Traveling with a potty training toddler? Discover practical tips, smart packing ideas, and sanity-saving strategies for stress-free family trips.
While going on vacation is a lot of fun, if you have a child who is potty training or has recently potty trained, there will be some stress. Potty training is hard enough without throwing your routine out the window and removing all familiar bathrooms from your child’s life. Potty training at home is hard. Potty training on the go is harder.
Here are some potty training tips for traveling families that can make the process much easier!
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Just Don’t Start Potty Training
If you know you have a vacation coming up, it can be really smart to wait to potty train AFTER you get home from your trip. You might be thinking, “But it would be so much easier to travel with a child who is potty trained and not have to deal with diapers!” That is true IF your kiddo is fully trained before you leave and is able to use toilets in places other than at home.
You can always start potty training and see how it goes. If your child isn’t fully there before you leave, you can just tell your little one that you will take a potty training break while on your trip.
Use Pull-Ups
Another option is to use pull-ups while you travel. This can be really wise if you are traveling by plane or another method that makes cleaning up an accident difficult. You don’t want to be on a plane or train and have your child too nervous to use the toilet there and then have an accident.
Some toddlers or preschoolers can feel really resistant to wearing a pull up after they have been potty trained. If this is the case for your kiddo, try putting underwear on and then a pull up or plastic underwear over the underwear to help contain potential accidents.
If your child will be traveling in car seat, whether on a plane or in the car, you can add a piddle pad to the car seat. This is designed to help contain pee in case of accidents.
Have Extra Clothes and Underwear
You will want to have an extra set of underwear and clothes with you everywhere you go. Make sure you pack enough clothes for the trip that you have plenty of backups and change of clothes. This is especially true if you will not have access to a washing machine while traveling. You also want to bring wet wipes and hand sanitizer. Flushable wipes are better than taking toilet paper with you.
Take a Portable Potty Seat or Potty Chair
If you are traveling by car and your child uses a portable potty at home, bring that with you on your trip. We had many stops by the side of the road where we pulled out the potty for our kids to use when we were on road trips.
If you are going to fly and your child typically uses a potty chair, try to get your child to use the potty seat at home and get used to it. Then you can take that with you on the plan and take it into the bathroom on the plane and into public restrooms. That is much easier to transport overall, so if you can get your kiddo to use a potty seat, that will be easiest.
You can also teach them to just use a normal toilet without anything extra. The hard thing that can come up with that is if your child needs some privacy to poop. If you have to hold your child on a large toilet, they could get constipated.
If you are taking a portable potty seat or potty chair, make sure you bring along supplies for cleaning them after use and also somewhere to store them (like in a backpack).
Check out this Travel Potty and this Travel Potty Seat. If you decide to get either of these, make sure you practice with them at home before you use them on vacation.
Visit Public Restrooms Before Traveling
If you know you are going to be out and about a lot, you will want your child to be comfortable using public restrooms. You can help this by visiting public restrooms in the weeks leading up to your trip. Public restrooms can be scary with automatic toilets and loud dryers. Familiarity will help a lot.
Explain What to Expect
Explain to your kids what to expect before you travel. Let them know how things will be different and that there will be things we don’t expect. Help them to be okay with it and to be excited. You can make some fun games of it and do things like guess what color the tile will be in the bathroom before you go in or guess how many toilets there will be. This will help distract your toddler. Utilizing “Ask and Tell” to Get Your Kids to Obey in Public.
Go Potty Often
While you are traveling, be intentional about going potty often. Have your child go potty before you leave the house. Go potty as soon as you arrive at the airport. Have your child go potty before boarding (airplane bathrooms are very small!). Have your child go potty every time you go potty. You do not want to have a need for a potty break and no toilet around.
Have Pull-Ups and Diapers for Emergencies
I remember during one family reunion, my niece had a potty emergency and there were no toilets to be found. My sister in law pulled out one of her baby’s diapers and had her daughter use that just to go potty in that moment. It is good to have these things on hand just in case. The diaper or pull up can go on so relief can happen even if no toilet is around. Your child doesn’t have to wear it the whole time; it can just be in a bag if needed.
Limit Snacks and Liquids
Salty snacks lead to needing to drink, and drinking leads to needing to pee. If you are on a long car ride or a plane, you don’t want to eliminate snacks and drinks completely, but limit them as best you can so you do not need to go potty as often before reaching your destination. If your child is wearing a diaper or pull-up, you do not need to worry about limiting snacks and liquids.
Conclusion
Traveling with a potty-training toddler is challenging. These tips will make that process easier so you can enjoy your family trip!
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