Toddlers refuse or regress on potty training despite weeks of effort

“My 4 year old potty trained at 27 months successfully with the 3 day method. My 26 month old started showing a ton of interest this week. Successfully peeing on the potty in the mornings and evenings and any prompted time. I had a free weekend (I work full time) and thought maybe we would try before the holidays. I knew she would be hard. She drinks a LOT. But I’m feeling way more defeated than I thought. I’m wondering at what point I quit. So far here’s what’s happened. Yesterday: 15 accidents.”

“For context my son is 4 and is in preschool, He has to go to a special preschool thats allowed to change diapers/pullups. He refuses to go to the bathroom, He knows he needs to bc he tells us that hes pee'd/pooped in his pullups and has even told us he was getting ready to. We've talked with him and tried to bribe him with candy, and trinkets we know he likes (think like the dentists treasure chest for kids). We've read potty books, Tried to enforce mandatory potty breaks every so of”

“before i get elimination communication people on here, that’s not what im talking about. my husband just brought up the idea of potty training shortly after 1 year of age. he said he saw something about someone inventing a diaper that stays wet to teach about the bathroom. i know i probably sound silly because i know training pants exist im just a first time mom with a 9 month old & haven’t even thought about potty training much because… well my son is 9 months. i know the pelvic floor muscl”

“How do I potty train? I'm struggling, as it seems my little girl is now 14 months old, and so we are potty training, right? We got to pee in the toilet once, and so far today we've already had 5 accidents today alone. I went from 30 minutes to 15 minutes, down to 10 minutes. I thought maybe every 5 minutes, but I don't think that would help much. Maybe I don't know; I just threw in the towel this morning and put her back in pull-ups after just struggling. We've watched the vi”

“I put a pull up on over the underwear. That way they could feel the wetness, but the wetness didn't get all over my house. My kids were using the toilet by 3. [re: At what point does not potty training your kid become straight-up neglect?]”

“Not being defensive here - my kids were potty trained before 2 (1 took til 2.5 to be reliable). I think wicking technology + the readiness myth is a big part of the problem. I used cloth nappies and so my children were always aware of when they pee. I also sat them on the potty as soon or before they could sit every nappy change or when I could see they were pooing so they knew what the potty was for before they could understood language. Then they had the foundation for learning as they got mor”

“Mine were stubborn and I felt SO ashamed. But both were trained by preschool (3y1m, 3y10m). I spent all of August this year completely stressed put bc little dude was being a brat about toilet training (he's been capable for over a year and dry at night for years, but doesn't like being told what to do). But he hasn't had an accident 1+month in. I'm resentful of these people who DGAF. [re: At what point does not potty training your kid become straight-up neglect?]”

“My daughter was potty trained at home but school wanted pull.ups.wbich was sooooo frustrating [re: At what point does not potty training your kid become straight-up neglect?]”

“You need to check out oh crap method. Works like a charm. Basically you keep your kid commando until they “get it” and feel the sensation of peeing or pooping on themselves or their pants. Works fast too. [re: At what point does not potty training your kid become straight-up neglect?]”

“Hey all, We've already reached out to the pediatrician but figured i would ask here too. My very nearly 4 year old is having a tough time with potty training. Otherwise doing great - active, huge vocabulary, smashing milestones. But he has some kind of hidden big feelings on this topic. Currently he does great at home - wears underwear with no diaper, tells us about pee/poop feelings before they are emergencies, and is generally happy. However, he flat out refuses to go in the potty itself;”

“Title I guess. My 3 years old daughter just refuses to poop. She will hold until she poops her pants at daycare or will ask for a diaper at home. She can go almost a whole week without pooping. We went to the GP, they prescribed macrogol (laxative) which we give her but I'm getting really worried. She is fully ok with peeing in the toilet. I'm at a loss... submitted by /u/ElSupaToto [link] [comments]”

