I am wondering if there is anyone else out there that has experienced what I am currently going through! I have an 3year 9 month old and she is still having accidents in her underpants. I take her to the bathroom, she will go and then 5 minutes later she will poop her pants! I discuss this with her and then an hour later she is peeing in her pants! She did tell me, I know I have to talk to you and tell you I have to use the potty. This happened twice last night again and once this morning on the way to school! I am at a loss as what to do to help her along - any suggestions anyone has? Thanks!
Perfectly normal, although incredibly frustrating. Just keep encouraging her. Resist the urge to punish or even scold. I would try a reward system if you aren't already doing so. My daughter took forever to potty train, too. I tried all kinds of things, but those who said it will clicks when it clicks are right. Just keep encouraging her.
Does she help clean up? I mean like the whole 9 yards..... wipe up the floor, change her clothes, take dirty clothes to the laundry?
Instead of taking her to the bathroom, just make her responsbile for the natural consequences of what happens when SHE forgets to go. (Except that I even still remind my daughter who is 11 to go potty before we leave the house)
Good Luck
Right there with you!
My DS is 3yrs 7mos...I don't even TRY to do overnight with him. He's still in diapers there.
If I tell him it's time to go during the day, he'll fight me first, then eventually go. He'll poop on his own, luckily.
But if I don't make him go, he'll just pee in his pants. And he doens't care. Not a word out of him until I notice he's wet.
We even have some days where I put him back in diapers because we'll have several accidents in a couple of hours. He hates diapers now, but apparently not enough to cause him to go on his own.
Wish I had suggestions! Just wanted to share that you're not alone. It's a powre struggle...and I'm losing!
You might want to go back to telling her every half hour or so, "It's time to use the potty." Don't ask her if she needs to go, just tell her that it's time to go. Once you feel things are a bit more under control, you can extend the time to 45 minuets or even an hour.
I didn't potty train my older son until he was just a couple of months shy of his 4th birthday. He was probably the only kid in preschool still in diapers, but the advantage was that he trained very quickly and with very few accidents. Now for the little brother! Oh, I do not feel like doing this again!
We had the same issue with my daughter. What finally worked was stopping all reminders and all talk about using the potty. She knew how to do it, but was resistant to doing it because she felt like we were forcing her. Once it became her own deal she took responsibility for it and was proud of her success (also, we didn't make a big deal when she used the toilet successfully). I think sometimes it becomes a kind of power struggle and by having an accident just 5 minutes after you took her to the bathroom she's telling you that although you can force her to go to the bathroom you can't actually force her to go. She needs to feel like she's the one in control. Try backing off for a few weeks and see if it helps. If you want you could use a sticker chart -- one sticker each time she goes and then a small reward when she's accumulated a certain number of stickers -- but still leave the actual decision of when to go up to her.
