Bottles and Sitting Down

Using a Pee Funnel

Is This You?

  • You’re a woman in the military and you’re on watch and you can’t leave.

  • You don’t want to leave your tent in the rain.

  • You don’t want to transfer out of your wheelchair every time you need to pee.

  • You’re stuck in traffic.

  • You’re a caver and you can’t pee in the cave because it would disrupt the ecosystem.

  • This is your page!

  • If everything is going well, this is simple!

    • If your stand-to-pee device has a tube, stick the tube in the bottle and pee.

    • If you are using a trough model pee funnel (pStyle, Tinkle Belle, Venus to Mars), just put the tip of the device into the bottle’s opening.

    • If you have drinking bottles with you, make sure your pee bottle is easy to identify!

    • Freshette makes reusable pee bags that you can just tie off—these naturally work best with a Freshette. I’ve heard these are great for wheelchair users out and about. (See note below.)

    • See my thoughts on the best pee funnel to pee in a bottle.

    I have a word of caution.

    If you really, really have to go, you need a bigger bottle than you think. I tested bottle-peeing when I REALLY needed to pee. I thought a 28 fl oz Gatorade bottle would be big enough. Wrong! I filled not only that bottle, but 2/3 of a bottle the same size which I very luckily had on hand. 

    Physically, it was easy! Pee funnels are awesome if you want to pee in a bottle. But don’t think a Gatorade bottle will work in an emergency. 

    By the same token, Freshette’s pee bags are also too small for a mega emergency pee. Ordinary pee, yes. They are awesome! But if you are saving them for when you are ready to burst, they will overflow.

    If you know in advance that you are going to have to pee in a bottle, test the bottle out first! And don’t wait until it’s a crisis.

    • Pibella is marketed as being ok to use sitting down, and the Pibella Comfort (which I don’t review) is specifically for sitting and lying down.

    • Freshette also advertises itself as being for use sitting down, and you can buy versions with a much longer 36 inch tube for bedrest and wheelchairs.

    • There are also AFAB urinals for those who cannot get out of bed, and pee bags for car rides, neither of which I review here.

    • Do not use a rubbery pee funnel for this. You will pee on yourself and the seat.

    • For use in cars, I recommend a Freshette. Hard funnel, 7-inch tube. You can also leave a Freshette in your car and extreme temperatures will not warp it! If you’re doing this in a bed, that 36-inch tube may be your friend.

    • Venus to Mars, Tinkle Belle and pStyle will also work if you don’t need a tube. And as for Pibella—if it works for you, it works.

    • If you are in a wheelchair, lock your brakes!

    • You have to be able to get the pee funnel directly under your urethra, which will mean scooching to the edge of the seat. Your ability to do this will depend a lot on the circumstances—a small car is not great.

    • Open your legs.

    • Hold the pee funnel against you, MAKING SURE it is tipped down—remember it will spill if it is tipped back toward you. Keep in mind many car seats slope down, so really get to the edge.

    • If you are using a Freshette, it might be easier to reverse how you hold it—check out Freshette’s own guide here.

    • Put the tube (or tip) in a large bottle and pee, or direct into toilet.

    • Wipe with the device, pulling it away from you.

    • Know you might have to do this? PRACTICE FIRST.