PL-ing and Airline travel! Gimme your two cents (or more)

[blizzard_babe]

So... DS (2) is rocking the potty learning. Still wears a nighttime diaper, but is pretty much accident-free during the day: at home, out and about, the works. We've been working on it, to some degree, since the beginning of May, and it has really caught on in the last week and a half.

On June 7th, we are flying cross-country. We'll have:

1. A one-hour flight at around bedtime
2. A three-hour layover at an airport with a "nursery," which is basically just room with a couch, a toddler slide, a child-sized table and chair set, and most importantly, its own one-seater bathroom
3. a three hour red-eye flight
4. A two-hour layover at the butt-crack of dawn
5. another three hour flight, and finally...
6. A three-hour car ride.

I'm trying to decide how to approach this. I think the car ride will probably be a diaper-worthy event, because I'm guessing that he'll be ready to sleep like the dead. I'm also not concerned about the layovers; he's totally cool peeing in public restrooms.

The flights, though... I'm not sure. Well, let me carlify: the one-hour flight is fine. This won't mean much to anyone who's not from Alaska, but it's the Bethel-Anchorage flight. It's just no big deal. The two three-hour flights, though... should I diaper him? He MIGHT fall asleep. He also might have to pee while we're taking off, landing, experiencing turbulence, or while there's a line for the can. Also not sure how he'll do in airplane bathrooms.

I don't want to deal with diapers, or cause a set-back (he really only took off with the PL-ing once he was done with daycare and therefore diapers, and that was only two mornings a week). I'd just put a cover on over his padded training underwear, but that feels just like the cloth diapers he wore, so I can't be sure he wouldn't just assume he was wearing a diaper and let go.

So, basically, it's disposables and maybe have a minor setback or brave the underwear and deal with the potential consequences.

[greenmagick]

My dd was close to potty learned when we took our last flight (she was almost 3) and I decided to go ahead and diaper her...however she is weird about going and ONLY would go on her terms, not like we need to try now.

I will say I was very glad of this when we got on the flight to return home...it was about a 2 1/2 hour flight. We were getting ready to take off when they announce BTW, the restroom is not working so no toilet on this flight...

[LindsC]

We are trying to decide the same thing here. DS just turned 3 and has only PL'd in the last couple of months. He too still wears a diaper to bed, but has excellent control during the day and naps. Like you said, my biggest concern is the times when he can't use the bathroom (taxi, takeoff, landing, turbulence, etc) or if there is a line. I usually bring an extra change of clothes for him, but I'm just not sure what to do yet. Right now I am leaning towards letting him wear a pullup just for safety's sake since he really doesn't use them as a diaper anymore anyways (he stays dry most nights).

[~Amy~]

Are you able to protect and/or willing to deal with a wet carseat during the trip? If not, I'd definitely do Pull Ups or similar. We used cloth diapers & now use Pull Ups overnight & for long trips in the car, etc. They are different enough from what DS was used to that he knows he's not supposed to pee in them. He treats them very much like regular underwear.

[desamom]

I took my DD on a five hour flight when she was 23 months old and had been out of diapers for four months. She had also stopped wearing diapers at night for at least two months at that point. I strongly considered putting her in a diaper for the flight, but it felt too weird cause it had been so long since she'd worn one. So I decided to take the risk. I made sure I had two extra sets of clothes. My problem ended up being that she kept asking to go to the bathroom as a way to get out of our seat! So we'd get to the bathroom and I'd close the door, and then she would say "no pee!". It was very frustrating by about the third time (we went for a total of five and she never peed once). Then as we were beginning our descent i.e. no more getting out of our seats, she got this desperate look on her face and said "pee really bad!". I grabbed my sweatshirt and put it underneath her on my lap, but also told her she absolutely could not pee until the plane was landed. Amazingly she managed to hold it and we made it to the bathroom in the terminal.

Okay, so that was maybe a useless story, but it's all to say do what makes you most comfortable. If it had been while my daughter still wore diapers at night, I probably would have put a diaper on her for the flight (although ours was a daytime flight and only 5 hours).

Oh and navigating the airplane bathroom with a toddler is not an easy feat -- it's VERY small in there. I am about to do it alone with my two year old and I'll be 25 weeks pregnant!

[Drummer's Wife]

We've always done pull-ups/diapers in similar situations. Much less hassle/stress/worry, and it didn't impact potty learning from then on. If it's convenient, you can definitely encourage your LO to use the toilet at the airport, plane, etc., but you'll have the back-up for the time when you have to remain seated, or you are rushed or delayed or he falls asleep.

[Katwoman]

I brought diapers for diaper-free children on all flights until they were 5. But I keep them in the carry on bag. If they have to go potty at an inconvenient moment - take offs/landings - or if they feel asleep, I just slid the diaper under their bottoms and let them use the diaper. It was really useful during turbulence as well. I started doing that when my girlfriend was stuck on the tarmac with her two kids for hours and they all had to be buckled into their seats. Her oldest ended up peeing in her seat. I figured using a diaper was less traumatic to my kids than peeing on their seat.

[kcparker]

We ECed with a kid who did not care in the slightest about peeing his pants, but road trips and airplane journeys have been times of high success with keeping dry, even when he was NEVER dry (like at 18 months of age) for full days otherwise. So, I would vote to brave the undies, take the child to the potty about once every 60-90 minutes, tell them "if you need to pee, you can ask to go to the potty, and I will go with you if we are allowed to get up," and make sure you go before the final seat-belt light gets turned on for landing. We do stick a cloth diaper under his bottom in the car-seat when we go on long drives, just in case he falls asleep and pees, but it hasn't been necessary (knock wood). I have a theory that the novel environment and new sights and sounds somehow makes him more in tune with his body.

