https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Mon, 06 Apr 2026 23:51:06 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846703 Wed, 03 Sep 2014 09:48:29 +0000 Mrs. Yoyo 1846703@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Agree that you want to keep the power struggle to a minimum. I wouldn't bring him into the bathroom until he says he needs to go. Usually a simple, "There's a potty here, let me know if you need to go" will do. It has to be their prerogative, you know? That helped the process go really quick for us at home, too.</p> <p>I know it sucks, but sometimes they need to have a couple of accidents and be genuinely uncomfortable before they realize going is the lesser of two evils. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846587 Wed, 03 Sep 2014 09:14:06 +0000 autumnlove 1846587@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>LO does great at home and school but out in public is still kinda hard. She says she needs to go but changes her mind a lot when she gets in the stall...maybe 1 out of 4/5 trips results in pee. I really want to get her comfortable with it since holding pee is bad! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846577 Wed, 03 Sep 2014 09:06:50 +0000 irene 1846577@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: Thanks! I will check it out! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846568 Wed, 03 Sep 2014 09:03:27 +0000 looch 1846568@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Irene: what about these underwear? We used them before I was comfortable ditching pull ups.</p> <p><a href="http://www.onestepahead.com/Bath-and-Potty/Potty-Training/The-Smarter-Potty-Training-Pants.pro?fpi=109864&#038;catCd=2W&#038;prefixCode=2W" rel="nofollow">http://www.onestepahead.com/Bath-and-Potty/Potty-Training/The-Smarter-Potty-Training-Pants.pro?fpi=109864&#038;catCd=2W&#038;prefixCode=2W</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846554 Wed, 03 Sep 2014 08:56:50 +0000 irene 1846554@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Weagle: Thanks! I don't think I pushed him though. I just take him to the restroom when we are at a decent restaurant and ask do you want to give it a try? He said no and that was it. I don't push him every hour or every time when we are out at all...</p> <p>Yes I agree with the underwear while out... just very chicken about it! :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846438 Wed, 03 Sep 2014 08:02:40 +0000 Weagle 1846438@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@irene: I think if I were in your shoes I would stop pushing it when you're out. Remind him to tell you when he needs to go and maybe only stop at a potty every few hours. An accident sucks, but so does potty refusal. Like a pp, my LO hates it when you force certain things and public toilets are on of them. She will try at church, the pool, and CFA on occasion. A park bathroom when she was desperate. She will hold it for 6 hours or more sometimes until she finds a toilet she seems suitable. I don't think it's a big problem that she has a preference right now. Eventually she'll get over it. Maybe he needs a few more accidents out of the house to realize what's going on. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846409 Wed, 03 Sep 2014 07:36:28 +0000 irene 1846409@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Weagle: We drove to a location 1.5 hours away from home for half a day with my friend (her son is the same age and goes to the same daycare. He is "trained" because he uses underwear at school and when they go out). She put him to potty at an interval, like whenever there is a convenient bathroom that she sees. So I just followed her. LO wouldn't try (or go anywhere near that really) at all. He peed in his pull up once. While we were heading home he just held it in and kept screaming he needed to go. We got home and his diaper was dry. I was actually very surprised because I have told him we are still a long way from home and you are in diaper so you can go if you can't hold.</p> <p>To answer your question though, yes I do take him to the potty and offer him to try, but he won't.... the issue is not that he can hold through an outing (which he does remain clean and dry in most short outings), it is that he wouldn't even try :( That would be a problem if we are out on a trip ! haha! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846394 Wed, 03 Sep 2014 07:24:58 +0000 Weagle 1846394@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Are you trying to make him go every single time you're out? Like, if you go to the grocery store are you taking him? LO doesn't potty every time we go out, and she'll hold it for a long time to avoid the public potty (she is particular about which public potties she will use). If they're able to hold it through an outing, I don't see why you need to press the issue right now. Of course, that doesn't solve the school issue. I wold definitely talk to the school about pull-ups being a crutch there. