Would you potty train 2 weeks out?

[jenc842]

so, our strong willed 2.5 year old is starting to exhibit a lot of independence and wanting to do things on her own terms, and our doctor suggested we potty train asap before she becomes more defiant .

Problem is, our cruise is 2 weeks away. Am I bonkers to attempt training? Is it hard to find an accessible bathroom on the Disney Dream and Castaway? Never used the public ones on my last cruise because I never needed to, so I have no reference if lines will be long or if it'll be far for newly trained toddlers. Input from parents greatly appreciated

 

[KalamityJane]

Not sure on the ship itself but honestly, do it. My last kid potty trained as we were moving houses, and we just told him that at the new house he goes in the potty, no more diapers. He had just turned 2, and did great. Having that delineation helped a ton. I'd tell her on the ship, she is potty trained, so we will be practicing now and getting good at it.

 

[KalamityJane]

Oh, and having older kids around that are potty trained will work well in your favor. Use that peer pressure for good

 

[Disneyteachers]

Do it!

 

[_auroraborealis_]

...but please, don't push your luck in the pools. PLEASE.



I say this as someone who has done the PT thing with 2 kids. When they're not 100%, and they never are fully at first, the whole "have fun in water" messes up their signals and you will end up creating a Code Brown, which is not a nice thing to do to others. You want to go without the rest of the time? You do that. Use a pool diaper while training early days.

 

[dani24]

Our daughter is really strong willed. We found not potty training her at all worked beautifully. She actually trained herself shortly after she turned 3, and it was the easiest, most drama-free thing! All we did was to buy undies and let her know that we had them whenever she was ready to start using the potty all the time. No pressure. Then we bought a little potty and let her sort of "play" with it, sit on it whenever, etc. It helped that she was at a preschool that was super supportive of the casual potty-learning vs. potty-training method. She saw other kids using the potty at school and soon started wanting to try it out herself. It took her a few months -- largely because she transitioned to a new class shortly after she started, and it was too much for her to focus on/learn all at once, so pottying got backburnered. Once she was settled in her new class, she picked it back up on her own again, and was fully into undies two months later. We picked a long weekend and kept her at home so she had easy access to the potty. And we never looked back. She had no accidents that weekend, and only one at school (because she tried to hold it in while playing). Since nobody was reprimanding or lecturing or pressuring her about it, and because she's so independent, she had no trouble learning and adapting.

That said, I would personally not hassle with trying to train right before a cruise, if you are set on training. If you make progress that's likely going to get derailed by all the distractions and schedule shifts and the different environment of the cruise ship. By the time you get back home, you may have just wiped out all the progress you previously made. Instead, maybe show her the potty on the ship and casually let her know that if she wants to try it she can any time. And then let it go... focus on relaxing and enjoying your trip (for all of you), and doing what everyone is used to. Then if you really feel like you have to pressure her to learn to potty NOW, then do it once you get off the cruise. 3 weeks is not enough time to cause any significant changes in her personality or circumstances to make training any harder then vs. now.

 

[jenc842]

Our daughter is really strong willed. We found not potty training her at all worked beautifully. She actually trained herself shortly after she turned 3, and it was the easiest, most drama-free thing! All we did was to buy undies and let her know that we had them whenever she was ready to start using the potty all the time. No pressure. Then we bought a little potty and let her sort of "play" with it, sit on it whenever, etc. It helped that she was at a preschool that was super supportive of the casual potty-learning vs. potty-training method. She saw other kids using the potty at school and soon started wanting to try it out herself. It took her a few months -- largely because she transitioned to a new class shortly after she started, and it was too much for her to focus on/learn all at once, so pottying got backburnered. Once she was settled in her new class, she picked it back up on her own again, and was fully into undies two months later. We picked a long weekend and kept her at home so she had easy access to the potty. And we never looked back. She had no accidents that weekend, and only one at school (because she tried to hold it in while playing). Since nobody was reprimanding or lecturing or pressuring her about it, and because she's so independent, she had no trouble learning and adapting.

That said, I would personally not hassle with trying to train right before a cruise, if you are set on training. If you make progress that's likely going to get derailed by all the distractions and schedule shifts and the different environment of the cruise ship. By the time you get back home, you may have just wiped out all the progress you previously made. Instead, maybe show her the potty on the ship and casually let her know that if she wants to try it she can any time. And then let it go... focus on relaxing and enjoying your trip (for all of you), and doing what everyone is used to. Then if you really feel like you have to pressure her to learn to potty NOW, then do it once you get off the cruise. 3 weeks is not enough time to cause any significant changes in her personality or circumstances to make training any harder then vs. now.

Can I hug you right now? I have been irrationally thinking the 3 weeks will make a huge difference because her strong will terrifies me! I just needed to hear it from another mom who went through it. Thanks so much for sharing... helps us tremendously. And thanks everyone else for being so encouraging on going for it!

And yes, we will not be testing the waters, literally, in pools. I don't even think she's allowed in the Disney pool till she's age 3 I've seen the code browns and know they are NO FUN!

Thanks everyone

 

[KalamityJane]

The casual method of potty training is how we did it too, it really works well. Mine are strong willed too (omg... I figured the most I can do is to teach them to lead not into evil, because they are going to be leaders regardless...) and the whole reverse psychology of it really hits the spot They tend to potty because "they are going to show HER" that they can do it LOL

Good luck

 

[tivo4me1]

Let me add that those DCL toilets, with enough LOUD suction, it seems, to take down a bowling ball, would have scared the heck out of my DD (now 5) when she was 3. I'd guess that trying to expose her to that early in the potty-training process could have delayed things for months...!

