Potty training while on a cruise and in port

[disneypolybride2008]

Hi. Can anyone offer some suggestions or share what worked (or didn't) for them cruising with a potty training toddler. My DD is going to be cruising for her first time and it is our first vacation with her. She is 19 months now and will be 21 at the time of cruising. We've been potty training since 15 months and she's now saying 'potty,' when she needs to go.. 9/10 times. She has a compact size baby bjourn potty that she uses. I'm wondering what port days will be like. I have read that some beaches have rustic bathrooms..not sure what to picture, but i have thought of taking her potty and putting it by our lounge chairs. As far as on the ship, we are on deck 1 for our room and i thought we could take breaks to go back to the room for potty time, but she goes so often, that is a bit impractical for every time. So then i thought of taking her potty in the diaper bag and using changing pads underneath it in a restroom stall. The last time, only time, in a public restroom was in her stroller with me and she cried the whole time.. it was only one person who flushed! I don't know what will or won't work, but i would like to hear what worked for you. I plan on having her in her pull ups in case she has an accident.. but she uses the potty well at home so in two months she may not want to go in them. And i thought this was a good age to go on our first vacation!

 

[manateesmom]

We brought a stroller and kept one of these in the back mesh pocket of the stroller: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0016L0MMS/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 It's a portable potty seat that can be placed over the toilet seat or the sides can fold down to be "legs" that you can use with a grocery bag to be a complete potty when away from any bathroom.

 

[lanejudy]

We had a foldable potty seat that fit on the regular toilet. Could you practice with her now? Then you won't need to drag her whole Bjorn seat with you everywhere. My DD hated (still hates) the automatic-flush in public restrooms. I forget if they have this onboard, but I use a sticky note to cover the sensor so it won't flush until she's ready.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[su_A_ve]

We had a foldable potty seat that fit on the regular toilet. Could you practice with her now? Then you won't need to drag her whole Bjorn seat with you everywhere. My DD hated (still hates) the automatic-flush in public restrooms. I forget if they have this onboard, but I use a sticky note to cover the sensor so it won't flush until she's ready.

Enjoy your cruise!

On board, all toilets are the same. No automatic flush, but they are compact size and they are similar in suction power to airplane ones.

 

[lbgraves]

The toilets onboard flush VERY loudly so don't have her in the bathroom with you when you flush. I wouldn't take her in the public restrooms if that is going to bother her because others will be flushing. It still startles me the first time on the cruise.

 

[disneypolybride2008]

i've seen that one, and i was unsure if i should get that one... will she use one she is not familiar with? that's why i thought to take her current one, but i could put it out closer to the trip. how did yours do? Also, how do you keep the germs on a toilet, especially the beach port bathrooms, from getting all over your toddler? I guess you'd have to use a clorox wipe on the potty seat.

 

[disneypolybride2008]

thanks for the loud flushing tip. yes i dont see how she can relax and go in a public restroom with other's flushing. what would you suggest? is it ok to bring the travel potty and keep it next to our lounge chairs? we would of course move our chairs away as much as we could from others.

 

[peachygreen]

My daughter was 26 months old on our last cruise and had been using the potty on and off but not perfectly since about 18 months or so and decided 1 week before we left that she wanted to be in panties and only panties. UGH!

I personally spent a lot of time in bathrooms on that cruise. I am pretty sure I went to every single public restroom on the Magic at least one time. (except the one outside Palo's as there was no reason to take her up there).

I just put her on the big potty. She is very petite but as long as I picked her up, she would use the big potty with no problem. My personal opinion on potty training in public is to get them used to a normal bathroom as quickly as possible. We are out and about a lot so I don't want to have to carry a potty seat with me everywhere. She also uses the regular potty (although shorter than a normal potty) at daycare so she is used to the potty and flushing aspects. I would recommend getting her used to public restrooms now and not wait until you are on vacation to do so.

The most annoying part was the airplane. I did insist on pullups on the plane because you never know how long the fasten seatbelt sign would be on. I swear we went up to the bathroom 1/2 a dozen times. I think she was just facinated by the little bitty bathroom on the plane.

I'm really hoping that since the newness of potty training has worn off, I might be able to sit down to dinner for more than 30 minutes before having to take her to the bathroom again this time. I would recommend positioning yourself on the aisle for shows and on the outside at meals so you can get up easier to take her to the restroom frequently.

She is finally big enough now at 34 months that she can get herself on the toilet without assistance. She also now does the entire process (pants up/down, potty, flushing, hand washing with soap and drying) independantly as long as she can reach. I frequently still have to pick her up in public restrooms to wash her hands as she is too short to reach the sink.

That is just my experience with potty training on the ship.

 

[mbrocker]

I'm sorry but I personally think the portable potty near loungers is kind of gross. I have a son with autism who would poop his pants in fear of loud noises and I wouldn't allow him to "train" in public.

For my sound sensitive kiddos I plant my hands firmly on their ears from the moment we enter a public restroom till we exit. Not awesome for me lol..but way more courteous to others than my child pottying in a public space.

Just this one gals opinion.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

I'm sorry but I personally think the portable potty near loungers is kind of gross. I have a son with autism who would poop his pants in fear of loud noises and I wouldn't allow him to "train" in public.

For my sound sensitive kiddos I plant my hands firmly on their ears from the moment we enter a public restroom till we exit. Not awesome for me lol..but way more courteous to others than my child pottying in a public space.

Just this one gals opinion.

Yeah, I was trying to figure out how to say that I think having the potty seat out among others could be offensive.

And, I'm not sure that helps the child to learn to "go potty" in a crowd.

