Here's my dilemma. I have a 27 month old daughter, we will be travelling to Norway for a 3 week vacation in August this year. She has not started potty training yet, my sisters say to wait until we return, it will be easier to travel with her in diapers than looking for toilets to use and dealing with possible accidents. My husband says to train her now so I don't have to worry about packing diapers and/or buying them there. Has anyone had any experience with this situation? All opinions welcomed. In case it matters, it will just be myself and my daughter travelling on this trip.

I would wait til you get back. Changing your child's routine and travelling may throw off sleeping/eating/behavior. I agree about accidents and finding emergency bathrooms could be a challenge when you are in unfamiliar areas.

I would say wait too, but your daughter may have other ideas.
If she shows signs of wanting to lose the diapers then don't hold back because of your trip.

One thing to consider though is that Norway is expensive - I have no idea how much diapers cost there but be prepared to pay quite a bit for them. Don't lug a load with you though, just enough for a couple of days.

Shops will normally allow you to use staff toilets for little children.

hetismij, I remember running through a mall desperately looking for a public bathroom because not one store would let my 3 year old use their bathroom.

She's my only child so I'm very new to the potty training thing. So far she goes on her potty very rarely, doesn't seem to have any interest in it but I could see how that could change suddenly in the next 5 months...

@debsnj, were you looking for a public bathroom in a Norwegian mall?

Each chilk is different that it's hard to say what will work.

At about your daughter's age, when we were visiting friends for the evening, my daughter asked me, "Can I wet in the toilet?" My answer, "I doubt it, but you can try." She did, and my friend got out some of her daughter's undies for mine to wear. When we got home, and I was getting her ready for bed, I went to put a diaper on her and she said, "No more diapers; I'm a big girl now." She had no daytime accidents and the nights were fine within a week.

Three years later, just before my son turned three, we decided that waiting for him to tell us he was ready wasn't going to work. I took the book "Toilet training in one day" out of the library and had excellent results.

Not a Norwegian mall a New Jersey mall.

First, let me say that I know exactly zip about children, so take this suggestion with a grain of salt.

Why not start potty training now, and pack something like Pull Ups for your trip (or at least the nights) depending on how well she's doing by then? If she figures it out quickly and can go quite awhile without accidents, then you wouldn't have to hassle with diapers and could just do a pack of Pull Ups for bedtime. Could the trip be used as a reason to help her want to learn (big girl adventure, big girl potty, etc)? If it doesn't work before you go, no stress, just wait until you get back.

abram--We used that same book and it worked great! DH toilet trained both kids. He had to do our oldest as the other was an infant and I didn't have the time. So when the 2nd was ready, DH knew the routine. Both kids literally were trained in one day. DD was 2 1/2, and DS was not quite 2.

I don't know "zip" about potty training either but shouldn't you start now? Seems 2 is a good time to start with the basic concepts?

Why is it in the US the potty training starts that late?

How soon does it start in other countries Dayenu?

It seems like younger mothers start earlier because they like to go places and don't want to haul a lot of stuff around and older mothers start later. That's just an observation from mothers in my immediate circle not a study

It would be better for the enviroment if children were potty trained as soon as possible.

I don't remember how long it took, but when my boys started to crawl and were able to notify me with "a-a" or other words, they were potty trained. Maybe some accidents at night, but since they were full time walkers and talkers I don't remember any diapers.

Both were born in the former Soviet Union

A neighbor said, she trained her child at 3 months... I thought this would be difficult to beleive, but who knows!

You and your daughter will both need toilets on your trip, unless you plan to change a two and a half year old in public. There are restrooms and small children all over Norway. Why would you want to wait another five to six months to potty train her? You should,of course, be prepared for accidents, but wouldn't you do that at home as well?

Because a friend of my sister's had this problem, childless me is adding her two cents. . .

When you potty train your child, be sure to give your child practice on a standard toilet without a potty seat. Some kids will balk at using a standard toilet, having become accustomed to their toddler-size potty or accustomed to a standard toilet with a special seat. Your child will need to be comfortable with a few variations to have the best success and make your life much easier.

Based on this, my sister trained her kids totally without a potty seat of any kind. They just perched carefully on a standard toilet and did fine.

3 months??? That sounds like one of those people when they tell you that, your best bet is to smile, nod politely, and back away reminding yourself not to argue with crazy people

LSky-- too funny, I am an older Mom, maybe we're trying to hold onto them as babies longer, I don't know ;-) Thank you everyone for chiming in, I think I will go with what I originally planned and that is if the potty training happens it happens, and if it doesn't we'll wait till we get back. She won't be 3 until November and that's been my personal cut off all along. But again Thank you for all of your ideas and abram-- I will definitely be getting that book if it doesn't "just happen" Thanks!

Thank you jellybean, for some reason I've found this to be an interesting thread.

Potty train as you wish. Now, I have a friend who breast fed until her child was quite old. I don't want to start a war on your thread but I think that's weird.

I'm with Iowa RedHead (nice job, no kids chica!) We've never given this a thought and would not delay for a second if the child is ready to start potty-training now.

For this purpose, and especially for sleeping in hotel beds, Pull-ups are a great plan.

No potty seat needed.

My daughter potty trained herself at around that age in exactly one day. We had a huge incentive. As soon as she was potty trained, she could have a kitten. That was her first dry night and she never looked back. They do it when they're ready and I certainly wouldn't miss the chance to start sooner than later!