Is toilet training regression a thing??

[neverbeenskiing]

Ds (3.8) has been dry in the day and at night for over six months. Toilet training was easy, he had a few accidents for the first two days but that was it. No problem at all. Until now!

For the past couple of weeks he has had at least one accident every day. He also wet the bed the other night which is really unlike him. We have spoken to him about going to the toilet as soon as he feels the need to wee, not leaving too late etc. Its hard to know if anything is sinking in at this age and it doesn't seem to have made a difference.

We haven't been doing anything differently so I don't know why this is suddenly happening now? We didn't have this with our eldest so wasn't expecting it. Suddenly going back to washing bedsheets in the middle of the night and having to take a change of clothes with us everywhere we go after thinking that phase of our lives was behind us is a bit dispiriting.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

I don't think it's uncommon but I'd ask the doctor to dip his urine to make sure he doesn't have an infection.

If it’s happening at night it’s more likely to be a physical issues rather than behaviour issue. Check for infection, constipation and worms.

Absolutely normal, very common. The novelty wears off, it no longer feels worth the effort. Also, they learn that they can hold it for a bit, but it takes them a while to figure out just how long they can hold it for!

Also, if they've been a bit unwell they often have more accidents, or if they've been out of routine, or just if they're tired. They can struggle if they're a bit dehydrated as well- it's much easier to tell when you need to go if you have a nice full bladder.

When one of mine had a UTI they were quite obviously unwell with it- high temp, not eating, stomach pain.

I don't want to alarm you, but toilet training regression can sometimes be a sign of abuse. It's unlikely to be that, obviously, as there are many other more common causes, but it is something that you should be aware of.

I don't want to alarm you, but toilet training regression can sometimes be a sign of abuse. It's unlikely to be that, obviously, as there are many other more common causes, but it is something that you should be aware of.

I work with kids who have been sexually abused so I am very aware of the signs. You can never rule it out, of course, but I think it's unlikely given that there have been no other changes in his mood or behaviour.

He definitely isn't constipated, I don't think he has worms but I will check. I will make an appointment with the GP to rule out a UTI. Thank you.

I'm so glad to hear that.

Really common in my experience, although in our case I'm fairly sure it was prompted by a new sibling and lots of upheaval in general. Still what a PP said about the novelty wearing off rings true for me: our DD just sort of moved on from the stage where she was actively thinking about it a lot and being asked about it by us, and was having too much fun. Chocolate button bribery worked, although I'm sure it's very frowned upon on here!

Boys definitely

I had DS and DD. Day one DS accidents for up to 2 years in the day only, normally because of distraction. Never at night. DD dry in the day and intermittent bed wetting to age 7. Then it stopped.

The night time was sad for her, we used bed mats and had spare bedding until it passed.

I wouldn't make a big deal of it. It's an accident and it's sad.

I heard him get up at 6am and take himself off to the toilet. "That's good" I thought until he shouted me, I went in and saw he'd wee'd all over the bathroom floor 😕

Chocolate button bribery worked, although I'm sure it's very frowned upon on here!

I'm willing to consider anything at this point. We're going on holiday abroad in a few weeks and the thought of dealing with constant accidents in a hotel with no access to a washing machine is stressing me out.