4.5yo DS and an increase in accidents

[busymama77]

Lately, my almost 4.5 DS has been having accidents at school and sometimes at home because he is too distracted by what is either going on around him or if he's in the middle of playing a game, doing a puzzle or an art project. He races off to the bathroom and sometimes doesn't make it. Yesterday, we went for a family walk and he had to go, so we found some bushes but he got so flustered and ended up wetting himself.

We've talked about the fact that no matter what he's doing as soon as he feels the urge to go, he needs to drop whatever he's in the middle of and go! He seems to understand what we're saying, but I'm not sure he's understanding the urgency of what we're saying.

Has anyone else encountered this recently with their young ones? Any suggestions or ideas??

[mizzoh]

my ds ( also 4) has accidents for the same reasons. this is a big problem in the car - he wont tell us he has to go until he REALLY has to go, and then we have to rush to find a place to pull over. needless to say the carseat has been peed in more than once. can you tell when he needs to pee? my ds will usually dance around or something when he has to go and we can usually tell. when i see that ds needs to go, i often say that I have to pee and usually he will say "me too!' and races me to the bathroom. i like this better than asking him over and over if he has to pee.

i have also noticed ds has more accidents when he is stressed about something. any changes going on in his life lately?

[Alyantavid]

Same here with my 4 year old. He'll dance around for 5 minutes swearing he doesn't need to go and then race in the bathroom.

My only solution is that we all go potty before we go anywhere.

[BookGoddess]

What you're describing is actually common for kids around this age. This is what a Pediatric Urologist we know told us. Kids around ages 3-5 sometimes get so absorbed in other things they don't pay attention to the urge to go or they really want to continue with whatever fun thing they're doing that they ignore the urge.

I would take him before you go anywhere or start doing something.