Cruising while potty training

My almost 2 year old has decided to potty train. I've been putting him off for a few months, planning to do it after we return from our upcoming cruise (who wants to stop for potty breaks every 20 minutes while cruising?). But he is insistent and now I'm worried if I don't let him potty train, I will teach him that he should continue to use diapers.

Has anyone cruised while potty training? How on earth did you do it?

We cruise December 1st.

If he's really insistant (and that's GOOD!), then go for it! My son, once he decided he wanted to, got through it in nothing flat! You've got plenty of time! Stop using diapers during the day...wetting themselves feels dreadful! You can still use pull-ups or something at night, if nighttime is a problem. Once a child learns the feeling of "needing to go", and being able to control it until they hit the bathroom, the battle is won.

The cruise will be sooooo much nicer if your son is a "big boy" and can do without diapers!

Once started potty training is usually done in about a week or two - at least for daytime. Start now and he will be an old pro by the time your December cruise rolls around! Nighttime may take much longer, so be prepared to bring Pull Ups or diapers for that.

Oh, cool! Then that's exciting! For some reason I thought it would take months.

Thank you so much!

Lots of time before December. My daughter trained in 3 days. If hes saying hes ready then 7 weeks is tons of time. And better to do now so he can use the pool onboard.

P.S. i'm jealous. My 2.5 yr old has zero interest LOL.

Best thing about a cruise is that a bathroom is never too far away. Neither is the room. Potty training itself shouldn't take long, but at least in the ship, it's not hard finding a place to go.

On an excursion or in port, that might be different... but by then, you probably won't have to worry about it.

We actually used a cruise to potty train...my son was 3 on our first cruise.. I printed out pictures of the pools and told him he needed to be trained to be able to go into the pools with his brother. Worked great!

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Well, we just finished Day 1 and man, I am no longer certain he'll be ready! No accidents all morning and then after naptime wham! Accident after accident after accident AND he refused to sit on the potty when it was time.

At least my floors are really, really clean now.

We cruised last month and I was really surprised that my 2 year old potty-trained daughter wanted nothing to do with toilets on the ship and reverted back to pull ups the whole time on board. For some reason she was terrified of the toilets. We got off the ship and it was back to usual (literally as soon as we got on shore she wanted to go). Strange, but I guess the moral is just be prepared for everything. Fortunately, she still wears pull ups at night and I brought plenty, but I guess the lesson is just be prepared because you never know what will happen. The good news is she has been on three cruises now and always sleeps GREAT on board. Have fun :)

One of our granddaughters, at almost three, trained herself literally over a weekend when she found out she couldn't go to Preschool unless she she was trained. Yep: Friday--diapers and pull-ups. Monday: big girl panties, forever!

Sometimes an incentive can do wonders! I don't think she even had one accident; before this, she just wasn't interested in potty training.

I was in this situation with ds2, but it was a land based AI trip. If he's insistent, go with it, but be ready with diapers/pull ups if he decides to change his mind. Boys are very different than girls when it comes to potty training, I know of many girls who trained almost overnight or within a week, but I know of no instances of this happening with boys :rolleyes:

I did find that being in a swimsuit and strategically located near a bathroom worked really well, but we used pull ups at night and at nap time. The explanation was I didn't have a washing machine and this wasn't our home, so we had to make sure there were no accidents, which surprisingly he understood.

Good luck!

You have tons of time. We used the 3-day-method to train our son and it worked like a charm.

For travel we sometimes will put a Pull Up on over his big boy pants(mostly on airplanes, long car rides, or bedtime), that way he will still feel wet, but we don't have to worry about leaks. ;)

You need to read up more on potty training. Or you should have planned a cruise at a different time

You need to read up more on potty training. Or you should have planned a cruise at a different time

Lol. That's rude and not helpful!

Agreed. Training my son took a little over a week and I was like you, I did not force it on him...I paid attention to the signs and he showed me when it was time. I think doing that makes potty training take a lot less time. I've seen people try to force their kids into potty training and they can be battling with them for months if they aren't ready.

I just read the entire thread and apparently my experience has been quite different than B&Z'smom.

Thank you all! He's only had 1 accident today so I'm very hopeful. I found a portable potty on Amazon, so I ordered it. I am nervous about the loud toilets scaring him away. So, I'm not teaching him to flush yet. I figured if I can do that without him around it won't scare him. I will bring extra pull ups just in case. You've all (mostly) been very encouraging.

ETA: About the boys vs girls on potty training, I've always heard that boys were much harder, too. I do have a nephew that was trained in a week at 18 months and my mother in law swears my brother in law was, too.

elstyne, as we say 'round these parts, "Bless your heart."

Like others, I think you have plenty of time. I've potty-trained MANY children. I used to work as a 2-3 year-old teacher! Patience, lots of potty breaks (every 30-60 minutes in the beginning!) and a bowl of M&M's is usually a winning combination! (1 M&M for trying, 3 for potty and 5 for a poo!)

You could also use stickers, stamps or whatever might "float his boat" ;) I had one little years ago who would go home with stamps up and down both arms, but was he ever proud of himself for going potty! :D

My own two boys (15 and 19 now!) were two completely different potty-trainers. The oldest had gotten chicken pox and they were bad in his diaper area so I offered to let him wear undies, but he couldn't have accidents or it would sting. He potty-trained that day! LOL! My younger, very challenging son decided one day he was going to do it because he wanted to be like the big kids mommy worked with (was working a summer latch-key program and he got to tag along) and he was potty trained within three days.

Night training takes a bit longer but you'll be in your stateroom so no biggie!

Good luck and it is so liberating to say GOOD BYE to the diapers!