“My daughter (8) will hold her pee and be visibly uncomfortable for a long time every day. I try to not say anything because I assume one listens to their body instinctively but she will have shaking legs and do other body contortion movements that show she is holding it in and uncomfortable. So after a few hours I say, it’s time to go potty, and she listens and goes. She was potty trained at 3. It doesn’t seem like a medical concern. A lot of her dirty laundry has a pee smell. I just don’t feel”

“Our son turned 4 this past summer, and we've been STRUGGLING with potty training. He's usually pretty good about peeing in the potty, but it's never felt like we've had a good streak going of more than a few days. He had 2 accidents on Thursday, and another 2 accidents today, the latter of which resulted in us taking him home early from a birthday party; we made a deal after his first accident that if he had another one at the party, he would go home and go to bed early. We const”

“My daughter said “I need to go peepee but in the big girl toilet, because I’m not a baby.” She’s turning 3 soon and I can feel my heart chip and fracture a bit, not straight up breaking. Although it pains me, I’m so proud of her. submitted by /u/SAKingWriter [link] [comments]”

“Our oldest daughter is turning 5 in December. We've had her potty trained (or so we thought) since 2.5. but once a week or so she's either pooping or peeing in her pants. It's got a lot better where she at least tries to go to the bathroom but usually it's too late or she can't hold it in anymore and while she's getting on the toilet she gets pee all over her clothes. Her daycare has prescribed potty breaks so that helps some but it still happens there occasionally. My wi”

“I think my daughter is ready to start potty training. She thinks the potty is cool af, understands what it’s for, is able to pull her pants off and on, and is starting to hold her pee for long stretches of time. I spoke with daycare and they said it has to start at home and we provide them with our schedule. Makes sense. But how do I create a schedule if we’re never home? We are only ever home on Sundays, and that’s after we get home from church. I’m not sure that’s enough time to create a sched”

“Looking for advice/similar experiences/etc. my three year old transitioned to a big bed early July (had just turned 3). He did great with the transition. Slept all the way through the night and would even fall asleep independently some nights. 3 or so weeks later we started officially potty training. He picked it up quickly and honestly felt like we were close to the finish line with that. He was barely having accidents. All of the sudden towards the beginning of September he started really stru”

“The caption says it all. I want to start toilet training my 22 month old but I also have a 2 month old as well. Honestly I’d put off the training longer for convenience but he is consistently peeing through diapers despite sizing up and changing him frequently and has shown me all the readiness signs for toilet training. I feel like now a the time but I’m worried because he’s also showing me some signs of defiance (like screaming or saying no when I ask him to do something) which is normal for h”

“The wife and I are trying our damndest to get our 3 Y/O girl potty trained before our next baby arrives. We’ve gone all weekend without a diaper but our daughter continues to just want to poop and pee outside, and then comes in and tells us what she did. She asks to go out and play, and by the time we get one of ourselves rounded up to go out with her she’s already gone outside. If we go out in public she will say she needs to go potty but then fib. She just says “I didn’t have to” when she sits”

“I don’t know what to do. He just stopped wiping one day this week and even got in trouble at school for it. He’ll just stand in the bathroom for hours if you let him, just standing there with poop on his butt. We were finally able to get him to admit the reason today, he doesn’t want poop on his fingers. I gave him gloves today, but that’s not a permanent solution and he’s still taking a long time in there. Help? submitted by /u/Homsarman12 [link] [comments]”

“Our second has been regularly peeing and pooping in the potty for almost a month. Usually in the morning when we get dressed, and then again before her bath. It definitely started recreationally to be cool like her sister, but now it's becoming a routine. Her sister was close to three when it finally clicked and we had to have a funeral for diapers and all that, and this one barely talks, so I'm clueless here. What do we do from here to make sure it sticks with a kid who still can't”

