I limit liquids a lot when driving far so they are usually fine. It's me with the caffeine drinking that is the one that needs to stop! On a four hour trip we generally stop once.

Four hours.

If someone requests a stop, we stop.

I think most kids can go 2-4 hours without a bathroom break, but you have to time meals right.
What works for us is eating in the car - I know a lot of folks don't allow food in the car. If we stop at a restaurant, everyone will need a bathroom an hour or two later.

We try to do a lot of stopping for running around - stop at a playground or park - do a bathroom break - now everyone can go another 2-3 hours before we need to stop.

When the kids were younger, we would drive at night but not overnight. We'd do dinner and then try to get another 4-5 hours of driving in while everyone fell asleep. We'd stop at a hotel to sleep and carry our sleeping kid in. Our oldest never slept in the car.

We have one kid that could easily hold it for what feels like an eternity...I'm talking a 9+ hour road trip.

...and his brother would consistently have accidents if we didn't stop all.the.time.

Our method is usually just to stop every so often so everyone can stretch their legs, in addition to stopping to fuel up the car. Everyone has to at least TRY and go, even if they don't think they need to at the time.

DH prefers to drive at night, but I hate it myself. But on the occasion that we do drive at night, we try and treat it much the same as bedtime back at home, meaning we'll stop somewhere and our youngest will put on a pull-up under his PJ's. NOT to use for convenience, but for if he falls asleep in the car (which he usually does quite reliably).

We’ve always stopped whenever they ask to stop. We factor in the extra time.

Totally depends on the kid. By the time DS was 6, we could reliably drive 2.5-3 hours without any issues. At 11, we can drive 4 hours without stopping. I'm usually the one who needs a bathroom before DS or DH, even if they drink something in the car!

How young? We try to drive through the night as much as we can now with 4 and 8 and otherwise stop every 2.5-3 hrs.
We drove to MA when the youngest was 3 and just potty trained. I too a travel potty and we stopped a lot and also stopped for urgent pee requests on the side of the highway too.

My parents used to only stop one time on a six hour trip and i just remember being miserable trying to hold my pee. My mom is a CAMEL and I pee like every hour.

Anonymous wrote:Totally depends on the kid. One kid has the ability to hold it much longer than the others.

I do admit to … I wouldn’t say dehydrating, but definitely not being generous with the liquids … when road tripping. We have a mandatory “you must try” rule at every rest stop for everyone. We usually can go 3 hours between stops, but if someone needs to go, we stop early and everyone goes.

This is how we handle it too.

Stop every 2 hours

I stop whenever they say they need to stop. If it's just a bathroom break, it should only take 15ish minutes. Unless there's a long line or something.

Mine still has some trouble at night so if we do a long trip we’ve given him the choice if he wants to wear a pull-up for just-in-case.

Totally depends on the kid. One kid has the ability to hold it much longer than the others.

I do admit to … I wouldn’t say dehydrating, but definitely not being generous with the liquids … when road tripping. We have a mandatory “you must try” rule at every rest stop for everyone. We usually can go 3 hours between stops, but if someone needs to go, we stop early and everyone goes.

With long car trips and young kids what is the best way you’ve found for managing the rest stops? How long would you expect them to be able to “hold-it”?