My 3yr old DD has been toilet trained for over 6 months and hasnt had accidents since the very early days of TT. All of a sudden she is having accidents nearly every day. We havent made a fuss and just clean it up and continue on with the day. Nothing in our lives has changed (no new baby or anything like that) so any suggestions why this is happening?

Ny 3.5yr old DD is the same so I have no advice but am interested in what others may say.

I came in to post almost the same topic but after seeing this thread, I don't have to, Thanks OP. It is so frustrating! Big difference in our house is that I am making a big fuss and getting quite angry. After the first few times (going on for about a week now) of being nonchalant about it, I have decided to change tact. Already had a huge accident this morning and I absolutley read 3.5yo DD the riot act, which I know is against all the rules but I just don't know what else to do.

DD has never been one to go to the toilet when we ask her (eg before we leave home etc). It didn't bother me beacuse she was doing so well. I have told her this morning that from now on whenever I tell her to go, she MUST go. That's all I can think of for now. I will let you know in a few days if the yelling worked...

ETA - Just realised you are looking for reasons as to why this is happening. Just did a quick google and saw the usual about new baby, change in routine etc (none of which is relevant to us either). The only thing that could apply is one article mentioned that they become very wrapped up in playing and forget. Could it be as simple as that? It also mentioned the child may have had an unpleasant or painful experience on the toilet which is affecting things.. Lastly there was a comment about that kids regress a little once they have mastered a skill and move on to learning something new.

From the bit of reading I did, sounds like you are doing the right thing in remaining positive (and I am totally wrong.....again...ugh). Guess we just ride it out.

Happened with one child but not the other, no idea why, dealt with it for 2 weeks, no big deal, went away after that.

Exactly the same at our house in the last week especially. We are expecting a new baby so I put it down to that for a while, and just didn't make a fuss. But, after a really bad day on Friday it occurred to me that the problem might be physical, as she had an accident about 5 minutes after being bathed and put into fresh clothes by an increasingly cranky Mummy. I realised when she had another accident so soon that the wee was just running away from her without control. On questioning she also said it stung when she did a wee. So, after a trip to the doctor on Saturday and starting some antibiotics for suspected UTI there have been no more accidents- so if it's really frequent wetting and out of character, maybe look for a physical cause?

Does seem as though this may be a stage. She is almost 3.5yrs and that seems to be the age of some of the others doing this. She seems to play with her toys then all of sudden say I need to go to the toilet and then its too late. If I ask her to go she wont go. I did sit her down since posting this and told her that she has to go to the toilet etc etc. We havent had any accidents for 2 days so fingers crossed. I havent tried to night train her yet.

Hi,
My 2nd DD toilet trained herself in one day poo's and all at the age of 2 and a bit, nothin' to do with us at all.
At about 4 1/2 she started wetting her bed every night, but I knew the best thing to do was to NOT tell her, that it was the wrong thing for her to do, or to tell her that she was old enough to know better, and all the other crap parents tell their kids when a child goes through (and to answer your question why) a perfectly normal stage in life called learning an relearning.

Simply put, when a child learns something, they learn it quite well, over a period of time, some things go astray and the brain forgets what it was that it was suppose to be doing.

Because having accidents is so obvious, people tend to think that all has gone bad.

If you stop and think about it, you will find other things kids forget for short periods of time.

So in general, don't worry too much about toilet training going wrong until at least 5 years old as this is the age that paediatricians and other experts say that toilet training will finish. There's not to many kids that I've heard of that go to school in a nappy, if they do, that's when you need to start worrying.

Hope this helps.

Chris.

I don't have any experience of my own to add, except to share my horror story about a friend's son who is 4 and still wets his pants. They took him to the paediatrician (this is in the US so they seem to take their kids there first off without seeing a GP beforehand) who told them it wasn't physical but psychological so they should SMACK him when he wets himself! I could NOT believe a doctor was telling parents to smack their child when he wet himself. I think that's disgusting! I'm not sure if they mentioned he'd gotten a new brother in the last year or not, which I bet contributed to the problem. Not many ways for a child to react to some situations really.
Is being told to smack a child normal? Surely not?

G'day,
Feeling your pain, i can tell you what i did with DS, and what i think caused it, but as i tell anyone i give advice to, take what you need from it, and leave the rest lol

DS regresses to wetting his pants at almost every toilet trip - I saw an episode of Dr Phil that said all kids have a currency. It was at just the right time, as DS had just started this behaviour. I found his currency and used it to reward him. He got to play with a special toy everytime he sucessfully went to the loo. There was no punishment for not making it. If he could master it everytime for i think it was a month then we would take him to see his favourite toy (thomas train in Lithgow). HTH

I think this was caused because kids can only control 3 things in their life when they are young:
1 How much they eat
2 How much they Sleep
3 When they Poo/Wee
There is nothing as parents we can do to 'force' any of this, we just offer the right circumstances and hope for the best. IMHO my DS got to the point where he felt he could be responsible for a lot more than i had realised (ie making more decisions for himself) and in his frustration decided to get my attention by not doing something he was allowed to control. When i gave him a bit more responsibility ie picking his clothes and putting his own shoes on etc he was more willing to work on the TT again.

Please know that this is just my observations of my child and i only offer it here for a comparrison for you. Go with your gut - it is usually right

I have recently had some extensive experiance on this issue, and after multiple urine screens, bladder and kidney ultrasounds and an xray, the problem was found, and apparently VERY common.

It's poo related. If you child is even slightly constipated, the pressure in the pelvis can cause frequent accidents, particularly in small framed children.

I had previously thought that there was a link, we would have a run of no accidents, then multiple wet pants in a day. Then she would do a poo and no more accidents. Our xray showed that her bowel was quite full, even though she did go often, it just wasn't enough.

I'm not saying that this is what your problem is, just giving you something to look at.

Hope to help somewhat .