticed the 'puppy version' in Walmart when we were there looking for things for our new puppy.

 

[MSSANDRA]

One other suggestion is to put the pull ups on OVER his underwear so that he still has the same senstation as wearing underwear but it would protect his seat cover.

 

[monorailsilver]

I am a bad mom...

When my oldest (soon to be 7) was first PT'd, I would make her pee right before we left & I still do that now to her & my 4 1/2 yo ds & hopefully soon to my 2 yo dd.

But that first weekend of no diapers I got a plastic grocery store bag or maybe it was a plastic garbage bag & put it on her seat for her to sit on.

Fortunately she didn't pee & I think I used it for a day or so.

I also keep a potty seat in the back of my car with lysol to spray once it gets emptied so the kids can use that vs going in the public restrooms.

 

[tinkandpan]

I would buy a handful of piddle pads- they really aren't that pricey. You can wash them out by hand at the hotel if you needed to.

 

[WantToGoNow]

Personally, I would not use the Pull-Ups. That's just asking for a step backwards in his toilet training. We went to Disney went my dd was almost 3 -- she had been potty trained for about 11 months at that time -- we drove straight through overnight. When we went to the toilet, she went as well - even if I had to wake her up to do so. My ds5 at the time went the entire trip without going to pee. If you are concerned, use the disposible pads -- we use doggy version for our dog as he won't go outside in the winter (mini daschund) and they are very absorbant and are thin enough they shouldn't interfere with the carseat anyore than a diaper (which is what a Pull-Up is) would. I wouldn't place anything over it though - just like jackets, coats, etc. there really shouldn't be anything between your child and the carseat/harness.

 

[BuzzandAriel'smom]

Puppy training pads would work and you could cut holes for the buckle and throw them out if accidents occur.

My DS was potty trained 1 month before disney last year and I was very concerned. But he did great. I took the pull ups but only put them on him at night. I kept the same pull up in our park bag the entire time and never needed it. Good luck.

 

[buckler]

While a liner might keep the fabric of the seat dry under him, what about the straps? If he has a 5 point harness the strap is right in the line of fire in the crotch area.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Yeah, what about the straps? Honestly I would just use the pullup. We use them for long travel all the time and they never took a step back in training. Good luck.

 

[buckler]

I researched on the internet and found two things. One is called Piddle Pads, but you have to machine wash them if they get dirty, so those are a definite no as I will not have time to do laundry while touring theme parks!

I just remembered you also didn't want to have to do laundry. If you don't put him in a Pull Up in the car and he has an accident you'll have to launder underwear and pants and maybe even a shirt if the bottom of that gets wet.

 

[GraysMom]

I keep a potty in the back of my car just in case DS3 has to go potty while we're out (public restrooms skeeve me out ). It's just a training toilet that he refused to use in the house, so I put it in a garbage bag with a supply of grocery bags-check for holes-so cleanup is easy. It works well, but after almost a year, I'm looking forward to reclaiming that car space soon.