My son, who is 2 years and 5 months old, has been fully potty trained for about 1 1/2 months now. He would go for long periods of time without wetting at all before telling us he had to go potty. He would even "hold it" if we had to wait in line to use the restroom. He even had dry underwear during naps and overnight. That is, until recently. Lately, he has been having accidents, wetting his pants just before telling me he has to potty and even has a little bit of leaking. All of a sudden, his wet pants don't seem to bother him. I know that it is very common for children to regress after being initially trained--my question is, how do I parent this... What do I do? Do I scold him for going in his pants? Do I offer rewards for dry pants when we go to the potty? Should I just keep at the positive reinforcement (although, I'm not sure where this would come in lately!)? How long will this go on? How long should I let this go on before it is a real problem and not just a phase? I guess I'm just unsure of how to proceed from here. Thanks in advance for your help!
It is best to just offer dry clothes and let him take off the wet ones and put them in the laundry. If you don't make an issue out of it, he won't either and it will sink in that it is less work to go to the potty than to change clothes. Keep your emotions and scoldings in check and this will take care of itself.
2 1/5 is very early for a boy to be fully potty trained developmentally speaking. This could go on a long time (for some kids 3 or older!), if his bladder is not ready for long periods of dry-time. I say don't go back to diapers if you can help it. Just be more vigilent in checking to see if he needs to go..and you get him to the potty on a schedule again. Just consider potty training wasn't fully completed, and go back to treating him as though he were still in the early phases of being diaper free. If necessary, a pull-up overnight but otherwise, just go with the flow (no pun intended) and just hang-in there!
I think if you continue to deal gently with him when he has accidents, you are going about it just fine. Using the potty properly along with all the new stuff that kids his age are learning is a lot to juggle. I'm betting if you keep reminding him about the potty through it all, he won't forget and will eventually get back to using it. I would also make sure never to scold him for having an accident, as he is very young to be potty-trained and a year from now still will be pretty young for that. I suggest buying some pull-ups until he is ready to be fully potty-trained.
For my son, the issue was usually that he was playing and didn't want to take the time to go to the bathroom. He is almost 5 and will still go running or hop around before he actually takes the time to go. I had to remind him to go or ask him periodically so that he would actually think about it.
It is very common for them to go regularly and then stop. Generally they are truely potty trained until 3 yrs. All you can do is keep being consistant with him. Try not to scald him for wet pants, but dont be afraid to let him clean up the mess he made when he wet, especially if it gets on the floor. I generally told my son, you made the mess, you can clean it up. I also rewarded him for staying dry and clean all day by letting him watch his favorite movie before bed. Good Luck!
