Over a month into potty training and now having "accidents" - help!

[Servalan]

Hi wise and wonderful Mumsnetters

I recently potty trained DD (2.9). After a shaky couple of days she took to it really well. We've had a couple of weeks with no accidents at all.

We incentivise with lots of praise and stickers and she always looks delighted when she uses her potty shouting out "clever girl!" etc.

However, over the last few days she's been having several accidents a day. Apparently earlier today with her dad she tried to pretend she'd not had an accident, despite sopping wet trousers .

With accidents she is gently reminded that she needs to use her potty. Also, her dad made up a rhyme "when you need a wee wee, go on your potty, when you need a poo, go on your potty too" which we recite with her.

Do we just ride this out, or could we be having a downward spiral? Are there any tactics which have worked for any of you in similar situations?

Thaks

Bump

Have some vague memory of dd1 being a bit like this...think we just rode it out tbh, can't remember employing any special tactics. Just keep putting her on the loo potty quite regularly, I think the main problem with dd1 was that she'd become engrossed in what she was doing and leave it too late to get to the loo.

Try not to get downhearted, I know it seems a bit disappointing when you feel like something's been cracked, then it goes backwards again.

Your dd possibly denying the accident as she still wants to be a "clever girl"?

i could have posted this myself, we potty trained dd at easter, she hadnt had any accidents in over a fortnight and was asking for potty when she needed it, rarely needed reminding.
now for the last 5 days she has said potty but already done a little bit in her pants so needs changing, this has been once very day for 5 days but today its been 3 times.
I ask her to try and get it all in the potty and to try and stay dry but she doesnt pay any attention.
I think the novelty has worn off a bit and she leaves it too late and forgets to ask till she has started to wee and then remembers.
she says sorry mommy after and i feel sorry for her but im worried its all going wrong.
hope someone comes along with advice but i sympathise.

I had the same with both DCs. I remember pulling my hair out thinking I was going to have to give up and that they weren't ready. However, I just got all enthusiastic again and rode it out...it passes and soon you forget all about it and you'll have your DD running to you telling you she needs a wee.

Good luck.

Oh...I also found that once they had an accident they seemed to have more accidents that day...like they had broken the seal.

i had done a tick chart for potty use and she loved getting a tick but i let it slide last week as i thought she didnt need it anymore.
i will try over zealous praise again from tomorrow and see if it helps.
she managed a 30 min walk to playgroup and 30 minutes back without accidents so i know she can do it, but when playing in the garden she just forgets.

I think you need to just stay v calm and ride it out. We had this with DD2 about 6 weeks after she was trained (she'd been ill) and then to a lesser extent about 4 months after she'd trained in the week before DS was due (i had an elective section so she was v aware of when he was arriving) and for a week or so after his birth. First time I got quite stressed and started constantly asking her if she needed the loo etc, which seemed to make it all worse, I think she was getting more and more stressed picking up on my stress. After about a week when it was getting worse and worse (and I was v stressed and heavily pregnant) I tried a different tack of not pestering her about whether she needed the loo and making no comment at all about accidents except 'never mind darling, better luck next time' and leaving it at that. I also reintroduced chocolate button rewards for successful wees and poos. Within a couple of days of this approach all was fine again. So when DS was due / born I followed the same approach of no commment and reintroduction of rewards again and sure enough she righted herself v quickly.

praise and tick chart has worker today, no accidents, i think we thought she got it so gave up on praise etc and then she gave up a bit if busy. hopefully she will keep going again now.

Thanks for the posts -sorry I've not posted sooner - combination of not getting on the computer much and destroying computer mouse by dropping an entire mug of coffee on it...

Things seem to have righted since the weekend. No accidents since Sunday - but I'm not going to get complacent just yet.

"Breaking the seal" pretty much describes what happens actually. We tend to get days full of accidents rather than isolated incidents.