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POTTY TRAINING PROBLEMS

Help! My child was potty trained and has suddenly started having accidents again!

It’s not uncommon for children to regress after successfully being potty trained. Regression is often triggered by emotional upset of some kind – a new baby, starting nursery, etc. If the regression is accompanied by changes in behavior, then it is probably psychological and you can address it with the tips below. If you think there is no emotional upset and are seeing no changes in behavior, then you should see your doctor as a urinary infection could be the cause.

So if your toddler experiences emotional regression with the potty training, stay calm and follow these guidelines to get back to clean pants again as quickly as possible:

1. Don’t put your child back into diapers. It’s much better to persist and deal with a few bad days of wet pants than have to go right back to square one.

2. Stay calm at all times, and however frustrated you feel, never tell the child off for accidents, or make a fuss.

3. Keep a note of all the timings of the accidents and when you see a pattern emerging you will be better placed to encourage him to use the potty before he is bursting. At this time, making a game of going to the bathroom together can be very helpful.

4. Be effusive in your praise every time he successfully uses the potty.

5. Re-introduce the use of a star chart in order to help give your toddler as much positive attention as possible.

Sometimes the reappearance of accidents may be accompanied by the toddler deliberately going to wee or even poo in hidden corners. This is usually related to emotional stress from either the child having been made to feel ashamed when an accident occurred, perhaps if he had an accident at nursery school, or a form of attention-seeking behavior – for example when a new baby brother or sister has appeared and parents are unable to spend as much time with the toddler. However, the solution is similar and consistently and calmly following the suggestions we’ve given should solve the problem.

Remember not to tell the child off for any accidents, even though it can be an unpleasant surprise to find wet patches of carpet behind the sofa. The key is to praise effusively when you see the behavior you want, and to ignore accidents or at most to give them the briefest mention, for instance “Oh, that should have been done in the potty, try to remember next time.”

When it comes to toilet training, positive reinforcement is the only real way to go. For more information about positive reinforcement, check out Monicka’s article at http://www.kidsgoals.com/positive-reinforcement.shtml

By Cassie

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