“Our ped recommended trying out potty training with my 18 month old. She will go long periods of time holding her pee, she hates a wet diaper. Right when she needs to pee or right after she will grab her diaper and say “peepee!” We got her a little potty and let her sit on it a bunch, tons of praise when she sits. We let her watch us use the bathroom (all of this was recommended by our ped) But I can’t seem to get her to connect the idea of needing to pee with going actually into her potty. I did”

“Its 8 am, and I was supposed to be bringing her to preschool 15 minutes ago, and I just spent the last 15 minutes cleaning up shit off of her and everything else it got on. My daughter turned 3 about a month ago and shes been trying to do potty stuff for the past 6 months. At daycare/preschool, she was doing great, everything but pooping. Lately she refuses to say anything, and just goes poop in her training panties. Im at my wits end, and I don't know how to deal with this situation without”

“We're on day 3 of potty training our EXTREMELY independent 30 month old son. He hates when things aren't his idea. He's a very easy going kid and hardly ever gets upset. But he absolutely digs his heels in and straight up refuses to do things he doesn't want to do. My older son was potty trained at 26 months old. The golden standard for how everyone hopes it goes. 3 days total. Never needed a daytime diaper again and only used nighttime diapers until 3. I am completely lost on ho”

“our 5 year old still wets the bed at night, despite taking him potty in the middle of the night. i say he can’t wear pull ups because it’s my husbands opinion (which is his own i’ll say) when he does, he deliberately won’t leave his bed and will just pee in then to avoid getting up so we don’t think he’s actually learning anything about avoiding accidents. I have never been nighttime potty trained, and still at my ripe age of 25 i still have nighttime accidents at random. so my assumption which”

“Hi all! Looking for tips for my second who refuses to use the potty. He’s turning 3 in December and was 4 weeks premature. He has used the potty independently a handful of times so he knows how to, but he won’t. We let him run around nude after bath time and he will wait until we put on his diaper to pee. He’s done similar things like getting out of his crib by himself for a short period of time then stops and never does it again. We ask him “where do you pee/poo” and he says toilet, identifies”

“I’m looking for suggestions on how to succeed at potty training my 3 year old girl. Context : She has chronic constipation treating by a paediatrician with lax-a-day 2 times per day which makes her poops sometime very soft and liquid. She rarely pees on the toilet, but does 3 out of 4 poops in the toilet. We’ve tried the following: - diapers, pull ups, training underwear and regular underwear, underwear under pull ups. She only wants to wear pull ups, and will scream and cry for them. When we pu”

“I have been trying the oh crap potty training method, or the commando/naked method with my 2 year old son. I just feel like we are stuck in block 1.75 after a week. (Naked, trying to go commando) He most of the time acknowledges he peeing and then goes and sits on the potty. On very rare occasions he pees on the potty when initiated. Even when we can see him doing his potty dance. He mostly self initiated. He never makes it to the potty without at least a couple drops on the floor. We have tried”

“My babygirl is 18 months old & showing signs of readiness for going to the bathroom! I will be trying the 7 day method & will update this post to share how it goes. It will probably be the most exhausting thing I do, but I thought I'd share my experience for parents also looking into potty training. I will start on September 26th, 6:30 CEST If noone reads this, that is fine & if it helps a single person, I have reached my goal! ❤️ DISCLAIMER: Noone take offense to this, I'm n”

“Our recently turned 2 year old just started the full pants off potty training. He’s been introduced for a couple months and going maybe 2 times a day but always when we offered/rewarded/forced him to go. Was very impressed at how today went and SHOCKED and how much he actually goes. There’s be times where he peed 3 times in 12 minutes. 14 total times on the potty. 6 starting somewhere else before ending on the potty. 2 total accidents He had a great day. Just posting this if anyone else is about”

“Opinions welcome :) I’ve got a 5 year old, I’ve only just moved out a year ago, I’ve been trying to teach him as much as I can while studying and working, and all other things. My dads been making comments when he comes to pick up my son for daycare, Saying my son should be already out of nappies at bedtime and be folding his clothes. Saying he’s behind, but his nappies are still wet overnight. I know online it says to wake them up multiple times a night. Although for me it’s something I think h”

