advice needed on how to proceed with 17-month-old's potty training

[JuliMummy]

I'm not sure if this is the right place on the forum to ask this question. Let me know if there is somewhere more appropriate for me to post this.

We haven't done EC as such, but I did put DD on the potty at every nappy change from when she could sit up. She is now 17 months and pretty much potty-trained at home - provided she's not wearing anything on the bottom. If she's not wearing a nappy she goes on the potty by herself whenever she needs to poo or pee. So she has very good control already. When she's wearing a nappy she just pees in it, she doesn't ask to go on the potty. But when I put underpants on her she either gets confused and thinks it's like a nappy and pees in it, or sits down on the potty and pees through them :)  

I know the issue with the underpants is something she will figure out quickly. I just need to bite the bullet and put them on her all the time and keep reminding her that she needs to go on the potty to pee and that we need to pull down the underpants first. 

But to get her properly dry I need to stop putting nappies on her when we go out. And this is where I just don't know how to manage it. We do a lot of walking with the stroller and I just don't know what I would do if she asked to go on the potty when we're out walking. How have other people managed this stage?

I can't really draw on previous experience with my son, because he was a whole year older when he became dry and was able to "hold it" for a long time right away.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated :) 

[undrznith]

What I would do is bite the bullet, get rid of the diapers, put her in underwear and never look back. Take a few days and plan on staying in with her so she can figure out the deal with the underwear, then once she starts to get the hang of things start venturing out. When we started going out with my son I would have him in just underwear for shorter trips and bring extra clothes. We would visit every bathroom we came across and I kept a potty in the car for just in case. Super handy and gets used often! I also kept a waterproof diaper cover under him in his car seat until I felt comfortable going without. When going on longer trips (like at church, long visits at people's houses, places I really didn't want him peeing on furniture, etc.) I put a waterproof cloth trainer over his underwear. This way he could still feel he was wet if he peed if we didn't make it to the bathroom when needed. Didn't have to do that very long though really... We started "training" him at about 17.5 months and he was probably about 20 months when I stopped bothering to bring extra of everything and being so careful. We keep a change of pants in the car but haven't had to use it for longer than I can remember and he's 23 months. Sounds like all she needs is a chance to figure out the underwear and you guys are all set! Congrats! Hope you get it all figured out!

[JuliMummy]

Thanks, that's very good advice.

She's got the hang of the underpants. She waits for me to pull them down though, she can't do it herself yet. She also wanted to go on the potty when we had just come home from an outing and she was still wearing a nappy, which is great. So she's doing great at home. But when we're out she's still perfectly happy to pee in her nappy and doesn't ask to go on the potty.

I think the next step for us is to put pants on her as well as underpants at home, and once she's got the hang of that we will venture out. The idea of the potty in the car is a great one, except that we don't have a car and walk everywhere. And I wonder whether keeping a potty in the basket under the stroller is a bit excessive