Taking A Little Girl To The Bathroom

[Anonymous]

Stay at home dad here. I have a weird question. How do I get a two year old girl to use the bathroom in public? She's been potty trained for about three weeks. She tells us when she has to go, and she hasn't wet herself at all (day or night) in that time. The only problem I'm running into is getting her to go in a public bathroom.

Over the past month while she was potty training I stayed close to home. The park, playground and grocery store are all within a 5-10 minute walk from our house. I limited our trips outside to 60-90 minutes. Now that she's trained, I tried going further from home. We went to the mall a few days ago and when she had to go I took her into the men's bathroom (I couldn't find a family room). I pulled her pants down and tried to just hold her over the toilet but she flipped out! She locked her legs and kept trying to climb out of my arms. All of this happened while she was peeing so it sprayed all over me, her pants and the floor. We ended up going home.

Today we went to Target and she had to go. This time, I took her into one of the handicapped stalls and took her pants and everything off. I tried to hold her over the toilet but, again, she was afraid and wouldn't go. I held her there for a while, but eventually gave up. I stood her up in the stroller to put her pants back on and she started peeing. I moved her back over the toilet, but by that point about half of it was already inside the City Mini.

So again, my question is how do I get a little girl to go to the bathroom? I'm completely out of my element here. With a little boy, you just "point and click" and he goes in the urinal. You don't even have to pull his pants all the way down. I know that part of it has to do with me holding her over the toilet, but...I don't know if you've seen the inside of a men's bathroom, but the stalls are the worst part. There's no chance in hell that I'm going to sit her on one of those toilets even with the little paper guard thing.

So what do I do? Any advice would be appreciated. She turned two about a month ago, so her conversational skills aren't the best. Talking her through it isn't too effective.

[Anonymous]

You can buy a portable toilet topper that folds up and has a little bag. That way she can sit down. That should work if you you have a seat cover you use at home. It would feel familiar to her. If you use a "little potty" at home, you can buy a potelle portable potty (at any of the baby stores or online). They fold up and can stand alone...we called it the car potty and they have little bags they pee and poop in and then you tie off and throw away. You can bring it to the park bring it in the car, use it in a bathroom, etc. It also can serve as a toilet seat cover. Good luck, Dad!

[Anonymous]

If you're driving, you could keep a portable potty in the car. something like this?

http://www.amazon.com/Travel-Potty-by-Cool-Gear/dp/B002RAYVKG

[Anonymous]

First know where the family rooms are. Find them When you get somewhere beforw you Need them.

Carry lysol Woods and AIPE the seat down. Buy a portable seat and pool her down.....Itll be okay I promise.

[Anonymous]

This is a great travel potty, with a detachable potty seat for cheap:

http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-W9419-2-in-1-Portable-Potty/dp/B005IWM7TW/ref=sr_1_1?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1347314607&sr=1-1&keywords=fisher+price+travel+potty

If you don't want the whole potty, it is easy to take just the seat.

Note that it has handles so she can hold on while sitting on the potty, which calms some kids and helps poop. I'd also bring some disinfecting wipes. Sorry, Men's rooms are really gross. Finding the "Family" rooms is a great idea, but they are too few and far between.

[Anonymous]

While the portable potties/potty inserts are a great tool if that's what your kid needs, for many kids (and I say this as a former nanny who has potty trained twins of both genders) they just need to feel stable. Buy a pack of lysol wipes and clean the seat, pull their undies and pants down to the tops of their shoes (but not off) and set them perpendicular on the seat, so that their butt is resting partly on one side and their feet are sticking over the other side. They can use their hands to feel more stable. You can still hold on to them by the arms to be extra sure they don't slip, but they should be pretty secure. Keep hand sanitizer at the ready and clean their and your hands the second they are off the toilet (before pulling up pants/undies) so that their hands are at least sort of clean in case they touch their face before you can get to the sink.

[Anonymous]

When dd was that small I used to hold her over the toilet in a sitting position, with her back to me (so her back is resting against me) and my arms supporting her legs fully to the knees. Never had a problem. How are you trying to hold her?

[Anonymous]

Or try these:
http://www.amazon.com/Neat-Solutions-10-count-Explorer-Disposable/dp/B0002XO5K6/ref=sr_1_4?s=baby-products&ie=UTF8&qid=1347321383&sr=1-4&keywords=disposable+seat+covers+toddlers

My two-year old likes public bathrooms unless there's an automatic flushing toilet -- that scares her. Could it be that? To combat that, I let her hear it flush and explain it and then put her on the toilet.

[Anonymous]

My husband takes our 2y old DD to men bathrooms when family ones are not available. And he does that even when I am around, since I LOVE* the little break.

[Anonymous]

I cover the toilet seat with toilet paper (or one of those seat covers when available) and lift her onto the toilet with instructions NOT TO TOUCH ANYTHING. After the first time peeing in public, she was fine. I think it would be too difficult and awkward for her if I was holding her up above the toilet - though I thought about that approach since I personally am skeeved out about public toilets. Now that I am pregnant with DC#2, so I usually go first and by the time I'm done she wants to go. That approach may not help the stay-home-dad, though.

[Anonymous]

OP, you are making things way too difficult. You freaking out is freaking your daughter out. It's ok to let her sit on the toilet. Her ass won't fall off. Trust me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you are making things way too difficult. You freaking out is freaking your daughter out. It's ok to let her sit on the toilet. Her ass won't fall off. Trust me.

Spoken like someone who has not recently taken a 2 year old to a public restroom.

[Anonymous]

Let her get on the toilet and sit. Sometimes sitting backwards is more stable. Wash hands afterwards. Giving independence helps.

She isn't going to be comfortable or able to pee while being dangled over a toilet, and it will only serve to freak her out.

[Anonymous]

OP, I'm a dad too, and I've been taking both my girls out on adventures without their mom since they were babies. So, I feel your pain.

One thing I never tested, but I've been told several times: Women won't mind if you bring your daughter into the ladies' room. Again, I never tested this theory.

I think pp is on to something about the automatic flushing systems. They freaked one of my daughters out.

[Anonymous]

This sounds like the dad who posted several times about how to help his DD pee when camping in the woods. Very similar post, with similar details - and turned out to be a pervert and post was removed. OP, hope you are not the same dude.