too busy to go

[nct73]

We potty trained DD (2.5yo) 3 months ago at Easter. She did really well and soon had the hang of it. Due to the fact they have little toilets at nursery she soon would only use toilet rather than potty. However we have now had a major setback with frequent accidents with both wee & poo. When asked why she didnt tell us, she says she was too busy. She has started denying poo in pants saying again too busy playing to get cleaned up. This did all start after the unfortunate combination of chickenpox which made it sore to go and the arrival of baby brother all in the same weekend.

Everyone one says dont go back to nappies or pull ups. I did ask her if she wanted to use nappies & she said no she was a big girl & wore big girl pants & baby brother wears nappies not her. Everyone says keep calm which I am trying to do with more success than DP who is getting rather stressed about it & worrying she can tell & then getting more stressed that his stress is making things worse. We have tried stickers & treats as rewards which worked for a day or 2. We also tried stories or toys but this meant she spent time trying to find things to take even tho had left things by toilet then not making it in time. She wears pull ups at night and is still telling us if needs a wee during night and going to loo so dry pants. Accidents only happen at home & nursery. When out & about (shops, car, park, friends house) she seems to just hold it in until we get home.

Any advice? Any ideas?

Sounds definitely related to the arrival of baby brother - all very normal and maybe she's feeling like she needs lots of attention?

I'll tell you what's worked for us.

I was getting quite stressed last week about the accidents as have quite a stubborn DD.

Someone here suggested going back to training pants. With these, DD would still feel the wetness but I wouldn't be dealing with soggy carpets and sofa.

This did help as she gets the consequences of it (ie. feeling wet) and we're just able to carry on as normal without it bothering us too much. Already she is mentioning more and more that she needs to go.

Ps. we did this in combination with 1 choc button for a wee. For a poo, she gets to put her hand in a lucky dip bag and pull out a prize - bought loads of cheap plastic prizes. She loved that and all seems to be working thus far.

Hope it gets better soon.

Are you taking her to the loo regularly? A new skill is fun to practice, but once it's well and truly established, a toddler's world is (and is meant to be) far too interesting for distractions.