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My DD turned 3 in December and started potty training at the end of October. We only do a pull up in the car if the drive is longer than an hour or we are driving during nap time (since she is not nap/night trained).

We always have her use the potty before we go somewhere. And generally offer it as soon as we arrive at a destination.

@SweetCaroline: I totally understand your worry. I do not want to clean pee out of the car seat but I also don't want to hinder her success...

@mrswin: CPSTs used to recommend using a pad in seats but recently almost all car seat manufacturers have come out against it. Just an FYI.

If you have a britax or diono seat they each make a pad to go in their seats. Otherwise nothing can be added to the seat.

Our daycare trip is about 20 minutes but we often stop for an errand on the way home. DS only peed in the seat once in the way home. Sometimes I don’t even have him go before we leave, but he can hold it forever.

We did a pull up for the drive home for a few weeks (maybe 2 weeks?) and had him go potty before we got in the car. We always keep the cheap Ikea green potty seat in the car in case we have to pull over in an emergency, but he's been daytrained for 3 months now and he can usually hold it pretty easily for 30 minutes.

back when we were new at potty training, we used the potty every time immediately before we got in the car, and when we arrived at our destination. But we did not wear pull-ups or diapers in the car.

It has been nearly a year, and we still do pull-ups when we know he will fall asleep, or on a SUPER long ride (for us, that is more like 2 hours long....) since he is not night trained. We also keep a travel-potty in the trunk for "momma, I have to go now and I can't wait!!!" moments (it is also useful for our favorite park, which doesn't have a bathroom). He's never had an accident on the really long rides, but we keep doing it just in case.

Also, he always wears a pull-up when we fly on an airplane "because sometimes on an airplane, you aren't allowed to get out of your seat, even if you have to use the potty". He totally understands it, and has never actually used the pull-up, but it gives me peace of mind.

We took the Potette Plus potty with us EVERYWHERE, and always had her pee before leaving.

If I was concerned about a long-ish trip, I would just do a pull-up. We used them at night until she was consistently waking up dry.

That said, I had to clean the car seat approx. 59034859034 times. Good luck!!!