 

[lanejudy]

...is it ok to bring the travel potty and keep it next to our lounge chairs? ....

Personally, no, I would find this very inappropriate. The message you are giving her is that it's OK to "go" right out in the open. As PP indicated, I recommend getting her used to public restrooms. If you carry a folding seat and/or hold her up, she can use her hands to cover her ears - give her fair warning before you enter and remind her while in there. Can you take her to your local mall a few times so that she has a chance to be somewhat familiar with a public restroom?

 

[bahacca]

I'm with mbrocker. Allowing a child to use a potty in public places on a cruise or a beach isn't the best idea. Then it means you are going to be carrying what in hospitals is the equivalent of a biohazard across the ship/beach to a proper toilet to dispose of it properly. And I'm guessing that she also defecates in the potty as well. I'd be disgusted if I was on CC and then got a whiff of your daughter relieving herself on a personal potty on the beach.
I'd take her to Target, the grocery store, the mall and let her "experience" the flushes, etc. My girls actually liked seeing all the bathrooms of places we went to when they were training. You could also buy her ear plugs if you are concerned about the noise.

 

[disneypolybride2008]

well most babies her age would be going #2 in a swim diaper and that would make a lot more mess out in the water or wherever she is playing in the sand than if she was on a potty and i kept it contained... she could be right next to you when she does one in a swim diaper, which does not contain 100%. As i said i would move our chairs away from others, and put it between our chairs so i would be as far away as possible. I'm not talking about at Castaway Cay or anywhere equally as nice, we could take her potty into those... i'm talking about ports where the bathrooms are rustic or too far for her to say 'potty,' and be able to go walk to.

 

[Barkell]

I agree that a potty in public is not an acceptable solution for anyone. If you think you'll need it frequently, you should probably just set up camp near the bathrooms instead of near the water. I know that might not be ideal for your enjoyment of the water, but it is what your daughter's current potty training situation requires.

I think a potty seat that goes over the toilet is a better solution than the portable potty seat (in the bathrooms), because if she uses the portable potty, you then have to clean it...in the sink, where people wash their hands. Technically, that's probably fine since you don't usually touch the sink when washing your hands, but I admit I'd find it gross. We don't poop and pee in the sink for a reason.

I also agree that, barring actual sound sensitivities, it's best to just get her accustomed to the flushes ASAP. I like the ear plug suggestion if you can't get her comfortable with the sounds before departure.

Good luck...we chose not to travel with DD until she was fully potty trained (and will be leaving a 9 month old DS at home while we cruise in May), so I understand your dilemma. I'm sure that you'll find solutions that work for your family and your fellow vacationers.

I hope you and your family have a great trip.

 

[disneypolybride2008]

i am buying a pop up infant uv shade tent and we will put her travel potty in there! that will also be a place for naps and breastfeeding.

 

[lbgraves]

This is exactly why I am happy that my kids weren't PTg at that age. Made it much easier to travel that way IMO.

 

[lanejudy]

i am buying a pop up infant uv shade tent and we will put her travel potty in there! that will also be a place for naps and breastfeeding.

I think that such "pop-up tents" are considered "sporting equipment" and not allowed by DCL. Possibly that has changed but I know it's been debated on the DIS here not long ago. You might want to fish around (or wait for the search feature to be re-activated) and see if others posted such things are currently being allowed before buying one and dragging it with you.

Enjoy your cruise!

 

[lilpooh108]

We had a foldable potty seat that fit on the regular toilet. Could you practice with her now? Then you won't need to drag her whole Bjorn seat with you everywhere. My DD hated (still hates) the automatic-flush in public restrooms. I forget if they have this onboard, but I use a sticky note to cover the sensor so it won't flush until she's ready.

Enjoy your cruise!

PLEASE DO NOT USE THIS POTTY. My daughter nearly had her fingertip sliced off by that exact same one.

I took pictures and we're contacting the Consumer Protection Agency or whatever that government entity is called.

She was sitting on it in the living room of our AKV 1 bedroom, with me right next her to her, one hand on her for her to balance. The legs are REALLY FLIMSY. She lost her balance and the legs gave way. She crashed down on it and had been holding the seat itself for balance and the plastic hinge caught her fingertip during the fall.

It took over 2 months to heal and the FLAP of her finger had to fall off. It was too small for stitches but serious enough that WDW asked us to go to Celebration Hospital. We had to keep her out of preschool for 3 weeks since she couldn't otherwise avoid sand.

If she had bent her finger in more, the tip of her finger could have been sliced off.

Here are some Amazon reports of the same thing happening.
http://www.amazon.com/Kalencom-2-in...?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0


Please don't use this potty. I bought it based on the 4.5 stars review but it really really happened to us. I don't have the pictures on this computer, but I will post them later (and if I'm allowed to). It's fuzzy, but it's gory. I took the pictures about 2 weeks after it started healing. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to take pictures at the time. I guess b/c I was crying hysterically at the front desk asking for a nurse.

 

[AZMermaid]

We potty trained my son at 27 months using the 3 day method and he has never been in a pull up a moment in his life, so I may not have the best advice. We also don't have accidents (well, maybe 1-2 a month since training him right before Christmas), but he also is not super fond of the big potty. It works okay to sit him facing backwards or just holding him steady. He will go in the big potty about half of the time using these methods, otherwise, he will hold it until we get home. I have seen on One Step Ahead they sell a folding travel potty seat that sits on top, that may be a good solution! Good luck!

 

[AZMermaid]

Oops- just saw the above post, maybe don't get that potty!!