Potty regression!?!

[Vicki5]

Help. My daughter was fully potty trained just after her 2nd birthday. For six - seven months we had no accidents at all!! What has gone wrong? Since last July she now wets herself 2-3 times a day. We've tried everything from sticker charts to praise, rewards etc, but nothing seems to be working. Would love to hear from anyone who might be able to help, or shares the same problem. She starts nursery in September and I'm beginning to worry that she may not be trained.

My little charge starting doing this more and more...

then we decided we had had enough!.... every time she had an accident she had to go straight into the toilet immediatly (no one more this etc etc).... remove her clothes herself which she could do but found tricky... put them in the wash basket herself... then up to her bedroom to get some clean clothes that were selected for her (given half the chance she would change her whole outfit every hour so the reward of choosing more clotehs was not gonna happen!) then she had to put the clothes on herself (or at least try hard... some things were too hard so she got minimal help) and then go back to the toilet to wash her hands!

Also every morning she started off with charachter knickers (that she chose) but after that she had the plainest most boring ones we could find!

Anyway in less then a week she realised that it was much easier to actually use the loo and the problem stopped VERY quickly!

Also if she needed the loo, the Tv was paused (sky +) games were haulted etc, but if had an accident the rest of us carried on as normal and she missed out!

Its so easy to just go and get dry clothes and change them where they are, but as soon as we stopped that she got much better!

Thanks NannyL for the feedback. We had big tantrum this afternoon over the fact I made her where some really awful blue (she's a pink princess!!) knickers. Didn't like that idea one bit. Maybe this will work.
As for changing herself - this poses a problem, as she is very independant and 'sneaky'. She will wet herself, change underwear, and even put washing in basket. She will then come to me with a really smug grin to see how pleased I am that she did all that herself!!!

Has anything triggered it? DS1 regressed when DD was born. He was completely dry for a whole year then, accident upon accident upon accident for nearly 2 years!! or so. He still wets occasionally, very slightly now (he is 9 years old!) but that is down to pure laziness!! It is very frustrating. I do feel for you.

Sometimes they get complacent about using the potty/toilet and forget that they need to remember to go, if that makes sense. They also get involved in what they're doing and either forget to go, or hang on because they would rather keep playing, and then can't get to the toilet in time.

Going back to giving her reminders for a few days might help.

Thanks everyone for the support. Nothing that I am aware of has triggered this. It has been suggested that I take her to the doctors in case of an underlying problem. When she wets, it seems to be more of a leakage problem than an accident. It could be like WWB suggests, in that she just doesn't get there in time. Do you think the doctors is too extreme???

I think that the doctors is a bit extreme, tbh. If it's giving you cause for concern you could mention it to the HV though, she may have some suggestions you could try. Chances are it's something that will pass as quickly as it started, though.

Thanks WWB for your reassurance. Its gr8 to have sombody elses perspective. I will give it some time, and try some of the other suggestions.
Will let you know how we get on. I thought doctors was a little extreme too, I just needed somebody else to say so!!

Vickie can you make her go into the bathroom to get changed (oh and then sit on the loo, sorry i missed that bit out the first time!) then undress, go to wash basket... put on clothes and come back to the bathroom to wash hands!!!

good luck!

we found that actually having to go in to the bathroom as if she were using the loo, made it much less hassel to go in there in the 1st place! IUSWIM!

can i hijack? ds1 is nearly 4. potty trained since he was 2 but have never been really good at going to the toilet on his own accord. so i guess you can't really call it regression as he has never really been perfect. anyway, it has been 2 years and not looking forward to him starting school in september and still having accidents. at the moment, he has at least one accident per day. we have tried praises and telling offs; we have tried reward charts and withdrawals of toys/fun stuff; we have tried briberies, incentives and threats; we have tried reminders, nagging and ignoring; you name it, (i think) we have tried it in the last 2 years. not sure what else to do. any other ideas most welcome. oh, and have also tried your idea nannyl but, alas, he's not bothered.

Thanks Jazal. Its good to hear I'm not the only one going through this. It is such a nightmare and so frustrating. I know that my pre-school where she is due to start in September will not accept her unless she is fully potty trained. I also have tried everything I can think of, and she is just not bothered. Although, NannyLs' idea of 'character knickers' seems to be causing a response at the moment, although we still had two accidents yesterday. This is however, an improvement on the day before. Fingers crossed!!!

hi vicki. trying out this idea this week - handing back the control to ds1. we have tended to "help" him in trying to ensure that he has "success" but one of the websites i visited suggest that by doing so, he will just get lazy. so this week we are not going to remind him and let him go on his own accord. and if he has accidents, he is to take off the wet stuff, put it in the machine (or bag at nursery) and then change himself. will let you know how it goes. i am always positive when we come up with a new idea but enthusiasm very quickly wears off when it doesn't work
fingers crossed. and for you too.