Potty Trained 3 Year Old Having Accidents

I had a similar problem with my now 5 year old a few years ago. My daughter felt embarressed to tell her father that she had to go to the bathroom when he had her that she was having accidents all the time. Maybe your daughter doesn't feel comfortable telling other people that she has to go. You never know what may be going through her head "are they going to tell me no?" "what if I can't make it" etc. It is something to think about. Maybe have a talk with her and find out if she is having problems talking to the sitters.
I hope this is helpful.
~AJ

I have a 4 yr old girl and a 19mo old boy at home. My daughter, on a couple different occasions, kept having accidents after being fully potty trained. When my husband and I gave her more undivided attention, it got better. I know life gets really busy, and that's when we notice the accidents starting, but if we can have daddy take her to the park while I watch our boy, or if daddy can watch our son and I can take her shopping or anything, it stops. Maybe you can ask a relative to watch your younger one an hour longer, and take your older one out for dinner or ice cream or whatever. It's a tough balance. She knows she gets more attention if she wets her pants, even if she doesn't conciously intend on doing it.

You could try and make more quality time with her and see if she stops having accidents. If you see a difference then you know it was her way of telling you that she needs more attention. Plus, even at three years old, children will often have accidents. May be you can talk to her and tell her that we still have to potty in the toilet and if there is anything bothering her that she can talk to you about it. And also talk to her about how you feel during the day and what you have been doing. This is a great way of teaching her how to talk about her feelings by hearing you talk about yours.
You must be running ragged with all the washing to do. I feel ya there. LOL
Hang in there. Best wishes.

E.,
My daughter and I are going through the same thing. She has "accidents" when she's busy playing and waits till the last minute and then doesn't go in time. To help her out, usually within 10-15 mins of giving her something to drink I will remind her that she needs to go sit on the toilet and go. Sometimes she'll go, and other times when she's busy playing she'll tell me she doesn't need to go, and I'll remind her that if she doesn't she will go in her pants, and no one likes to play with her when she's got a stinky butt. There have been a few times, where I had to turn off her favorite video so she'll go. I don't think it's anything to worry about, it's just a matter of them being excited over other things, and not wanting to bother to go. Your sitters could help remind her, and not wait till she tells them she has to go. I hope that helps.

Has something changed in your life recently? My son is also 3 1/2 and we just moved to a new community and new home. My son started having accidents at this point. He is much better now that he is used to the house, made a few friends, etc.

One thing I try to do is for a few days after the accident I go back to asking him every couple of hours if he has to go. When he says no (almsot always) I remind him about the accident and that we don't want any more and ask him to try. This seems to help.

LP

You might want to take her to her Pediatrician and be sure that she does not have a Urinary Tract Infection. For a you girl who has been potty trained to begin doing this sounds like she could have an infection and is unable to avoid the accidents. I am a healthcare provider and have seen this happen in the past.

Regression can happen even with the slightest of changes. My daughter did it as well. I would empower her to say "I really need you to be my big girl and help your sister see how to go on the potty!". She obviously knows how to hold it and may not realize she is doing this for attention but it is possible. It is hard when they have a younger siblging getting atttention. Just reenforce her being the big girl, even do a reward system for every whole day she doesn't have an accident. Make sure whomever is watching her puts her on the potty a lot during the day, before they go out. Also make sure everything is going okay with the sitters, a lot of change, something bothersome to her could be causing the problems. Rarely do they regress without something bothering them or a good reason.