“My 5yo daughter has been out of daytime diapers since 2-2.5, but I have made zero progress getting her out of nighttime diapers. Her 3.5yo brother is able to sleep through the night without peeing, but my daughter is totally incapable. I’ve tried the underwear-under-diaper tactic without success. Other than trying that again, what tactics do you all recommend to help her get through the night without wetting the bed? submitted by /u/ceimaj [link] [comments]”

“My little girl is showing signs of wanting to potty train now. She’s 15 months old which I know may sound early but showing all the signs for it. Just wondering if anyone has any advice for when you’re out and about in shops etc? We’re buying a portable one with us but can’t exactly whip that out on a shop floor. Also for any training underwear (UK based suggestions please). Any advice or tips on potty training in general would be amazing 😊 submitted by /u/Enough-Wishbone4492 [link]”

“I’m kidding! But I am extremely anxious and unsure of where to start. My son is 3, will be 4 in February. We have not potty trained yet. I’ll preface with a painful confession: I am not the best with routines and habits and neither is my partner, but I’ll speak for myself here. I did not grow up having parents who were good at enforcing routines or habits for me, let alone for themselves. Typical semi-dysfunctional family type situation. I’m in my very early thirties and sort of having a reckoni”

“i had my triplets 2 months ago and one of them is a boy now ive dealt with my girls peeing while im changing them but normally it’s just a little bit and it like slides down it doesn’t go straight up onto me or onto MY FACE 😭😭. and sometimes i feel like hes doing it on purpose bc i swear he smiles i swear it my bf thinks im crazy but i see itttt. submitted by /u/JellyCharacter1653 [link] [comments]”

“tdlr - tips to help toddler feel safe peeing in potty/toilet? - I have a darling but stubborn 2.5yo girl. When she just turned two we started sitting her on the potty a few times a day like I assumed I should, and tried to catch pee. We did it from December to February, and caught pee maybe 6 times and a poo once. But by the end she was getting more and more against it (I think she was afraid of releasing). This was with diapers otherwise during the day, just to get her used to the potty. We too”

“My daughter has learned she has autonomy and we have been having power struggles since My 18 month old was doing elimination communication since 9 months old. we started actual potty training about a month and a half ago and she was potty trained by the first week. She was doing really well but we’re now dealing with power struggles. She is refusing to sit on the toilet despite having to go and signaling me. My concern is she’s had a UTI a couple months ago, and with this refusal she is holding”

“I have a 19 month old and am expecting another on her second birthday- she is not completely fully verbal but can say some things and try, she is very interested in me going potty in the toilet and I sat her on the toilet last week and she did pee. She is constantly picking at or pulling off her diaper and hides when she goes poop, I want to potty train her, that would be convenient but I’m not exactly sure how… I had a thought of “every 15 minutes for one not busy week set a timer to go potty a”

“I’m done buying diapers! Our youngest has followed in the footsteps of his older sisters and is potty trained fully at 20 months (aside from obvious road trips). Boys are harder than girls, especially when they try to play and then aim their wiener over the seat. But it feels good man to be done. Highly recommend getting on the potty train early they start showing interest at like 16 months. submitted by /u/herman-the-vermin [link] [comments]”

“My daughter is nearly 3 and we've been attempting to potty train for a few weeks and it's going about as badly as I can imagine. She tells us she needs a wee and was doing all the standard things that say she's ready to potty train. The problem we are having is she is absolutely terrified of letting go of her wee into the potty itself. She'll hold it and hold for as long as possible and cause herself to be in so much discomfort that she's essentially creating her own traumati”