I agree with the rewards...my older son would get a sticker for every time he went, then when he accumulated so many stickers (started out with 10, then as he got better we would go up on the number required) he got a Thomas Take a Long train. Worked great...but he was 3 yrs 2 months when he started to train...and was fully trained by 3 1/2. He just was not ready before then. My other one, as I stated earlier, we used the cruise pool pictures...he was trained just before turning 3 and took maybe 2 weeks.

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You need to read up more on potty training. Or you should have planned a cruise at a different time

Wahhhh?!?!?! :eek:

She's fine. Clearly has read up on potty training and is now continuing with her "research" by asking parents here for more suggestions. Some people train over the weekend, while others can take over a year. Some start at 12 months others at age 4. Should no one travel when their kids are aged 1-4 in case they start to potty train? My goodness.

While we have not cruised while potty training, we have taken a land vacation and it was fine.

OP here are some things we did:

-Brought a potty chair. Depending on the type you get they actually fit very easily in a suitcase. Can't remember the one we got but it was pretty cheap from Target and was shaped like a frog.

-Brought extra pants with elastic waistbands, padded training undies, wetbags (plastic sacks work fine)and plastic undie covers. Made sure to keep them in different places(stroller, both parent's day bags, purse)

-Treats/rewards in little baggies so they were always on hand(we used stickers, cheese poofs, and m&ms) My guy also found that flushing, wiping and using air hand dryers were a pretty awesome reward though! :D

-Frequent bathroom stops, even if he didn't ask

-We used Pull ups and/or wool pants for bedtime. Also brought a waterproof sheet. He didn't have a single night time accident but it's good to be prepared.

The entire trip was almost a month long and he had maybe an accident every other day. About 90% of those were while we were on the way to the bathroom, a couple of times we were literally in the stall pulling down his pants(weren't quick enough). So really during that month I'd say he had 5 true accidents(oh and 2 of those were on the plane during turbulence and we couldn't get up even though he did ask to go). Lesson learned: use pull ups on the plane.

Have a wonderful cruise op :)

I trained four boys---all adults now. The first two trained in about a week because, I think, I still used cloth diapers. They didn't like the wet feel. The younger two took longer because I used disposable diapers where they never felt the discomfort. I honestly feel that disposable diapers are the bane of easy potty training, and my four boys are proof positive.

I trained four boys---all adults now. The first two trained in about a week because, I think, I still used cloth diapers. They didn't like the wet feel. The younger two took longer because I used disposable diapers where they never felt the discomfort. I honestly feel that disposable diapers are the bane of easy potty training, and my four boys are proof positive.

I can totally see where you're coming from. But not true in my case. My daughter was disposable diapered and trained in 2 days at 28 months. My son is in cloth diapers and is 31 months. He has zero interest. Doesnt even care when his cloth diaper is wet. Sigh. But my mom often says the same thing that you did.

I can totally see where you're coming from. But not true in my case. My daughter was disposable diapered and trained in 2 days at 28 months. My son is in cloth diapers and is 31 months. He has zero interest. Doesnt even care when his cloth diaper is wet. Sigh. But my mom often says the same thing that you did.

Ditto:). Both my boys wore cloth and ds1 didn't show interest until he was well past 3, even though other children at his child care were trained for months before him. Even at that, it was another 6 months before he would defecate on the toilet. Ds2 was fully trained at 27 months. Both wore cloth diapers and we used the same potty training strategies.

My opinion: we are not in control of when a child potty trains, they are!

Ditto:). Both my boys wore cloth and ds1 didn't show interest until he was well past 3' date=' even though other children at his child care were trained for months before him. Even at that, it was another 6 months before he would defecate on the toilet. Ds2 was fully trained at 27 months. Both wore cloth diapers and we used the same potty training strategies.

My opinion: we are not in control of when a child potty trains, they are![/quote']

 

My son actually has sensory integration dysfunction with hearing and tactile perception being hypersensitive. Nothing else appears to be affected. He's always had superman hearing...the type that could hear a bee coming from 30 seconds before I could. Or, he'd hear the fridge whirring...when you would never have noticed it. He's now learned to filter out most of those noises as "white noise" but he had a difficult time with that as a younger child. It was the same for his tactile perception. He hated to be dirty, slimey...anything like that would be difficult for him to ignore so he started potty training very easily because he did not like the feel of wet anything against his skin at all. Now he has a very good handle on it and we can barely tell he had these issues as a young child although in very loud situations, I always carry the silicon earplugs in case he just can't take the noise.

My son actually has sensory integration dysfunction with hearing and tactile perception being hypersensitive. Nothing else appears to be affected. He's always had superman hearing...the type that could hear a bee coming from 30 seconds before I could. Or, he'd hear the fridge whirring...when you would never have noticed it. He's now learned to filter out most of those noises as "white noise" but he had a difficult time with that as a younger child. It was the same for his tactile perception. He hated to be dirty, slimey...anything like that would be difficult for him to ignore so he started potty training very easily because he did not like the feel of wet anything against his skin at all. Now he has a very good handle on it and we can barely tell he had these issues as a young child although in very loud situations, I always carry the silicon earplugs in case he just can't take the noise.

That's so interesting, because ds1 also has SI issues with auditory hypersensitivity! Unfortunately tactile was fine and he just didn't care about using a toilet... Of course they all learn at some point!

The silicone earplugs are still in my purse too...and the bottom of the hockey bag for that darned buzzer at the end of each period ;)

That's so interesting' date=' because ds1 also has SI issues with auditory hypersensitivity! Unfortunately tactile was fine and he just didn't care about using a toilet... Of course they all learn at some point!

The silicone earplugs are still in my purse too...and the bottom of the hockey bag for that darned buzzer at the end of each period ;)[/quote']

 

LOL @ "unfortunately" ;) He's my only one so I guess if I were to have another, I shouldn't expect it to be so easy from what I'm reading here. :cool: