west coast trip with 3 year old--time change and getting her to go to the bathroom

[Anonymous]

Just potty trained DD and she is dry at nights so we just do underwear woohoo! She's in the crib still (2.5, wildchild so want to keep her in there). We have a trip to California planned for summer, and she won't turn 3 till Aug. I wanted to keep her in the crib till Aug.

Right now I just go to her at 7 AM and plop her on the potty. If we go to CA, am I going to be in a world of hurt waking up at 4 and 5 most mornings to get put her on the potty until she adjusts?

Tempted to just cancel the June California trip and wait to go in December (we go to see family) b/c traveling w/two young kids is both kind of exhausting and getting more expensive. Any thoughts? We just spent a month in California so I feel like we could probably skip it for a year...then by the time we go in December, she'll be out of the crib/pack and play and just go potty herself in the morning.

[Anonymous]

(OP here--I will say, even before thinking of the potty issue, I was thinking of skipping our June trip and just going in December for some other reasons+to save $)

[Anonymous]

I think it sounds like you don’t want to go. June is six months away, you have no idea what the potty situation will be like and this whole thing of canceling because she’ll wet the bed three mornings while she’s getting used to the time difference is not the issue. Make a decision on whether you want to go and own it.

[Anonymous]

OP here--yeah you're right, I'm ambivalent and could always stick a pull up on her or something. Talk about being wishy washy...it's a 5K+ trip since we have to pay for housing, so I should be more enthusiastic about it if we're going to go, huh?

[Anonymous]

I don’t think the bathroom is really an issue. She’s likely going to wake up at 5 am for the first couple of days anyway. It’s not that big of a deal though, just a couple of days of getting adjusted. I definitely would not put her back in a pull-up for this.

[Anonymous]

I dont see an issue either. Either she'll wake up later eventually and hold it or wake up. My kid is 3.5. In a toddler bed since 2.5 and can potty on her own and she comes and wakes me at 6 am to go potty because she wants company.

[Anonymous]

She’s night trained? Get her out of the crib. Sorry OP

[Anonymous]

Don’t spend $5,000 for anything you’re not excited about.

[Anonymous]

Pull ups and get her out of the crib.

[Anonymous]

I took my ~3yo on three trips to the west coast this year. In the spring, when she was 2.75, she slept in a pack and play, just like her baby brother, and wore a pull-up on the plane, but used the airplane bathroom.

A few months later, after her third birthday, she’s fully potty trained and transitioned from crib to toddler bed, so normal underwear on the plane and a pallet on the floor to sleep.

For the time change, the biggest questions are: Does your toddler fight bedtime at home and what time are you flying? My kid loves to push her bedtime back if she can. We took evening flights in the desperate hope that we could get the 3yo and 1yo to sleep on the plane. It didn’t work on the 3yo, but she adapted quickly to the west coast time zone and was only getting up a little early. Coming east was much worse.

Your potty situation and sleeping arrangements are going to change quickly in the next few months. Sometimes these trips can actually help you push your child to try something new. I wouldn’t worry too much if it’s something you want to do.

[Anonymous]

Don't cancel fun travel plans because of toddler inconvenience.

In the early stages of potty training I just accepted that there would be some toileting regression (deliberate or otherwise) on trips. My DD was in Pull-ups on all flights for a while. They will let you know (by their dryness, etc.) when they are ready otherwise.

[Anonymous]

We had (still have? We still do this with one of the boys) my two wear pull-ups at night for a long while even after they were technically potty trained at home. My kids seemed to exclusively have accidents while we were staying anywhere other than our own home, even if we kept their bedtime as similar as possible to what it would be at home.

Was never any pushback. They knew it was just a precaution, and packing pull ups for nighttime on trips was simply part of the routine.

Get rid of the crib, OP, and have her wear ‘travel undies’ (pull ups). No big deal.