“Daughter just turned 3. Our third child, only girl. She must be fully potty-trained to go to her preschool. No pull-ups allowed. She already missed the first week. My husband and I have each taken off work to work with her. Has never gone on the potty. Will sit but doesn’t do anything. She’s pretty stubborn, even for a toddler. But otherwise a typical kid. Not on the spectrum or anything like that. Typical motivators and methods we tried with our older kids (M&Ms, naked method) got no progre”

“I’m sure there’s been a million posts about potty training, but I’m at my wit’s end with my youngest. She turned 3 in July and potty training her has been so hard! I realize I probably started too late, but there’s a large age gap between her and my older two and I’m always on the go with them, so haven’t had much time at home to train. I’ve made an effort the past 3 weeks to be at home and train her and while she will go on the potty once in awhile, she mostly pees everywhere else. On the floor”

“Hi, all. I’ve been potty training my 22 month old for about a week & a half now. We started training bottomless with 15-minute timed prompts & made good progress until using training underwear for an outing caused a total regression. We've since switched to the Oh Crap! method (bottomless, pull-ups only for sleep) & eventually stopped timed prompts to watch for cues instead & prompting only if it’s been an hour since his last pee. The problem is that while he shows cues &”

“I took my daughter (who will be 2 in 2 weeks) to the GP today and (only tangentially related to the reason we were there) mentioned that we are currently toilet training, and that it's going well, but very slowly, and my husband and I are OK with slow progress with pees. GP reiterated the common advice that 3 is 'normal' for toilet training, and that kids who train earlier are more likely to have 'regressions'. I smiled and nodded because I have lots and lots of thoughts on t”

“I’m a working mom with two daughters, my oldest is 23 months and turning 2 in two weeks! She goes to daycare 5 days a week and is currently in the 1-2 room. At the end of the month, she’s moving up to the 2-3 room. The room she’s currently in is not a potty training room bc there is not a bathroom in the room but they have been willing to work with us and have put a small potty in the main hall bathroom to accommodate our daughter. Over the summer she would say “potty” and the teachers would put”

“Hi. I have a 2 year old who is more than ready to potty train. She can tell us when she has peed or when she’s about to poop, will take off her diaper or pull up if she is wet but cannot make the connection to go to the potty. We’ve tried commando, we’ve tried panties, we’ve tried taking her every 45min to an hour, we are seriously at a loss. I don’t know what to do. She keeps pissing on the floor then hates how it feels in her undies, so she comes running to us to tell us she’s peed. We catch h”

“Basically my 2 year old at the time came back from nursery where he’d asked to use the potty and did a wee! (He’d copied an older kid) so next weekend we started potty training over 3 days He did well and after a couple of weeks would wee when taken to the toilet and rarely will ask to go It’s now 4-5 months down the line and we have regressed. He almost never asks to do wees and is now having poo accidents again in his pants. If we are on it and take him to do a wee he will be dry, sometimes he”

“I am at a loss of ideas how to approach this. My daughter started her 4K and over a sudden started peeing her pants while awake there. Teaches said she does go potty at her designated time but she can’t see if she is really peeing. Then right after that she tells her she got accident. Last time she went to potty 12.45 and 12.55 and peed her pants while having lunch at 1.10. I have a suspicion she holds her pee until she can’t hold it. She does go to bathroom at home or anywhere else no problem,”

“So my son has been reliably daytime potty trained for 4 years now, but going into 2nd grade he still wears pull-ups and absolutely soaks them * nightly *. Totally understand that bedwetting isn't a huge big deal, particularly with boys (we've discussed with the pediatrician a few times). But, what I'm wondering - is it at all worrying that he's basically never had a single dry night, ever--? At seven ? We never shame him at all, nor do his siblings - everyone just kind of accepts”

“hi all, i have 2 twin girls and i (tried) to potty train them a while back, one of them successfully trained and shes able to go, but the other one still hasn’t been able to. she’s refusing to go back on diapers (even the pull ups, she realises theyre diapers and “for babies”) but she wont go potty. im concerned because even at nursery she will keep holding it in until she gets home and just pees her self. jf anyone went through smth similar or has any tips i would appreciate it submitted”

