You thought you had accomplished potty training and finally were confident enough to call it a success. But now, your child has stopped using the potty! What went wrong? What happened? You followed all the potty training tips and tricks, they worked, yet now you are back at square one. What should you do? The following information will help you better understand why your child has regressed to not using the potty and what you should do in this situation.

Setbacks are Normal
Even though you believe your child is potty trained many times they are not fully trained. In fact, it is not unusual for toddlers not to be fully potty trained at age three especially for bowel movements. So, if you believe your two year old is fully potty trained and then he/she begins to have setbacks you should not worry too much because this is completely normal.

The biggest reasons for a child to regress from using the potty is from stress. There are many different reasons a child may experience stress so keep this in mind if your child stops using the potty. A big change could be starting school or daycare, having a new sibling, parents separating, moving to a new home, or even a new babysitter could cause regression in potty training. If your toddler has been doing well using the potty and then all of a sudden regression occurs then consider any big changes that might have occurred in his life. Then you can recognize what might have caused the regression.

You should check with your childs daycare, school, or babysitter to see how well your child is potty trained while you are at work. If your child was reprimanded for having an accident at school then regression can occur. Regression can even occur if your child has a BM that is very painful. There are many reasons why regression can occur so think about this.

Of course, it might be that your child is still potty trained but that he is having accidents because he waits too long to go to the bathroom. Many kids who are playing are really involved in the activity and dont even notice they have to go to the potty until it is too late. Then an accident occurs and the parents believe the child is no longer potty trained. If this sounds like your child then perhaps you should set up a reminder schedule to go potty. Asking your child if he needs to go potty every couple hours is a good plan to keep your child thinking about going to the potty and to avoid accidents.

Potty Training Takes Patience
Potty training takes a lot of patience on the part of the parents and the child. It takes time to learn to use the potty and although accidents and some regression will occur you shouldnt think your child is no longer potty trained. Just remind your child to use the potty every couple of hours, talk to him about any fears he has about using the potty, and be very patient. Your child will eventually be fully potty trained and then you can sit back and relax!

Posted in Potty Training

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