Chances are, if you’ve got a kiddo who’s toilet-training, you’ve found yourself far away from a potty seat or child-sized toilet at least once on this adventure. (Unless you never set foot outside of the house, of course.) My husband devised a simple but elegant solution to this dilemma when Kimmie was on the path to Big Girl-dom. Essie recently gave his solution a name: The Mommy Potty.
What is the Mommy Potty?
The MP is especially well-suited to a morning out doing errands, a road trip to Grandma and Grandpa’s, or any other occasion when public restrooms with those large, long seats are plentiful, but are also your only option. If your little one is like either of mine, there’s no way she’s gonna sit on that big gaping hole to do her business (and you’d probably have cause to fear she might fall in, anyway).
The answer? Just sit behind your child. No need to remove your own drawers, even! Just straddle the toilet, sit as far back as you can, and plunk your little one on the seat in front of you.
Alternatives to the Mommy Potty
If you’re on an older toilet in a private home, you may not be able to sit down all the way, due to lack of space. Instead, you’ll probably have to hover-squat (bonus: toning exercises for you!). This solution can also be hard to pull off if, say, you’ve got a Baby Sibling or two on the way. In those cases, having a fold-up potty seat
But when all else fails, there’s nothing like the secure embrace of a parent sitting right behind you, arms wrapped protectively around you, to take the fear out of using a public restroom when you’re still transitioning out of diapers.
One Last Consideration…
A final note: The MP can also help guard against one of the other potential terrors of using public restrooms: the Auto-Flush Toilet. If your would-be Big Kid is as terrified of that blinking sensor light as Kimmie was, it’s worth it to take a peek at the handicapped stall (or even better yet, the family restroom if one exists!) before you get your child undressed. In our experience, these are the best places to look if you want to avoid the modern “convenience” of the automatic flushing sensor, which can both scare your sensitive youngster and soak your own backside.
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I’m researching like crazy because I think I have actually convinced the kid that she is SO LUCKY that when she turns three (very soon) she is ALLOWED TO FINALLY use the big girl potty. We will see how this reverse psychology works out.
Anyway, she is terrified of all loud public bathroom sounds so I love your MP idea!!
Oooh, I LOVE the reverse psychology approach, Darlene!!! Good luck with that. When/if you hit 3 years some-odd months (as we did), I’ve got a gazillion other posts on this topic (can you tell it was high on my mind?) – from all the things others had tried that worked for them (but not us), to what finally DID work! You can do this!!!
Going to start training nect month! Saving this till then 🙂
Good luck with the journey, Mamabasic, and hoping it’s a short one for you! 🙂
Never heard of this until now. Good to know. I’m about to potty train my first baby
You’re welcome, Sandra – hope this genius hack from my hubby makes the process a little easier for yoU! 🙂
Oh my goodness, I can’t believe I’ve potty trained 3 girls and I NEVER considered this! And those sensor-flush toilets?! They were the WORST.
Aren’t they, though? They STILL freak out my five-year-old!
We aren’t at the potty training stage yet, but I’m saving this for when we are!
So glad to hear that, Lindsey – it’s the sort of “duh, why didn’t I think of this sooner?!?” thing that my blog is all about 🙂 – glad to save YOU the trouble of figuring this out the hard way 🙂
I wish I would have seen this a few months ago!! May still try it in some of those scarier public washrooms. Awesome tip!! Thanks
You are so welcome! Even at 5 (and fully trained at long last!), my youngest still freaks out at those auto-flush sensors and sometimes asks to use the “mommy potty” in public restrooms! Do pass it on! 🙂