Potty Training Set Back

I also have a son who is 3 and potty trained quickly, one week. My advice would be to use some reward system. He's old enough to understand that if he goes a week without wetting then he gets a treat. It can be anything. We've used a trip to the movies, ice cream, the zoo, a new toy...etc. It can really be anything, big or small. I would set the time as a week and count the days on a calendar so that he could see how close he is to getting his reward. I also think a week might be enough time to retrain him. Good Luck!

Hi C.,
My little guy did the exact same thing, what worked for us was offering a "prize" at the end of the day if he kept his undies dry all day. He was just too busy to stop and needed some motivation. So when I'd ask if he needed to use the potty and he automatically said NO - I'd then ask if he was sure, because if he wet his pants he wouldn't get his prize and he'd immediately change his mind and go pee. We haven't had an accident since - knock on wood! His prize was something very basic, a DumDum sucker or a cookie or a small dinosaur toy (Walmart has the perfect thing for $0.88 you get 12 small animals, they are in the isle by the bikes in our store.)
Hope that helps & Good Luck!
H.

C.
Please dont drive yourself crazy over this set back.. It is so common with boys and girls. Keep taking your son to the bathrm every hour. I tried throwing cherrios in the toilet for my son to aim at. This way he would want to go and it was another way for him to be excited about going..
i hope i gave u good advice, good luck
Nnacy

This is all I can suggest....This worked for me with my son and my sister in law with her daughter. Put his potty out in the living room/family room where he can see it. I know not everyone wants to look at a potty in their living room but it's in their sight at all times so it's not a hassle for them to stop what they are doing to go potty. It will be a bit of a challange keeping your 16 month out of it but it may help your older son get past this. Eventually I started having him use the big potty and got rid of the small potty. As far as preschool goes have them take him every hr because they can't have the potty seat in the class.

I hope this helps. This is what worked for us.

Oh C., I could have written your post myself!!

I have 3 boys, 2 have been potty trained since age 2.5. BOTH of my boys continue to do this, they are now 6 and 4. They wait until the last possible minute to use the potty and their undies are frequently "damp". They don't seem to care and it has been a constant cause of frustration for me!! I have talked to my doctor about it and he says it's perfect normal..in their little minds, in the time it takes to stop playing and go to the bathroom, a space ship will come down from the sky and bring candy and they will miss it because they were using the potty. This is how they think and why they hold it too long.

I don't know what else to say other than just keep after him and remind him to go often. It is hard not to make it a power struggle - I find this especially with my older son. I use positive rewards and I don't scold him or make him feel bad about it, I just encourge him to go right away when he feels the need to. GL!

C.
WAHM to Joe (6), Tyler (4) and Dylan (1)
Want to work at home? Check out http://party4fun.myarbonne.com

Hi C., I don't know if this applies to your son but my daughter recently went through a spell where she wouldn't tell us and had a few accidents before we really identified the problem. The problem was that her travel potty seat moved when she was on the potty in Wendy's and it scared her so much that she would only go to the potty when she had her Dora potty seat from home. It lasted a while and I had to bring that big puffy seat everywhere we went but after a lot of reassurance that I would never let her fall in and I would hold on to her tight she has started going on the big potty when we are out again. It was a trying time but a very temporary setback. Maybe your son got spooked like that at preschool or something and is afraid to go? I hope your setback is coming to an end whatever the reason. Best of luck.
Jen L.

Sorry the response a bit late, but I had the same problem with my 2 1/2 year old. She started out so great as soon as she turned two...she was letting me know as soon as she had to go, about 3 weeks ago she just stopped letting me know and starting doing number 1 and 2 in her pull up again. I decided to take the pull ups away completely except for bed time and she started going to the potty for number 1 only. It wasn't until last week that I told her if she could show me that she could do number 2 in the potty she would get a surprise, that she finally did it. I made a very big deal about it, I put on the music we started dancing and singing I was clapping and blowing party favors. I called my husband at work to let him know...I did this all in front of her and then my husband brought her home a surprise. After that she's been great we are no longer wearing pull ups and we haven't had an accident. Of course now we have to party everytime she goes on the potty!lol

Hi C.,

I too am a stay at home mom with a 4 year old daughter who is advanced and a 2 year old boy with autism. My daughter was potty trained at 18 months and what i found to help when there was a setback was a favorite book to read together in the bathroom and a couple of backups. I always kept a section just for her on the shelf in the bathroom. I think it gave her a sense of her "throne" in the bathroom. My son is another story. We have therapy 5 days a week and i just try to take him in there as much as possible. Since he is sensory in his situation, he doesn't like sitting on the bowl. Good luck

N. O.

My daughter, 2 1/2, is going thru the same thing these days. She'll ALWAYS use the bathroom for "#2", but is just too involved in play to bother running off to pee there, unless I take her. So far the only thing that's worked is just what you said, bringing her every 45 mins to an hour and make her sit and 'try', at which point she usually goes, avoiding the inevitable wet pants. I guess we just have to stick it out, and eventually they'll grow out of not being bothered by the wet pants! I have 3 grown kids too, ages 21 to 17, and I do remember they all went through the same thing, knowing how to use the potty but not wanting to stop playing. It happens. It'll eventually get on their nerves, as they get older, they realise they can play longer if they don't have to stop to change their pants!!! Good luck!

My daughter, who is 3 1/2 did the exact same thing. She did such a great job potty training early and then she started pre-school and was so preoccupied with playing she wouldnt stop to go to the bathroom untill it was too late.
You just have to stay on top of him. I made it a point to have potty breaks where mommy would go potty then my daughter would go too. In school they do the same thing. They start with one kid then say "Lets see whose next for a potty break" and go untill everyones gone. No one wants to get left out so they all go.

Now my problem is my daughter is such a heavy, deep sleeper that even if I stop all liquids 2 hours before bedtime, she still wets the bed. I even set my alarm in the middle of the night to try and get her to go. She is so tired she just fights me.

The potty battle will be over one day. Just remember that! LOL