There’s always a little give and take once your child is potty trained.

You no longer have to change diapers on an airplane - which is great! But you also lose the convenience of a diaper. When a potty-trained child says they have to go, they generally mean now.

We’ve flown through all the stages: firmly in diapers, freshly potty trained and now a pretty confident little bathroom-goer. There have been good moments, bad moments and, yes, one particularly memorable blowout when we realized we had somehow boarded the plane without a spare onesie.

There’s no secret formula that guarantees smooth diaper changes or perfectly timed bathroom trips. But after navigating all three stages, there are definitely a few things we learned.

When they're still in diapers

Let's begin with the lesson we learned the hard way: pack the spare clothes!

At least one spare onesie or outfit should be in your carry-on - and for a longer flight, I'd bring two.

This sounds incredibly obvious. We knew this too. And yet, on one flight home from a trip, we somehow overlooked the backup clothes when we packed our carry-on.

Naturally, that was the flight when our son had a blowout.

We also learned to be generous with diapers. Whatever number you think you'll need for the journey, add a few more. Delays happen.

But one of the most useful things we did during the diaper stage was create what we called our little go-pack.

Instead of digging through our carry-on every time we needed to change him, we kept a large zip-top bag ready with:

• a couple of diapers

• travel wipes

• diaper cream

• a spare onesie

• a mini travel changing mat

• dog waste bags

Those dog bags were surprisingly useful. We could use them for dirty diapers or seal up soiled clothing without letting it mingle with everything else in our carry-on.

And in the case of a truly catastrophic blowout? We sometimes cut our losses and tossed the onesie altogether. For that reason, airplane day probably isn't the time for the sentimental outfit you would be devastated to lose.

When it was time for a change, we could grab the entire go-pack and head for the bathroom rather than rummaging around for individual supplies. We'd replenish it from our larger stash afterward.

Airplane changing tables are also tiny. Our travel changing mat gave us a clean surface between our baby and the changing table and folded down small enough to fit inside the bag.

If you aren't sure which lavatory has a changing table, ask a flight attendant before making the trek down the aisle with a baby and all your supplies.

And then there was the blowout

Best-case scenario, you notice the diaper needs changing, grab your supplies, head to the lavatory and everyone returns clean and happy.

Sometimes you don't make it that far.

We learned this in first class…without a spare onesie. Not our finest travel moment!

Once we realized what had happened, we went into rapid-response mode. I cleaned our son up as much as I could at the seat so my husband could get him to the bathroom without creating an even bigger mess. Then I wiped down anything around us that might have come into contact with him while my husband took him to finish the job.

Thankfully, we had remembered the spare diapers.

So our son spent the rest of that flight happily sitting with us in nothing but a diaper until we reached our layover.

Once everything was cleaned up and we sat back down, we laughed. What else could we do?

We definitely never forgot the spare clothes again.

Before flights, particularly longer ones, we also started every trip with a fresh diaper. Even if the existing diaper seemed perfectly clean and dry, we'd change it before boarding. Starting with a clean slate certainly can't prevent every diaper disaster, but we'll take any advantage we can get.

When they're newly potty trained

This stage may actually be more nerve-racking than diapers.

Before boarding, going to the bathroom became an absolute must - whether our son insisted he needed to go or not.

We also started teaching him that there are times on an airplane when we simply can't get up. The seatbelt sign might be on. We might still be taxiing. We could be taking off or preparing to land. A flight attendant might tell us we need to stay seated.

A newly potty-trained child isn't necessarily going to understand all of that immediately, but we found that repeating it helped.

More importantly, we stopped waiting for him to tell us he had to go.

If there was a good opportunity during the flight - the seatbelt sign was off, the aisle was clear and there wasn't a line - we'd take him.

Because air travel is unpredictable. You may think, We're landing in 30 minutes. He can just go at the airport. That 30 minutes can very easily become 90!

I'd much rather make an unnecessary bathroom trip than find myself staring helplessly at an illuminated seatbelt sign while a newly potty-trained toddler announces that he has to go right now.

And yes, the spare clothes still matter. Extra underwear, pants and a shirt stay in the carry-on. A plastic grocery bag or dog waste bag is useful here too for containing anything wet or soiled.

When bathroom trips finally get easier

Eventually, it gets much simpler.

Once our son became confident about recognizing when he needed to go and telling us, the bathroom itself stopped being such a source of anxiety.

At this stage, I'm mostly concerned with making sure he washes his hands thoroughly and doesn't spend too much time touching everything in an airplane bathroom.

And one additional word of advice if you're sharing that tiny lavatory with your child: keep an eye on the door lock! I’ve had more than one close call with him fiddling with the door lock at a very inconvenient moment. So now that's one more thing we keep an eye on!

We still pack spare underwear, pants and a shirt. A child can be completely potty trained and still have an accident - or simply spill something all over themselves.

Extra clothes take up very little space compared with how much you'll appreciate having them if you need them.