3 year old potty training regression

[tappitytaptap]

We trained DS at 2.9, few accidents at first and took about a month to crack pooing in the loo/potty but then sorted. He's always had the odd accident, particularly at nursery where I think he is distracted by all the fun he's having. He's now started having accidents at home, up to 3 a day, which we curbed for 2 or 3 weeks by bribing with small pound shop prizes for a day of dry pants (balloons being the favoured option). But over the past few days he's been having up to 3 accidents a day, bar yesterday when he was fine. The accidents seem to happen when he's distracted but asking him if he needs the loo really frequently doesn't work either (he is very stubborn). He knows full well when he needs it, and has been asking for months, but just doesn't bother. Wet pants/trousers don't seem to annoy him. I put him back in a nappy the other day which caused an almighty tantrum but I am absolutely sick of washing pee covered clothing! Any ideas?!?

[tappitytaptap]

Oh by the way he started training in Jan so not that recent.

[tappitytaptap]

Hopefully bumping for any similar experiences/ tips?!?

[Midlandsmummy29]

My DD (3 next month) is the same with distractions, she tends to leave it to the last minute to tell us and the toilet is too far away. So we’ve left a potty out in the same room as her and remind her where it is. She tends to take herself off to it. We will gradually move this into the bathroom. We also look out for signs she’s needing to go and tell her to go, no asking, we tell her.

If an accident happens we get her to take off her wet clothes and put them into the washing, she’s starting to realise this is more time consuming than just going to the toilet. We take her before going out, when arriving somewhere and again before leaving.

There’s good days and bad days but lots of praise and perseverance is helping. We don’t use nappies at all and wash clothes if needed. It’s not going to be forever and we’ve found being more relaxed about it seems to be making it less of an issue to stress over.

[Sierra259]

I was just coming on to start a thread about this. DC is 3.8, potty trained really well just short of a year ago in only a couple of days. Has generally been fine until about 2-3 months ago when she just started having loads of accidents again. Sometimes 2-3 in an hour! Similar theme to pp's in that it seems to happen when she's tired/distracted and just can't be arsed to go to the toilet. She also doesn't tell us when she's wet.

We've tried rewards for no accidents, explaining that she must (temporarily) stop what she's doing if she needs a wee or at least tell us if she's wet. She can go whole days without accidents and then have 4 the next day, and she just doesn't seem to care. It's infuriating as she's been so good at it for so long, and I can't work out what's changed.

Am taking her to the GP this week just to rule out UTI (I don't believe it is) but any other advice is very welcome!

[TigerQuoll]

I think this is key: "If an accident happens we get her to take off her wet clothes and put them into the washing, she’s starting to realise this is more time consuming than just going to the toilet."

Your kids are currently picking the easier option - go in pants and keep playing, mum will take care of it. But if going to the toilet is the less time consuming option, it will probably be favoured when they have a choice about what to do

[Bubbinsmakesthree]

Similar issue here - DS has been reliably dry for months and has had no hesitation telling us when he wants to go - suddenly it’s as though we are back to square 1. Both wee and poo in his clothes, sometimes half a dozen times a day, he is acting completely oblivious. I am at a loss!

[MyCatDrinksFlatWhites]

Mine was trained at 3 years 3 months and it's been a long slow process. He then regressed about three months ago in terms of poo and is still not on track - it's as though he either doesn't realise one is imminent until too late, or puts more effort into trying to stop it coming out than it would take to go to the toilet in the first place...

If I spot the signs, he will be so quick to lock horns in an argument that he ends up soiling himself while he argues he doesn't need to go....a casual reminder that I can see he knows he needs to go and the potty is over there is sometimes successful but anything more is counter-productive.

No tips - we are at a loss. We have our suspicions as to what has triggered this (a death in the family and subsequent "disruption" as DP and I had to sort the funeral, admin and estate - still ongoing) but sticker charts and bribes of new pants haven't worked. So I'm taking the view that it will stop when it stops and am trying to be philosophical about it. Easier said than done when I can see him soiling himself within view of his little toilet!