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by greenmagick

My dd was close to potty learned when we took our last flight (she was almost 3) and I decided to go ahead and diaper her...however she is weird about going and ONLY would go on her terms, not like we need to try now.

I will say I was very glad of this when we got on the flight to return home...it was about a 2 1/2 hour flight. We were getting ready to take off when they announce BTW, the restroom is not working so no toilet on this flight...

Sucks to be the adults, lucky DD that she was still in diapers!

[sapphire_chan]

My dd calls her pull-ups "frog undies" I just don't tell her they're diapers. If she pees in them I remind her that she needs to tell me when she has to pee so we can try to get to a potty on time.

If they do set back potty learning, oh well. My sanity in certain situations is more important.

[blizzard_babe]

Thanks, everyone! I think my plan is to have him wearing underwear, but bring along diapers in case he has to go when going isn't an option. He's been REALLY good about holding it when we're out and about, and the only reason he still needs nighttime and nap diapers is because he sleeps by himself (see? Another reason to cosleep, but it just doesn't work for us ), and pees right after he wakes up, but before he's awake enough to know what's going on. If we're right next to him, we'll notice (I can't sleep on planes so I'll be awake), we can either hustle him to the bathroom or get a diaper under him.

And the car ride will be diapered, like I said. Usually when we make this trip he's so zoned by this point he's asleep by the time we're on the highway.

[swd12422]

This is exactly where we were last month, only our flights were much shorter (1 hour and 3 hours with a short layover). We used disposable diapers for the flights b/c we weren't sure about timing to get to the bathroom in between, and I didn't want to deal with trying to fit us both in an airplane bathroom!

Turns out, DS was afraid of the auto-flush toilets at the hotel where we stayed, so pottying once we got there was tricky, too, and we ended up having to use diapers for dinner time since he wouldn't go potty at the restaurant but drank so much water during the day that he couldn't make it through the meal....

Once we got home we had a day of accidents. DH was so frustrated he wanted to put DS back in diapers, but I said no. Day 2 we had no accidents at all and have been back on track with pottying ever since. You may not even have any setbacks at all if you're not using diapers (except for sleep) during your trip, but even if you do, it likely won't be for long.

[blizzard_babe]

Well, we're going to be in the Lower 48 for almost two months, so we're not approaching it like being "on vacation."

We're actually looking to buy a house down there, so at some point (we do this every summer and many years also at the holidays) it might be "home."

[mtbmomma]

Wow, I could have written this same post exactly. Only we have a 1 hr flight, a short layover, a 6 hour overnight flight, a 3 hr layover, and another 1 hr flight, plus an hour bus ride. My DD, 18 months, has finally started telling us when she is going to pee ahead of time this week! I am considering either doing undies on the short flights and reminding her frequently, or doing undies under a pull up, so to her it is like underwear, but we are safe if she has an accident.

She wears diapers at nap and night, but usually wakes up dry from nap, and will often ask to go potty during the night too, though she usually is wet as well. She still nurses 1-3 times a night, so I'm not surprised. Anyways, good luck with the flight. And I would say if you do go with underwear give lots of reminders and have some sort of towel or pad to put under him just in case.

[peaceful_mama]

Undies under a pull-up....wonder if this would work for MY dd who is 3 and almost a half...she has been PL for over a year now. BUT there is *something* going on with her bladder. She has times where she is mostly OK....and then she cycles through this time where she acts like I think a child with a UTI would, except no fever and nothing shows up in her pee. (she's been tested twice)

and because of her insistence and urgency and dramatics, it would make ME much more relaxed to know that she is NOT going to pee all over the floor if I don't immediately drag her if I have to, to a bathroom. (In public, she acts distracted...the full-on pee dance but also whatever is going on is interesting...)
*I* get impatient and stressed with her in public, I think removing the possibility of her making a mess would take a lot of that away for me.

As far as the trip, no question, my dd would be in some sort of undergarment set up that is going to prevent a wet seat or a mess. That and if she's bored in the car, she will continually whine/yell about her need to go---usually when we are somewhere there is *nowhere to go.* Last summer, I did put her in a disposable, and it took away that stressor. Sometimes she used it, other times she made it to a bathroom. But she did not scream and whine about it, making it near impossible to concentrate on driving, and it was a stress-free experience. Didn't affect her after we got home.

but I think she would balk at diapers now. Do they make something that is the equivalent of an AIO but pull-on underpants???

[Peony]

I would put the pull ups on him for the flights, if he needs to go you might not be able to put them on in enough time. We just did a two flight journey, the last flight was supposed to be 3h 30m but ended up being close to 5 and the seat belt sign was only taken off two different times for 10 minutes a piece, it sucked.

[blizzard_babe]

I don't want to spend money on Pull-Ups (diapers are REALLY REALLY REALLY expensive here), so it's diapers or underwear. He WILL just pee if he's wearing a diaper.

[nolonger]

ds is a "lazy EC" graduate and hasn't worn diapers at home or had any accidents in 6 months at least, maybe closer to a year, but I still put diapers on him in situations where public bathrooms aren't readily available.

I don't think he's confused, just sensible. He'll let me know if he needs to pee but if we can't do anything about it, he knows I'd much rather have him pee in the diaper than hold it until he's uncomfortable and risk a UTI.

I agree with Sapphire_Chan that our sanity (my son's as well as my own) is more important than saving laundry, money, or face. I'd rather have my kid in a diaper than standing in a puddle feeling bad about himself.

Antsy pants are about as close to cloth pull-ups as you can get, but they are pricey.