What do you do when you have a child that was totally potty trained and is now wetting their pants again?

Answer 1

what changes have occured in the child's life?? there a lot of resources on the web, talk to your pediatrician. sometimes serious pants wetting problems can be health related, in extreme cases even signs of abuse. i hate to even bring that up, but it happens. see the doc.

Answer 2

Suzanne, what is going on in your home and the child's life? It may be that your child is stressing out big time over something that is going on in her world or at home. If he has not had any trauma that you know of, talk to him and see what is going on when you aren't there. Don't freak him/her out with questions but just talk to the child like you normally do. Is the child drinking too much? Don't let the child drink an hour before bed and have him go potty just before, at least try. Start paying attention to the prople he/she is around it may be that someone is doing something that they shouldn't. Talk to your child about good touch/bad touch. Most importantly LISTEN to your child. Your full attention. It also may be a medical problem that the pediatrician can help with. Some children have a hard time with soda. You may want to curb that and sugar for a while.

Answer 3

How old is the child? What changed in their life to upset them?

If they are young, it could just be wanting to be more baby-like so you'll pay more attention to them. If they are older, then it might be a medical problem that needs your doctor's help.

If something has changed, even if that something wasn't important to you, they might be peeing out their fear or their anger. Just reassure your child that you still love them and that changes are a normal part of life. Have them help "fix" the mess and encourage them to use the potty when they have that little tickle in their tummy (or whatever phrase you used while potty-training). Also encourage them to talk to you about their feelings rather than trying to pee them out.

If the child is older or if they have other emotional/behavioral issues, refocus the energy on the results of their behavior rather than the behavior itself. My RAD child would pee out her anger over EVERYTHING -- anything could upset her and she would pee where ever she thought she could get away with it. But she didn't think about the pee-pee smell, which she didn't like to live with. HAHA! Anytime she'd have an "accident", it was her job to clean it up. No fuss, no parental anger, just very business-like. I would give her the cleaning supplies and supervise her through cleaning up her mess. Any and all laundry her "accident" caused was brought to the machines (I would do the laundry), and she would have to put them back where they belonged when they were done. It didn't take too many trips through "Mommy's job" for her to realize that peeing out her anger wasn't any fun. :)

Answer 4

Some kids do relapse back to wetting their pants. You might ask your pediatrician because there could be a problem. They could have a weak bladder or an infection. Something could be bothering the child to make them do it or upset about something. My daughter occasionally does this when she is too busy playing outside and waits till the last second before running back to the house to go to the bathroom and not making it. Use your instincts and everything will turn out okay.

Answer 5

Two of my children did the same thing. One was due to the fact that we pushed too hard. We thought he was ready, and seemed to be doing fine, but then he simply relapsed. The other was actually my step-daughter that had come to realize that her mother had left her.

Just be patient, don't scold. Soon they will remember that they don't like the diapers and they will do it again.

I agree with that you need to think about any stressful situations that your child or family might have gone through and reassure them that it was not their fault. It could also be a case of them missing the attention they received while training. Remember to continue to praise them until they look at you like you're nuts. :-)

It may take months again. I know it's tough. But hang in there.

Answer 6

Well there are many reasons that your child could be wetting there pants. Your child may be going through a rough time with school (if in school), bullies, abuse, etc. You should try talking to your child about what's bothering him/her and maybe reassure them that nothing is going to happen if they tell you about it. Or if that doesn't work try talking to a doctor or a therapist. Hope this helps

Answer 7

Find out the root of the problem is it physical sometimes a urinary tract infection can cause them to lose sensation or it could be emotional has there been change in family members or a move did someone they care about move away after you figure out the real problem and treat it the wetting should stop

Answer 8

How old? My son was 2 1/2 and seemed to be trained, then he turned ugly and stopped being trained. The doctor said it was too stressful for him and give him a few more months.

Three months later, I tried again no problem, he was trained.

Any changes in his/her life? New baby, loss of family member, change in day care, person moving in, person moving out. Sibling going to school, or away to camp? These things all cause stress that could cause regression.

Answer 9

First find out why. More often than not they revert because of trauma. Not necessarily something huge, sometimes just a dream or a change in routine in their life. Once you have figured out why than just restart training like when you first started. Never criticize or demean the child, this will only make it worse. Be patient and understanding.

Answer 10

What you can do is start over with the potty training techniques. And reward the child when they remember to go on there own. Everyone is allowed mistakes.

Answer 11

May be some sort of anxiety. Put the child in training pants and don't allow them to feel guilt about it.