So I take monthly (or so) trips to my parents house up north - a 5 hour trip one way. DS does fairly well in the car (thanks to my in-laws' portable dvd player and some matchbox cars), but I'm currently potty-training him and every time I get to where it seems he does really well and has it down, I go up north and he greatly regresses. I know there is natural ups and downs for toddlers, but this has happened 3 times already. For those of you who traveled while toilet training your child, how did you do it? Did you take a potty chair and just pull over on the side of the highway when they had to go? (My girlfriend carried a potty chair EVERYWHERE in her car. Helped her a couple times when she had to go herself. LOL) Did you just put them in a pull-up and let it go? He's very ready to be trained - he's been so close to being totally trained (if you know what I mean)... it's like I don't want to mess with it anymore. I just want to get it down. Maybe I'm overreacting to this...

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I would get the pott seat out and have it in the car! (my dd is 5 and 7 and I leave it in the car still (with a few plasitc bags and tp!!) they have not used it in a while but in the summer we have used it at parks where there is no potty!!)

I would try to use the bathrooms first but at the potty traingin stage when you gotta go you gotta go!!! also I still would use a training pant!! (just in case!!) that way the seat is not wet!!!! this is JMO!!! good luck!!

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Kelly mom to 3 great girls A Peanut, a monkey and a little burrito.

I have a potty chair in the back of my car just in case (with plastic bags, paper towels and some tissues .... since I need them in the car anyways). The good thing about boys is that they do not need to sit to pee. So I have a urinal (the thing men/boys pee into with a handle and cover) for pee emergencies. With a minivan, the boy can stand in the car and pee without a problem .... of course the car is stopped. Once my little ones were in underwear I did not put them in pull-ups except for at night (long car rides, airplane trips .... personally I did not want regression) and I hoped for the best. I do have a car seat protector under the car seat to save my car seat. I always have them try before we leave and limit beverages.

However, you need to what you feel is best. Best of luck and enjoy your trip.

I keep a potty chair in my car too. I'm not potty training right now but it seems like DD#2 always has to potty when there is no clean restroom around.

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DS-16
DD-13
DD-5
DS-3

I can definately sympathize with you. My son is three and we make a lot of 8-10 hour trips visiting family and friends. When I first starting potty training, we chose to travel at night after he went to sleep and if he was awake we stopped every 1-2 hours to make him sit on the toilet. This seemed to work very well for us. I did keep a pull up on him just in case but he wore the pullup over his big boy underwear - his choice not mine This made him feel more like he was using the bathroom in his underwear (which he was very afraid to do).

He seemed to do very well and we haven't had any accidents in quite some time. I think the traveling at night has saved us the most though. Good luck.