 

[brooke789]

I'll be the stand out. I say no. My current 3 year old potty trained himself at about 2y 9 months. However, he will not use a regular potty. He goes 100% in a potty ever since but MUST use a little potty (like one you buy not what is attached to your house). On a cruise - no way!

We even still have a potty in our car 5-6 months later for him to use if he has to go when we're out. I'm really really really hoping he'll use a regular potty before our trip in November and also before he starts preschool in August... Not sure what we're going to do if he doesn't!

 

[tink1970]

I agree not to since there will be enough disruption of the routine just with vacation.

My DD was completely strong willed and we tried everything (and by we I mean my mother who was comparing my DD to her friends' grandchildren). I had to assure mom that DD would not go off to college in diapers After basically backing off, on the commuter plane to WDW she decided to potty train. Needless to say I am pretty familiar with all toilet locations in MK and EPCOT. I would have paid to leave her in diapers for another week just for convenience sake. So on a cruise, which is supposed to be relaxing, running around to find the potties during dinner (and some of them are pretty far away---I'm looking at YOU Royal Palace), just wouldn't be fun. The time will come soon enough, I promise.

Go on the cruise, take pull ups, relax.

 

[_auroraborealis_]

My kids would have been terrified of the suction toilets early on. Heck, my son's kindergarten teacher taught all her kids how to disable auto flush!

 

[SoozCruise]

Gonna hop on the "nope" train here; we tried to potty train our strong-willed 2.5-year-old and it was a disaster, so we backed off; also had a baby on the way and knew that her arrival could put paid to any potty achievements. We also didn't want to deal with a wet bed in the middle of the night. (This would also be awkward dealing with on the ship.)

(Post-it notes work great to disable the auto flush, btw)

 

[Geomom]

I would wait until you get back, that's only 3 weeks or so. Maybe you can start up right after you get back, then there is no pressure on either of you to have her trained quickly. Potty training can be very frustrating for both the parents and the child--so enjoy your vacation without that!

 

[cmph]

I learned from kid #1 that being pushy about it only makes it take longer! And really - a few weeks is nothing. And not being home will probably end up causing problems more than anything, b/c the worst part for both of my kids: public toilets. I can't imagine having zero access to the "home potty" that early. Kid #1 literally held it for 8 hours at that age b/c she refused to go in a public toilet. I guess that qualifies as strong-willed, ha! I had to travel with a kiddie potty in the back of my mini-van for a number of months after that. (I'm a little grossed out to remember that, but you do what you have to do!)

Kid #2 was potty-trained in a single day with the bribe of a Dilly bar from Dairy Queen. If you happen to know what would work for your kiddo - I guess go with it, but otherwise, I wouldn't push it or you'll spend your cruise talking about going or actually in the bathroom!

 

[Geomom]

I learned from kid #1 that being pushy about it only makes it take longer! And really - a few weeks is nothing. And not being home will probably end up causing problems more than anything, b/c the worst part for both of my kids: public toilets. I can't imagine having zero access to the "home potty" that early. Kid #1 literally held it for 8 hours at that age b/c she refused to go in a public toilet. I guess that qualifies as strong-willed, ha! I had to travel with a kiddie potty in the back of my mini-van for a number of months after that. (I'm a little grossed out to remember that, but you do what you have to do!)

Kid #2 was potty-trained in a single day with the bribe of a Dilly bar from Dairy Queen. If you happen to know what would work for your kiddo - I guess go with it, but otherwise, I wouldn't push it or you'll spend your cruise talking about going or actually in the bathroom!

Reading your sentence about ending up spending the cruise in the bathroom--reminds me of my first kid--she just had to visit the bathrooms everywhere she went...we'd go to a bathroom 2-3 times within an hour at a restaurant--I have no idea why--just to see what 'this one' looked like? It drove me crazy!

 

[Carrie in AZ]

I would not PT so close to vacation. In my opinion, having a child in diapers is a breeze. I would just go and enjoy the carefree days of having a diapered child then start with PTing once you are home, back into your regular routine.

I do not want this to happen to you and your child: You wait for 30 mins or more in line to meet a character and when it is almost your turn, your child says they need to use the potty. You will have no choice but to exit the line! What if the nightly show is ready to begin and your child says they need to go potty? Off you'll go! See what I mean? For me, this would cause a lot of frustration.

My vote is to wait til you get home!

 

[PAGA2003]

I would do it! We actually took a vacation with our son after he had been potty training for about 4 weeks. We were flying out to Jackson Hole from DC to meet my husband as he had gone out earlier than us and I was a wreck worrying about him having to go on the plane but it all worked out. We did the 3 day method and were fully committed-from day one it was all underwear and absolutely no more diapers (we never used pull-ups b/c the idea of them just doesn't make sense to us). Sure we had to do a load of laundry while we were gone but it wasn't a big deal at all and I'm glad we continued to push through. It ended up taking about 2 months for him to be totally potty trained with no more accidents.

Oh one thing to think about though is if you will have bed wetting issues. Thankfully somehow our son only wet the bed on day one during his nap and then he never did it again so we didn't have to worry about that on vacation. If you are having an issue with that at home before you leave you may need to take precautions on the trip.

 

[Chrislovesdisney]

We were in the same exact position regarding our trip to wdw 2 years ago. We waited until after we got back. I don't think 3 weeks will make a huge difference attitude-wise, and I think you may be more on edge during your vacation than it's worth. Even though dd took right to potty training, I was still a little paranoid those first few weeks.

 

[FigmentSpark]

You will not enjoy yourself if you're worrying about whether she's going to wet the bed or have an accident. Wait 3 weeks. If you'd asked your doctor, he/she probably would have said the same.

Anyway, is your little one even interested in training? They say you can't train them until they start showing an interest. Everything else is just mom being trained.