Potty training regression

[bobby's bear]

Hi all, looking for a bit of advice / tips from those with bigger kids......

My 2.5 yo was potty trained about a month ago, she did brilliantly and got it almost straight away and from about day 3 we had very few accidents and had about 2 weeks with none at all.

Last week we went on holiday and as the week went on we had more and more accidents, I think due to a combination of us being a bit lax about reminding, drinking more fluids, and the other children we were with were all in nappies. Now we are having at least 4 accidents a day, she also stopped asking to go during the week and would only go if we took her and demanded a wee.

Back home things are no better and after 5 changes yesterday I am not sure what the best thing to do at this stage is. I'm not keen to go back to nappies as I know she can do it.

So I am not sure how to play it? Ideas I had were back to square one with house arrest for a few days and chocolate rewards, a bit of light disappointment (we obviously avoided this 1st time around), giving her the responsibility so only going when she asks so she is 'in charge' of it.

Any tips much appreciated, I am finding it very frustrating!

[etta166]

This is pretty normal when the novelty wears off and they realise that they are going to have to go to the potty/loo for ever. I'd go back to rewards, maybe a sticker chart during the day and then a present for a completely dry/clean day. My son chose a packet of little cars, and he got one for each sucessful day. Once they were all gone we got a bigger car, and told him he could have it at the end of a sucessful week.

Most children do have ups and downs, and occasional bad days and accidents happen for months or years with some children. Try to stay calm, but you can express negative feelings about an accident. It can also be helpful to leave them in wet/dirty pants for a few minutes while you "finish" doing something and then get them to help out with the clean-up and getting dry clothes out. I know it's not that popular an approach here in the UK, but back home parents do tend to make sure that accidents are inconvenient and a bit unpleasant for the child once you are confident that your child is capable of not having them. Basically, it's got to be more hassle to have an accident than to go to the loo.