Nearly four-year-old having daytime wee accidents after being potty trained

[SnappyOliveWriter]

Wondering how to deal with this. DS is nearly 4 and he’s been potty trained for a year. Last few months and he’s having frequent accidents, or little splashes in his pants throughout the day. At nursery he hides it well, but his pants smell like wee when he comes back. At home he’s having accidents but doesn't tell anyone.

I think he gets engrossed in play and then forgets so I’ve tried reminding him which does work for a while but then it goes back to accidents. These are enough for a change of clothes but I guess he can hide it too which I think he might be doing at nursery.

any advice? Do I just keep reminding him every 3 hours until he gets it. He is dry at night and gets up in the night to go for a wee if he needs to.

Thanks so much for reading and any advice welcome 😊

Sorry for the random post but have you got him checked with the gp? My son started wetting himself after being dry and it turned out he was actually diabetic! (Found out through a urine test at the doctors and luckily caught early!)

I think boys can just be a bit like this OP. The pant dribble can take a long time to control.

We potty trained age 2 (day and night) and at age 4 DS would still have the odd accident or bit of wee in pants before he got to the toilet. Especially if he was engrossed in something. He’s almost 5 now and it hasn’t happened for a while.

Our son is the exact same. I worry about him starting school. We will ask him if he needs the toilet and he will decline and then the dribble wee will come 5 minutes later. I don't know what to do either

This can be caused by constipation pressing on the bladder. I'd recommend a trip to the GP to get his tummy checked. Children can poo quite frequently but still have a backlog in their bowels and the GP can palpate to check. Also check for diabetes as mentioned above, and urine infection at the same time

My ds was like this, and always left it late to run to the loo.
My dd had accidents right through reception.

2 things helped

1. I used a small bottle of water to explain how their bladder worked and what was going on. Filled it up slowly bit at a time with a jug and then 3/4 full said - hmm maybe I need a wee, but I'll wait, then 7/8 full, hmm a really should have a wee, but I'll wait, then when full, said OH now I need a wee, then ran to the sink to 'wee' and the bottle sloshed around and 'wee' got spilt. Then we tried again, slowly filled it up and then when 3/4 full repeated hmm I need a wee, and this time the 'wee' didn't spill o the way to the sink. This visual aid was really helpful.
2. For dd who kept having accidents, I don't think her wee signal was very strong. So I talked to her TA and they made sure she always without fail was sent to the loo before break, before lunch, after lunch and before home time. Go anyway, even if you don't think you need it. That worked.

Thanks all, for peace of mind I’ll get him checked by a doctor.
good to know it may just be a phase too
I did wonder if going back to basics and doing a reward chart or something similar might work?