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846385 Wed, 03 Sep 2014 07:17:53 +0000 irene 1846385@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: I will keep doing that and hope it turns a corner soon! To be honest I feel horrible deep inside in terms of keep dragging my son in to see me pee. I hope I don't mentally scar his childhood grrrr ! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846381 Wed, 03 Sep 2014 07:12:26 +0000 looch 1846381@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@irene: yeah, I agree, you would have to train him to use that travel potty, so I would go with the lesser of two evils approach, and use public restrooms. Bring him in there when you go, show him what it's all about without having him actually use it. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846377 Wed, 03 Sep 2014 07:10:09 +0000 irene 1846377@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@looch: I actually literally HAS a traveling potty (it has disposable liners that comes out like a plastic bag with a "diaper"/absorb pad in it lol), that I intended to put it in the car just in case....! But the problem is I'd have to TRAIN him to go on that thing then. So I thought if I had to train him anyway I might as well make him go to the public bathroom haha.</p> <p>ETA: He wouldn't even go in his small potty at home. The only place he would go is on his bathroom toilet with the toilet seat.</p> <p>And yes traveling potty is sooooo gross I am with you!!! Ahhh </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846372 Wed, 03 Sep 2014 07:06:02 +0000 irene 1846372@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. Yoyo: Hmm ok... let me at least get those things where you can put on the carseat just in case accidents happen.... and we'd start going out with underwear.... Yikes....</p> <p>I tried bribing him to potty too, where I said we can go get ice-cream (from the ice-cream shop next door) if we go to potty. It backfired because he said no and on top of that he assumed we were getting ice-cream so he barely ate his lunch! Ahhh! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846370 Wed, 03 Sep 2014 07:04:36 +0000 looch 1846370@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@irene: you know what came to my mind, what if you brought a potty with you? I know you don't want to carry around a toilet seat ring, but I think it could work for you guys...I've seen this a lot when I was living abroad....it sounds and looks nuts and I totally judged when I first saw it (eeewww, gross!!) but it makes perfect sense. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846366 Wed, 03 Sep 2014 07:00:07 +0000 irene 1846366@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Mrs. High Heels: Oh no, I don't want to carry a potty seat around.... it is so filthy! I would love to carry one if they made disposable ones haha. And yes you can't do that at school anyway... I am really crossing my fingers that this will resolve on its own...</p> <p>@mrbee: I brought him to really really clean bathrooms (nicer than home actually lol), with no fear at all, and he still wouldn't go...</p> <p>@looch: I was just saying he's "HOME trained" to communicate to you guys... Yes of course he is NOT trained or else I could stop buying 'em diapers or posting the problem here haha! It is not up to me to ditch the pull-ups at school (their rule was your child has to consistently use the potty + poop in the potty, which LO hasn't done yet while he does that at home only), but let me talk to the teacher again. They just didn't want to consistently mob the floors after your LO until they are 120% ready. For going out to public, I am a bit afraid he'd try to hold it in (like he does when we were in the car) when we can't go home. I just don't want to make it more traumatizing than now. But let me think about it... thanks for your advice ! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846360 Wed, 03 Sep 2014 06:57:17 +0000 Mrs. Yoyo 1846360@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Agree that the pull-ups will probably be a crutch until you ditch them. Just bring an extra set of undies and bottoms, and tell him that accidents mean you have to stop having fun and go home. My son has been trained at home for about a month and only in the past week got comfortable and confident enough to go in public. We had a long trip so he couldn't avoid the issue any longer by holding it. Took him for a pee break at Cracker Barrel and told him he could choose a toy from their store on the way out if he went. That was all it took :-). We also have a folding seat I take with us. He was a little freaked by the loud flushing at first, but now he knows to expect it and he's always excited to find the quiet public potties, too :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846318 Wed, 03 Sep 2014 06:15:34 +0000 looch 1846318@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I don't think you can call your son potty trained given your run down, you're either day trained or not, and it sounds like your son is not trained, sorry! </p> <p>What I would do is timed intervals. You go out, you find a bathroom, you bring him there. You can stand him on the toilet, so he doen't have to sit, no big deal. Also, ditch the pull ups. They are crutch and it delays things. