Accidents After Being Potty Trained

Hi K.,

Have you ruled out illness? Sometimes pee accidents are just that due to a UTI or yeast rash/infection.

Assuming that's all good to go, is he having issues with the other end? Are the poops all going where they're supposed to at the correct frequency? If he's holding this in it might affect the control of the other.

Does he go to preschool? Have you talked to his teachers? Ask if there was any type of altercations or weirdness at school. Maybe something is bothering him. Maybe there's someone at school that has accidents and he's trying to work out something he witnessed along these lines. You never know.

After those ideas, I'd just ask him if he thinks he needs a diaper again for night time. See what he says and let him decide. This way he still has control of this part of his body. Then in about a week, if it even goes that long, ask him how it's going and if he's ready to get rid of the diaper. Just make sure it's him making the decision to not have accidents anymore. It's hard to not worry, and a pain in the butt to deal with messes, but in the end it's up to him.

If it gets worse instead of better, consider asking your ped. dr. about it.

Good Luck,
K.

K., this has happened to my daughter. What I found to be the case is she is holding it way too long. Once she realizes, she must go RIGHT NOW and gets close to the toilet her bladder is unable to hold it longer.

What I try to ensure is she stops what she is doing and I take her to the bathroom.

With all the above said here is what happened just yesterday.
We were running around doing errands for several hours and I was not paying attention until we got back in the car and realized I had to go and Amelia had not gone at all in hours. I told her as soon as we get home we are going to go potty. We walked in the door, headed to the bathroom and there was a knock on the door.

I got distracted and of course she wants to be in my conversation. A few more minutes we made into the bathroom and her bladder just let go....right on the floor. Not more than two steps from the toilet.
The poor baby she thought she was going in trouble. When it was my fault for knowing she will hold it like a camel!

Could he be constipated? I had problems like that with one of my kids and it turned out he was constipated.

Hope it helps.

my daughter's been potty trained for a long time now too, and she will still have accidents. she gets wrapped up in playing and then its too late to get to the potty on time. i think this is fairly common with toddlers, they'd rather play than take the time to go in the bathroom. in the middle of the night, maybe your son knows he has to go use the potty, but is not fully awake enough to do everything right and goes in his pants instead of on the potty. toddlers are kinda uncoordinated anyway.
i'm sure its nothing to worry about and will pass like many other phases kids go through. just know you're not alone with a potty trained child having accidents

All of my kids have experienced increased "accidents" after consuming beverages with a lot of sugar. Lemonade seems to be the worst. Thankfully, we steer clear of them most days. Talk to him and make sure that there is no pain when he urinates. And if it continues ... you might want to take a urine sample to the clinic to rule out infection. I know it is frustrating and you want to find a/the reason and correct it right away. If only it were that simple ..... Patience, love and understanding that a 3 year old is still very absorbed in himself and might just be forgetting to get there on time because other things are more interesting.
I have also spoken with friends that think growth spurts cause setbacks in potty training. It is almost like one area of their brain takes a break to let the other areas develop and make more connections .......
Good luck!

I have 3 kids (almost 7, 5 and 2). All of them experienced a couple of "bad days" every once in a while after being completely potty trained for months. Also would happen with "no good reason." The first couple of accidents I would ignore it and just remind them how it all works. When it would go on to the second day I would firmly remind them and also take some of the responsibility off of them. i.e. Do you have to go? Maybe you should try? If they still continue I would then insist that they go try when I felt they needed to. Often an independent toddler does not like this! Which is when I would remind them that when they stop having accidents they can go back to being in charge of when they go to the bathroom. For nighttime problems I would monitor how soon dinner finished before it was bedtime. Sometimes when dinner was too close to bedtime, it would cause a problem for dryness. Even with little drinking water consumption. Found out that a lot of water comes from the food we eat.
On a side note, I noticed this problem less with my girl than my 2 boys. It seemed to me that the boys can get really interested in playing and miscalculate how much time they have left to make it to the bathroom in time. Only one time did accidents start occurring for a UTI, but there were other symptoms too. Hope this helps!

K.,

I hope that you "problem" by now has been solved. I read through all the advices and I agree with all of what has been said except the one when you were told to put the diapers back on. That is something that will confuse the heck out of your child. I had on child conventionally trained and a "diaper" free child. If I had to do it over again I would go again for the "diaper" free method in a heart beat. My "diaper" free child has a better "relationship" towards bodily functions including accidents. Sometimes potty issues are a power game for our children. That is an area they have total control over including eating and some kids use the power. Therefore in addition to you reassuring him that accidents happen you can have him change his accident pants himself. (Just hand him new cloths and ask him politely to change into the new set and walk away and let him deal with it. My younger one did that by himself with 1.5 years already.)

If you want to learn more about potty training, diaperless, accidents etc. there is a yahoo group called "eliminationcommunication"

Good luck and embrace this period of your child's life. We always have "problems" with our children, they just change.

E.

K.
Children have this problem sometimes. It could be something that you don't see as a problem. Three year olds do have some things that bother them and they aren't necessarily old enough to understand how to tell you what bothers them. Give him some time and don't make a big issue of it. When he does it, tell him that sometimes that happens to everyone and he'll do better next time. He may be sleeping heavily because he's growing and is really tired. Does he still take naps during the day? If not, perhaps a short one during the day might help him. Just so he understands that you still love him and that as long as he's trying to do things the way you are trying to teach him, you will find that this fades with time. Another thing you may want to do is just sit down with him and spend time reading to him so he has you just to himself with your undivided attention. I know you spend time with him, but maybe he just needs a little extra during this time.

Hi K.

I had about the same problem with my son. He was potty trained for 7 months. My husband was away for most of it so no change. All of a sudden he was having accidents at night time. He would wake up screaming about it. A few times it happened twice a night. This went on for months. We took drinks away early in the evening and would wake him up before we went to bed to make him go. It didn't always help. He just got over it. I know it is hard and very frustrating. I think they just grow out of it when they do, just like you can't force a child to potty train when they are not ready.
Hope everything works out soon.

S.