Potty training relapse after 3 successful months - HELP!

[mumofeve]

My DD is just 2 1/2, and we started potty training her in early November - mindful that we wanted to at least give it a go before we have our second child in March. She took to it brilliantly - had a few accidents in the first week or two, but even did well in Nursery. After a few weeks, not only was she saying every time she wanted to go, but she was going to the potty and pulling her trousers down and going herself - sometimes just telling me when she'd finished! Even when we 'chickened out' of using proper pants and took her shopping wearing pull-ups, she'd still say when she wanted to go, and sometimes say she could wait.
Then shortly after Xmas it all went wrong. For the last 4 or 5 weeks she has been having 3 or 4 accidents a day. And to be honest, I think the only reason she isn't having more is because I am putting her on the potty/toilet at certain times of the day (e.g. 1st thing in morning). She is not proactively saying that she wants a wee or poo at all now.
In my 8 months pregnant state, I'm sure I'm not helping by virtually bursting into tears after accident number 2 or 3! Nothing is seeming to work - not praise, or even sticker rewards. Has anyone got any advice? It seems so depressing to go back to nappies when we had 2 months of success. Should we revert back to pull-ups or just keep perservering?

Hi mumofeve,
Poor you , it can be so disheartening, keep doing what you are and try to avoid going back to nappies. We had almost the exact same sit with ds1, he was 2.5 when ds2 was born and had been successfully potty trained a few months before, a few weeks later he went back to having lots of accidents, I put it down to the 'regression' I had heard was common with a new sibling and kept doing what you are doing. We found a sticker chart worked really well, he worked towards a trip to the toyshop and it worked a treat, a few weeks after the accidents started they stopped. Occaisonally he will have a couple of accidents at nursery and a quick re-visit to the sticker chart( were now down to milky stars as a reward!) always works.
Keep going , its v.tiring, but will work

Thanks missmapp. With the sticker chart, did you wait for your ds to say he wanted to go, or were you 'putting' him on the potty? I have been told by the nursery that if I am putting my dd on the potty, then it's not proper potty training! This wasn't a problem to start with as my dd happily proactively did it herself.

We have exactly the same problem with ds since dd was born. Sticker charts etc didn't help at all - they just seemed to increase the pressure on him and inflame the situation. Someone on Mumsnet suggested ignoring the issue completely (ie no rewards for using the toilet, no penalties for accidents, just staying calm and making it all a non-issue). It is quite difficult but it does seem to be producing improvements. It is so frustrating though - good luck!

We gave ds a sticker everytime he went said he needed a wee/poo, sometimes he would then go to the potty himself, stimes wed put him there, but if your dd is used to you putting her on the potty then id keep going with this and then lead to her telling you. How is she at nursery ? Ds was often worse at nursery because he had to go to the loo himself,so this is why we encouraged him to go. He is nearly 4 now and v. gd, so it does get better!

Is she getting 2 yr molars? Or is she feeling apprehension at impending big sister role?

My son also went backwards and it tooks us at least a month to correct it - don't give up and go back to diapers. Be consistent do put her consistently on the potty through out the day like if you were starting all over again - she will get it.

I think sometimes they just get bored of the idea of doing it all properly. My dd1 certainly did. I found that some days she'd be fine but others she'd have an accident in the morning and that was invariably the start of 3 or 4 in the same day. Very frustrating. We had to go back to not even talking about it and just plonking her on the potty or the loo every couple of hours. I also found that as she much preferred wearing skirts and tights, I'd say that if she wet her tights she'd have to wear trousers as the tights would be in the wash - this sometimes made her think twice and aim for the loo, but then she was over 3 by then so maybe your daughter's a bit young for this sort of persuasion...? Potty training does not seem to be a linear process. Most people I know seem to have gone round in circles a few times before cracking it! Just to reassure you she's nearly 4 now and has not had an accident for months.

We have a 2 yr 3 mth old daughter who began potty training at just over two years of age, she was perfect for 2 mths and the last three weeks have been awful! She seemed to have forgotten everything, point blank refuses to try on the toilet or potty and seemed to be rebelling at every turn. After much consideration we decided the stress was not good for her and with no fuss made have put her back in pull ups for a couple of months. This is not what i would have ideally done as it feels like all the effort had been undone.....well the stress felt instantly lifted and our daughter happier. I have given a complete break so not asking her to tryetc. Since reverting to the break. she has done nearly all her toileting in the toilet or potty, using her pull ups as pants, she goes unprompted and the only change seems to be the fact that i'm not on her case to try all day!
I gave birth in feb, it's not easy but you will love having the two x

I am just going through this exact situation now. Only my daughter is nearly 3 and a half and has been potty trained for over 6 months. She has completely regressed to an accident everytime she goes for a wee. She seems to not wait until her pants are down to start so is going through 6 pairs of underwear and trousers a day but not really having full blown accidents on the floor regularly, maybe 1 a day. I'm frustrated because she is capable of going alone unaided. She started nursery in January so is settled there, we are moving home next month but in all honesty she's unaware of that fact (and we're moving to an appartment 2 doors down from our current flat). I'm not pregnant and she's an only child for now and there are no other changes going on at present. If anyone has any ideas of what might be going on I would love some advice I have tried everything I can think of. Thank you so much for the ideas already posted I am taking them on board
Sophie xxx