3yr old who was potty trained but now just wees on the floor all the time

[bumbleweed]

My 3.2 yr old was toilet trained in the summer with just occasional wee accidents.

Instead of getting better, the accidents have got worse to the point where now virtually every wee is just on the floor. She tells me it just came or that she was too busy.

My carpets stink and all the laundry and cleaning up is getting unbelievable.

What are you supposed to do in this circumstance??????? She wont go back into nappies at this stage.

The same thing happened to my dd - thread here. It is exasperating, isn't it?

Do you have potties accessible / downstairs toilet?

For my dd we persisted with the sticker chart, where she got a sticker if she lasted a day without accidents, and then I tried giving her a new pair of knickers (from a multipack) whenever she lasted a day without accidents. She liked that. Finally it passed, and now she only has one or two accidents a week. It was "just a phase", like so many of these things.

I think it's also important to try to be matter of fact about accidents and resist the temptation to give them attention (even negative attention) over accidents, and remember to give lots of positive attention when it does go right.

thanks for your reply

yes we have downstairs wc and she can choose potty or toilet seat.

I've totally stopped any reaction to accidents now - I dont rush to her and pull off her wet things I just go 'oh' and then when she says she's wet I go 'oh thats not nice take off your wet things and go get some dry ones then'.

I like the idea of new pants - I resist buying TV character merchandising but I might buy some for this!

I think that this is a very normal stage for potty trained children and is definately not an indication to go back to nappies, it's about an attention and control thing as they know perfectly well how to use a potty / toilet but can't be bothered. I had this with my DD recently and the final straw was when she stood on my stairs and weed infront of me. I lost it but she didn't care and I realised I had to go back to basics and show her I was the mummy and she was the big girl and was going to have to go to the toilet in appropriate places. We did a sticker chart with heart stickers for wees and gold stars for poos and it worked a treat. She has been completely clean and dry for the last 3 weeks. Hopefully it will last.

yes i think this is normal. i think it can mean that the child's bladder is getting bigger and they can wait longer but sometimes then just wait too long. in the case of my dd1 she was worried about going back to pre school after the long summer holidays. roll with it i am sure the phase wlil pass.

My DD also went through a phase of having a lot of accidents. I suspect a lot of it was her being able to concentrate on playing for longer times and not wanting to stop to go to the toilet. At a younger age she would only be playing something for much shorter times.

It might help to build a routine of going to the bathroom every 1.5 hours or so and before and after each meal. If she has to go with you to the bathroom she will probably use the toilet while she is there and won't have so many accidents.

When the DTDs started Kindergarten the teachers told me they have regular bathroom/water fountain breaks about 1.5 - 2 hours apart throughout the day.