peeing on the floor rather than the potty

[Kayleighsmom]

I am in desperate need of advice. My 2 1/2 yr old DD was doing great with the potty, and hates wearing a diaper, but she is constantly wetting herself or the furniture, floor, rugs. The pooping is fine, she tells us that she needs to poop in the potty but the peeing is very inconsistant. I dont want to force her, but I am getting tired of cleaning up my carpets and sofa... any suggestions? Thanks in advance!

[Helen White]

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[anudi01]

same here

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[Momo'sMum]

Our DD is doing that as well, in our case I've come to the conclusion that it is a cry for help . When it happens i/we take her to the toilet to see if she is finished and then help her change. Then we make a valiant effort to pay more attention to her non-verbal cues that she is in need of something. We also try to have alone time for her every day with either dh or myself. It seems to help. We find it heartbreaking that obviously she is lacking something from us enough to have accidents again. The major change has been that dd#2 is awake more and moving more.
The only other thing that has crossed my mind and may come into play in our situation as well, is baths, if she has a bath instead of a shower she has more trouble. So we are making changes in two areas and seeing improvement.
I don't know if this helps any of you at all or if it would apply to your situation. I can tell you that it is really hard not to get seriously mad : when you ask them to be patient about something and they lift their cheek to pee on your couch in retaliation. So I understand your confusion and offer some
Carrie

[Fuamami]

My dd did this for a while too. I see now that it was a stage. It was between the realization of needing to go pee, and then making it to the potty. But past wearing a diaper. It was frustrating, and I just tried to remain calm, though neither I, nor my dh, always did.

So, with my 20/20 retrospective vision, I'd say just keep calmly cleaning her up and saying, "Uh-oh, accidents happen. Next time I bet you'll make it." or something like that. And then one day this will happen:

Dh and I are sitting at the kitchen table talking. Dd is playing. It's quiet, and then we hear, "I went pee!!!" This was what she said when she had an accident. Dh and I sigh heavily and I go to clean her up (it was my turn). Lo and behold, she's on the potty! And she peed on the potty! And that was it. After that, she had about 1-2 accidents per week for a few months, now she's down to 1-2 accidents every few weeks. So don't give up!!!!

[Suzetta]

For starters, I think that 2 1/2 is quite young for doing so well on the potty. We had a similar situation with my dd, also a young learner. She was doing great, until dh went out of town on business for a week. When he came back, she started having accidents, especially when under his care.

I believe part of it was emotional, and part of it was learning her body's cues better. In the early months, most of her trips were because we were staying on top of it, encouraging regular trips. Somewhere along the line we started passing responsibility more to her, and during this transition things got rocky again.

One thing I have done, which has been helpful, is to talk to her about "that tickle" she gets, and that it means that she needs to go potty before it is too late. Of course, now she says "My butt tickles!!" when it is time.

Just keep being patient, whatever the issue is, things will definitely improve.

[Magella]

Originally Posted by natensarah

My dd did this for a while too. I see now that it was a stage. It was between the realization of needing to go pee, and then making it to the potty. But past wearing a diaper. It was frustrating, and I just tried to remain calm, though neither I, nor my dh, always did.

So, with my 20/20 retrospective vision, I'd say just keep calmly cleaning her up and saying, "Uh-oh, accidents happen. Next time I bet you'll make it." or something like that. And then one day this will happen:

ITA. Potty learning, in my experience with my kids, is a process that includes accidents even after learning seems to be done. It takes time to learn not only the body's signals, but to learn to pay attention to them when busy and to learn to stop doing whatever fun or fascinating thing you're doing in order to get to the potty in time, it takes time to figure out when the urge means you have time and when it's about to be too late.

No doubt it's frustrating for parents to keep cleaning up accidents, but it will pass. I agree with saying "accidents happen, next time you'll make it to the potty in time." Keep supporting and encouraging her and eventually the accidents will stop.