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846250 Wed, 03 Sep 2014 00:16:50 +0000 mrbee 1846250@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@irene: it could be related to anxiety... some kids pick up on parents' belief that public toilets are dirty, and then avoid them. Or some kids prefer to use disposable wipes they usually use st home, instead of the toilet paper usually in public bathrooms...</p> <p>Just some random brainstorms! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846248 Wed, 03 Sep 2014 00:13:41 +0000 Mrs. High Heels 1846248@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@irene: We struggled with public toilets for awhile because DD was scared of the loud automatic flushers. It doesn't sound like that is the case for your son though. I know a lot of parents carry around the over the toilet potty seats with them in public, so maybe you can try to do that for awhile until he gets more comfortable in public? Maybe having that familiarity of the potty seat will help him at least go in a public toilet. Not sure how you would resolve the school toilet issue though -- I would just hope that peer pressure would kick in at some point as he sees other kids go! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846246 Wed, 03 Sep 2014 00:10:03 +0000 irene 1846246@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrbee: could be but that is one of the facts that can't be changed... He never seemed startled by it though. Actually he had no problem accompanying me to pee but he is fine as long as he is not required to do it too. I dunno... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846245 Wed, 03 Sep 2014 00:03:47 +0000 mrbee 1846245@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@irene: could it be related to the loud flushing sounds that a lot of public toilets make? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846237 Tue, 02 Sep 2014 23:39:31 +0000 irene 1846237@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Lindsay05: yes! In fact I should not complain because my potty training long weekend / nightmare / hell was just back in July 4th ... And we made so much progress in 2 months! I hope I can announce we are 100% potty trained by Halloween lol. Reward is a good idea! Let me find/buy some special stamps/stickers..... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846227 Tue, 02 Sep 2014 23:22:29 +0000 Lindsay05 1846227@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Sounds like you are making great progress! I knew you were struggling before but great job on getting this far! Do you think maybe you are spending too much time in the bathroom? I know for my LO anytime we try to push it on her, she refuses. Maybe add a reward for using the public washroom and try to be patient. Doing great though! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/advice-needed-toddler-potty-preference#post-1846216 Tue, 02 Sep 2014 23:07:20 +0000 irene 1846216@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I need advice Bees!</p> <p>LO is a little over 2.5 years. I can say we are 99% HOME potty trained (except for naps/sleep). I can confidently let him wear his underwear and 99% of the time he would let me know he needs to pee/poop. Even if he had an accident he would somehow be able to hold it and scream/cry so I can quickly swoosh him to the potty. He also started holding his pee when we were in the car too. Just over this weekend we were on a short road trip, he actually held his pee until he got home (Poor guy)! Today when we traveled from daycare to home he also held his pee until we got home.</p> <p>The dilemma is, he WOULD NOT use any other potty outside of our house. :-(</p> <p>I've tried multiple times to take him to "tour" the bathrooms whenever we were at a restaurant. I asked if he would like to try and he said he wouldn't. He wouldn't even let me take his pants off. At school, he uses the potty for 1-2 times for the whole day, and the rest of the times he go in his training diapers :-( . There are times he would sit on the potty and wouldn't pee whereas at home, he always pee whenever I put him on the potty. </p> <p>I talked to my friend about this issue, and she said I could demonstrate on how to use the public potty, which I did for 3 times over the weekend, but he still wouldn't try.</p> <p>We are still using training diapers when we go out or go to school. The school didn't give us green light to use underwear yet (because he hasn't been consistently using the potty) so we can't anyway. And I am very chicken about public accidents. My friend said maybe LO is not really ready yet.</p> <p>We have a potty seat on top of the toilet at home and there is a pee-guard in front. So whenever he uses the potty, he is completely pant-less / shoeless and he can sit comfortably. This is not something that is doable at school or outside. I am guessing that's one of the (many) reasons why he refuses outside potties.</p> <p>What do you think? Did anyone go through a phase like this and does it naturally go away? Or what did you do to help LO use the potty that is outside of his home? Or just any advice is welcomed. </p>