To potty train or not nefore trip???

[Disneymommie]

We have a trip planned for June. My youngest will be 3 weeks shy of being 3 yrs old. He shows some signs of intrest in the potty, some days he wants to use it others he wants no part of it. I am not sure if I should push the issue and have him trained by the time we go or wait till we get back. I say wait but DH wants to train him. We also drive from NJ, so it would be a trip of worring if he could wait till we could find a spot to stop while driving. My oldest daughter was trained at 2 yrs 4 months but my sencond was not fully trained till 3 and a half. Any comments would help. Thanks

 

[BuzzLightYear3]

I don't think it will be a problem either way....you could try it now, and if it works, great. If not, in my opinion there are lots of advantages to diapers! (Typically only 1 time/day when you need an 'urgent change', no need to make emergency stops, avoidance of disgusting public restrooms where they touch everything, etc.!) The only thing I wouldn't do is start trying to potty train one month before leaving.

We're also going in June with our youngest ds turning 3 in August. He's also our 3rd....oldest ds was potty trained at 3 and 1 month after lots of frustration (at least on my part.) Our 2nd, a dd, potty-trained herself at 2-1/2 (after I committed to not taking any initiative myself.) Over the last couple weeks our youngest....who's not even 2-1/2...has become potty trained. I never expected him to do it so early since he's a boy, but it went very smoothly. I've since read that 3rd kids are much easier to train, and I'm starting to believe there might be something to that.

We had experimented with potty training around the holidays by using pull-ups, but we lost interest when he didn't ever take the intiative to conclude he needed to go himself. His Day Care center was motivated to start training the kids in Jan though (most of the kids in his class are a year older than him.) They firmly believe that to get trained the kids need to wear regular old underwear and have the experience of feeling wet. That definitely did it! He was trained for the most part in a few days, and I consider him completely trained now after a few weeks. I'm now really glad they pushed me to do this. The one really positive thing I can think of is that I won't have to worry so much at the pool. Even with swim diapers I always felt like I needed to watch closely for that "grunting face."

Have a great trip!

 

[lorik]

Boys usually train later than girls, so he may not show any interest until after 3. It definitely is easier to get around Disney with a child in diapers than one who is newly potty trained. The thought of having to run for a bathroom was enough for me to keep my 2 1/2year old daughter in diapers until after our return.

 

[mickeyfanz]

If he is ready, then you should train him now and not let the trip be a factor. We are probably going to be faced with the same dilemma in May!

You could always let him wear pull-ups in the car on the trip and to the parks in case of an accident. I would recommend getting a locker at the parks and keeping a change or two of clothes for him in there.

 

[BrerMom]

If he's the one that wants to train, go ahead. I agree that you would feel more comfortable if he wore pull-ups. Newly trained bladders and traffic jams don't go very well together. Or waiting in long lines or watching a show for that matter.

If he's not pushing the idea, I'd definitely wait. I'm in exactly the same boat. He'll turn 3 the week after we get back. If he asks to wear big boy pants for the day, I let him, but I'm not suggesting it. He has three months after we get back to get ready for preschool.

My older DS just decided one day that he wasn't wearing diapers anymore and that was it. He turned three the next day.

 

[robinb]

My DD turns 2 1/2 next week and we're going to WDW again in May. We are in the process of potty training right now. She likes to wear her "undies" during the day, but then just wets them and tells me after the fact that she's dirty. *sigh* I guess it's better than ignoring it completely. I hope that she will "poop or get off the pot" on the potty training thing by May. Either way, I think we'll bring pull-ups along .

 

[MandyYeh]

We had begun to potty train before we went to Disney 2yrs ago. She still was having lots of accidents. My daughter was only 28 mo old. Well, I decided I wouldn't sweat it if we had accidents because I would bring pull-ups, etc. While we were at Disney World...my daughter became completely potty trained. She didn't have one accident...and when we got back...no accidents! It is truly a magical place! BTW, IMO Pull-ups are so much easier than diapers while you are out and about. Now, when we were at home I used diapers but if we ever went out or went on a trip we always took the Pull-ups. It is kind of a pain to try to diaper a toddler if they don't have the changing tables in the rest rooms. I know most places are more child friendly but sometimes they aren't.

I agree girls are easier. My son took forever to be potty trained (he was about 3).

Mandy

 

[eller]

Just before DS turned three we left for the Disney Magic cruise. We wanted him to be in the kids' club and was told that he would be as long as he was potty trained. It was the hardest, most time consuming thing I've ever done. I think if you just keep after it, the child will do it.

He didn't have it quite down when we left, but DS never missed a beat while we were staying at WDW the week prior to the cruise. (Of course, he waited to have an accident while in the kids' club!)

