Reception - toilet problems...

[Daydreaming]

DD seems to have settled into school really well and is enjoying it. She is very confident with new people and used to being without me, so that was never an issue for her, but for the first couple of weeks she did have some problems with practical things, like knowing when/how she was supposed to do certain things.

She also wet herself two times in the first few weeks (which she has never done before since she was potty trained at 2.5) and it was all to do with not knowing which toilets to use, etc.

I thought it had all been sorted out but she wet herself again last week. I am really distressed about it, because it's obviously to do with her not wanting to go to the toilet at school and trying to hold on.

Has anyone else gone through this? What can I do? I feel terrible for her and I am worried the other children may give her a hard time, and I am sure the teachers also don't like children who do this...

She'll not be the only one who'll be having accidents. It's common until the kids gain confidence in using the toilets. They tend to be taken at the beginning of break/lunch and are allowed to go in between. Reception (and Year one!) teachers are very used to soggy knicks/pants, so don't worry.

Please don't worry and don't get "really stressed" or "feel terrible" about it - she may pick up on your anxiety and it really is very normal for this to happen in Reception

Have seen many, many children come out with a plastic carrier bag for their parents

DD1 did it a handful of times in Reception (and like yours settled VERY well into school)

They 'forget' to go before lunchtime or whatever then have a lengthy period when they can't just nip off to the loo 'cos they're in the playground or something (according to dd1)

Have a chat with her teacher - s/he should make sure that your DD is reminded OFTEN to go to the loo. As others have said, teachers are used to this. Try not to worry - it will sort itself out in time. It doesn't mean that your DD is unhappy at school. It could be that she is enjoying herself so much that she simply forgets to go to the loo until it's too late

When my ds in first week of reception seemed desperate for toilet at end of school. After he did about a 10minute wee in bushes on way out of school I had a word with him about it. He said there were right times to go to the toilet and wrong times to go. He said he wasn't allowed to go to the toilet in the afternoon! After a quiet word with the teacher 'misunderstandings' were ironed out.

When I was younger I had similar issues. I saw some of the bigger girls opening the toilet door from the outside (you could fit your fingers in the gap and push the bar open) and this terrified me, so there were many days when I went home in different pants :(

My mum showed me to keep my hand on the bar to stop it from moving while I was int he toilet and i was ok then. Could it be something similar to this?

I taught a girl whose record was 8 sets of wet pants in one day! It wasn't a medical problem or indeed any real problem, she was just so engrossed in what she was doing that she forgot to go!

Please don't worry. Although my dd survived Reception without an accident, my ds managed to do a poo in his pants. He wasn't changed and really smelt badly. The teachers apologised that they hadn't noticed and said that they had no issues about changing them because of accidents and have spare sets of uniform for that very reason.
It really is very common.

Many, many thanks for all your responses.

You have made be feel much better about things!!!

I just needed some mumsnet reassurance..