Toddler peeing in pants

[mrsjtc]

My dd has been going on the toilet since she was about 27 months old. She would get herself to the toilet, use her step-stool and get on the potty herself. Usually one of us or one of her sisters would pop in to make sure she was using the right amount of toilet paper. But she was very independent about it. She is now almost 3 (will be 3 in March) and has suddenly had a regression. Nothing has changed, she was fine over the holidays and once we got home and back into routine she starting having accidents. Constantly. Like 5-8 a day.

I'm at a total loss. After the first day I did notice that her area was red and applied cream to sooth it until the skin healed. It's fine now. I thought maybe it was a UTI? but she's not crying or acting in pain when she goes. She usually says "oh no!" when she gets into the bathroom and realizes she's too late. Or she stands in the middle of the room, grabs her crotch and starts getting upset (more of a "oh no help me now!" kind of upset).

I'm going to get some good cranberry juice today to try and clear out a UTI if that's it. Any other suggestions?? I'm going nuts here!

[kcstar]

Not much help here, but over the holidays I learned that my parents did potty learning in pairs. I was 4 and my sister 2. Next brothers would probably have been about the same. Not sure about the "bonus" brothers, 3 and 2, 4 and 3, somewhere in there.

[Pepper44]

It could just be a phase, if it's not a UTI. My DD has been going to the potty reliably since before she turned 2, but she has gone through a phase where she starts to pee in her pants *then* runs to the potty every single time, all day long for a month or so.

It's so frustrating! It's not like she does it on purpose exactly, I think maybe she just gets distracted until it's too late.

The only thing I've found that helps is taking her to the potty or reminding her to go every hour just like back when she was first learning. Then she gets into the habit again...

[MommaCher]

My daughter started doing the same thing...and it turned out it was a bladder infection. All those Christmas treats must have upset the balance. We put her on probiotics and an immune support vitamin (we did Standard Process's chewable Congaplex that our Chrio recommends) and kept her away from flour, sugar and dairy for a few days and it cleared right up.

[Grace and Granola]

My ds started doing that last week too! He will be 3 next month and has been fully trained for about six months with NO accidents after the first couple of weeks. He had at least one pee and one poop accident every day for 4 days last week, then one good day and then peed again for another two days. We have wondered if it's a UTI too, but there doesn't seem to be any evidence of that. He has been grabbing himself when he needs to pee, but wants to continue to play, and this is something he never did before. When I see that I rush him to the bathroom. We have just been very diligent about asking to go potty, taking him to go before we leave the house, etc. Like getting back to basics. He's had three good days now. Hoping it's just a phase...my older ds never did this.

[Plarka]

This is my nightmare! DD was potty trained by 18 months and was perfectly dry and enthusiastic for about 5 months. She is now 2.5 and for the last 7 months, she will only take her self to the toilet to poop. We have to strongly coax or drag her to the toilet for pee. She wets herself every single time she needs to pee if we don't. I wondered about UTI but she doesn't seem ill or anything, maybe I should take her to the doc anyway. I figure it's an independence phase, it goes along with everything else she now doesn't want to do, which we want her to do!

[Neera]

i tried to train dd when she turned 2. it was going well but, we didn't go cold turkey. then in spring and summer we were out a lot and not her fault, we were totally back in diapers. it's been 3 weeks since we have begun again. there were no pee accidents though almost all her poops she's never even really attempted to get to the potty. today and since a couple of days she has had pee accidents. today she told me she wants her diapers back because "it's so hard."

[jenneology]

My son has been doing the same thing recently. It was really bad just before Christmas, then got a little better. But its happening again now. I can't say I understand it and I don't know if there's anything I can do about it. I think the answer is patience because this too shall pass.

[mrsjtc]

Originally Posted by jenneology

I think the answer is patience because this too shall pass.

I totally agree. We've been reminding her regularly to go and that seems to be helping. I also let her wear pull-ups when we're going to be out of the house so that she doesn't have an accident in front of friends - she gets SO upset when she does.

Thanks for all the commiseration! It's nice to know we're not the only ones going through this.

[sparkygirl74]

Both of my kids have gone through this. I think it has to do with a growth spurt, either physical or cognative....there always seemed to be something big going on when they would go through it....