My thoughts, do and be done! You won't think (when it's done) "should I have waited?"!

Enjoy your trip!

Lori

5/1997 Off site, 2/2000 Off site, 2/2001 Poly, 10/2001 POFQ, AKL & Magic, 1/2002 ASMo & AKL

 

[MicheleNJ]

Our WDW vacation actually helped our daughter potty train - she was in the process of learning to use the potty, so we had her wear pull-ups so we wouldn't have any messy accidents in the parks/plane. It turned out that she was so fascinated with the self-flushing pottys in the airport and the parks that it became a game to her. By the end of our vacation, she was completely potty trained!

 

[Flheiny]

We were headed to Disney from Colorado in the middle of potty training our dd. We took the little potty chair with us in case of emergency on the road. It worked out well. If we were in between stops and she just couldn't wait we pulled over and got the chair out. The "fun" part was containing it till we got to a place to dispose of it. I used the BIG ziplocs bags and lined the bucket. It sounds gross but it worked out great! No accidents and it really wasn't that bad. Good luck!

 

[Disneymommie]

Thank you all for the great ideas. We have modified our plans, we are going to be taking the train, so travle is ok, we will have access to the potty at all times. We are going to give it a whirl and see how he does, some days he loves it other days he has no interest in the potty. We will see. As for boys being harder then girls, no one can be as hard as my second daughter. She was not trained till 3 and a half! She was just lazy though. Agagin THANKS

 

[iwant2go2disney]

I saw your post yesterday and started to respond with "yes potty train"
However last night while out to dinner I had to rethink it.
My DD who will be 3 in April has been potty trained for almost a year now.Great for me you would think. HA! There must be something about other bathrooms that act as a magnet to young children. I had to take her to the bathroom 4 times and we were only there for an hour.
You see even though she had used the bathroom I was afraid to tell her no in great fear of an accident. We will be driving to Disney so I imagine I will be stopping quite a bit along the way.
And I hope while at disney the characters we will be able to see from the batroom lines as I know I will be spending much time there lol.
Good luck with your decision.

 

[ks2boysmom]

It looks like I'm in the minority here, but we went with my youngest when he was 2 1/2....it was a big decision for me because my oldest (both boys) had potty-trained with ease at 2 yrs, 3mos. I decided to wait to start until after Disney. When they're just trained, you can't tell them to wait. You have to go find a bathroom whenever they say it, even if you've been in the Dumbo line for 35 minutes and are almost to the front. I thought it would be more hassle than it was worth. I'm also a little bit of a clean-freak and wasn't looking forward to that much of the public bathroom in my life. (Somehow, 2yo seem to touch everything all the time!)

I say, don't sweat it if it appears not to be going so well. My DS trained just fine within a couple of months after the vacation.

 

[jfranklyn]

We were in the same position last may. OUr DD was 3 last august, and could probably have been trained last spring, but we waited until after our May trip. It really is so much easier to have them in pullups or diapers at WDW. We went back again this January (2002) and even though she is totally potty trained now and NEVER has an accident, there were some REALLY close moments there a few times. Also, we too drove down from NJ, and the fact that your driving leads me to say DEFINATELY wait. Otherwise, basically every hour you will be freaking out searching for a bathroom or stopping on the side of the road. The stopping part basically doesn't work until after Richmond. Before that, the roads are just too crowded and scary to stop on the side. But from Richmond down to Jacksonville, you can pretty much just pull over and pee on the side of the road - no one is going to notice or care!! Whatever you decide, good luck. But I would say unless your child insists on it, go ahead and wait until you get back. Then it will probably be a breeze because they will be that much MORE ready.

 

[DVC-LEROY]

Had our son nearly potty trained our nearly 3 yr old boy before our trip last September - we had a bit more on our minds besides potty training since it was only 2 weeks after the 11th. Pull-ups saved us from accidents and so did a fold-up toilet seat cover (from Toys R Us and elsewhere). We brought a cheap covered umbrella stroller and got a net bag (also from Toys R Us) that attached to the back - that way we had plenty of room for the fold up seat, wipes etc without lugging a whole diaper bag. The bad news was that the trip sort of goofed up the potty training. Even though we tried with the seat while we were there - didnt really have him trained until a couple of months after we got home. If it happens - dont worry about it. Just have a good time. As my mom says - he won't be going to college in his pull-ups.

 

[kimberwing]

I've always found that potty training happens when it happens. We tried endlessly with our DS (now almost 5) starting around 2.5 yrs old, when he started showing interest. He finally was trained a little over age 4.

Good luck to you, but don't be discouraged if now is not the time....