regression - hang in there or should I be doing something?

[goosey123]

DD1 (age 2 1/2) has been potty trained for about 12 weeks. She took about 4 weeks to get the hang of it completely, then had 4 really good weeks with very few accidents.

And then she started holding the poos for the nappy at night. And then she stopped saying she needed a wee. And now she mostly won't poo in the potty / loo, but does occasionaly. And only wees when I take her regularly and rarely asks for potty. Lots more wee accidents again (about 1 a day). Big groan.

Its not quite bad enough to go back to nappies I don't think. Am I foolish to think this is just a phase that will sort itself out with time. Or should I be doing anything? Current tact is to (try very hard) not to react to accidents and to give major praise for any positive poo / wee experience.... And take deep deep breaths.

[louburge]

i've got a similar problem with my boy who's 3 in 4 weeks. i started potty training him 2/3 months ago (gosh is that all? feels like much longer!) and he was keen, got the hang of it and was doing brilliantly when prompted, though occasionally held in his poos, unsuccessfully really ? it just resulted in lots of slightly pooie pants, but then he started taking control and asking to go to the toilet and staying dry mostly. foolishly, we thought we'd made it through to the other side!!!

then i took him to my mum's for half term and he started holding in his poo, i tried every way of persuading, bribing (chocolate, new pants etc), patience tactic i could think of, i offered a nappy but that upset him a lot, but it was the only solution i could think of to relieve the pressure he was feeling. so we didn't talk about it apart from when i caught him crossing his legs and he started to calm down.

so now we're back home and i feel like we're starting all over again. i'm trying to encourage him to be in control and be a big boy, and not to worry if he has an accident, as that's so much better than seeing the pain and distress of trying to hold it in. we've had a great big poo (in the potty!) today and i'm hoping that the success will encourage him to learn that its better out than in!!!

so i'm sorry that i have no advice to offer yet, but i guess they'll get it in the end. i feel that everyone i speak to, has toilet trained in the space of 2 weeks by the time their child was 2...

i'd love to know why he's holding it in and what i can do to help him. i don't want to go back to nappies as we've come so far, and neither does he!! can anyone else help?

[louburge]

how have you been getting on goosey?
we've had some success and some with-holding then accidents but not as much stress so i think its small steps in the right direction. hard to tell though. :)

[goosey123]

Hello, good to hear things slightly less stressful. Its not been too bad - saying that she has just peed in her high chair (fabric covered. Big sigh!). But having spent 2 weeks only pooing in nappies, she pooed in the toilet yesterday without any fuss or encouragement, and we were at someone elses house - she does seem to do better when their are lots of people about to praise her. Anyway we are hanging in there and not going back to nappies and hopefully the poo thing will just sort itself out. Good luck with it! It does make for nervous outings doesn't it? it probably doesn't help that I have a 4 month old too - thats probably part of the problem......