“Yes I’m a terrible mom, I don’t need the additional criticism I already know. She’s had severe constipation issues since she was 2yrs old, did ultrasounds etc and no blockages… apparently just withholding. We used laxative powder regularly etc but have it down from once a week to now once every 2 days, sometimes 3. And it has been a PROCESS. Usually the first blob is hard and the rest is normal formed. She drinks a lot of water daily as well. Wears a pull up to go to bed so all day will not wear”

“I am a single mom raising a 3 year old girl by myself, l'm learning as I go. We recently started potty training and she's been very receptive to it. But this last week has been a disaster, she's refusing to go #2, she is holding it and I know it's hurting her. She's be crying and holding herself then she'll be completely fine the next second. I've done everything that I know of to help her understand that it's okay to go potty and feeding her stuff to help her go”

“I have two daughters, 3 and 5. Both have issues with potty training. I'm at my wit's end. We started potty training out 5yo at about 2.5. It was slow, but back and forth, but she gets it. Problem (IMO), is twofold - one, she gets distracted easily, and two, she's very shy and would rather pee herself than ask someone to help her find a bathroom. She started kindergarten last week and had an accident every day. Two some days. This weekend I tried talking to her and working with her, b”

“My three year old cries at the drop of a hat. She cries first thing in the morning because it’s not the day of the week she wants it to be. Then she will cry about having to go potty because she doesn’t want to. And then she cries because it’s breakfast time. And it goes on and on. We spend a lot of time with other kids her age and none of them act like this. If she gets hurt and an adult is nearby, she will scream-cry “OWIE OWIE OWIE” hundreds of times in a row. She doesn’t even have to get hur”

“My 3-year old has been potty trained during the day for the past 6 months or so and then went two months where her pull-up at night was completely dry so we got rid of pull-ups all together about 2 months ago. My husband and I had to leave town for a work trip and left her with my family for a week. Since we’ve come back, she has peed in her bed at night for two weeks straight (assuming because her routine was messed up). I’ve been washing her bedding every day for 2 weeks, and I’m wondering if”

“My 4yo daughter has been potty trained since 2.5 years but has always worn pullups at night. We recently decided to try taking the pullups away because she was clearly peeing in them on purpose before bed and then would occasionally soak through in the morning. We are on day 5 of no pullups and it is going okay- no bedwetting at night. The problem is every morning she has woken up a little early and peed in the bed. She is definitely awake before she pees. She gets right up and comes to us so we”

“My 3.5yo just started preschool last week. She’s loving it, but has had some sort of potty accident 4 out of 6 days. The school requires kids to be “fully potty trained” and we got an email today saying if things don’t improve she might get kicked out. I think the issue is the independence of it. Her preschool did regular potty breaks with the whole class. Each kid who was out of diapers had to at least “try” on the potty during each break. She occasionally had an accident, but it was rare. At h”

“Hi parents. My wife and I are completely lost. Our 4y/o daughter has completely regressed in potty training. We started at 2.5, everything was fine. We’d potty trained our oldest before without any issues. She struggled a bit, but mostly made it through 3 with minor issues. Then we hit this past summer. She turned 4 and completely regressed, lots of accidents. We figured “ok, it’s not our regular routine”. We were traveling and didn’t keep to our normal schedule. We were doing fun things and she”

“Hi! my 17 month old daughter has been communicating when she needs to poop for the last three months (since 14MO). She will tell us “poop” at least ten minutes max before she starts actually pooping. she also tells us when she is peeing. Yesterday we happened to time it enough that she had been telling us she was pooping, seemed to be actively pooping, and when my husband went to change her, she was clearly ABOUT to pass a poop. he called for her little potty, we stuck her on, and she pooped! We”