Hello!

My daughter will be 3 in June and has been going really well with her toilet training for the past 4/5 months and in the last week it seems she is regressing. She no longer uses the potty and has been using the toilet for some time now. If we are out, she will happily tell me, she needs to go to the toilet. But at home, even when I ask her if she needs to go, she will just wee her pants.

I use pull ups, only for her day time nap and when she wakes she’s always dry. And then again at night time. Sometimes she wakes dry and sometimes wet. I’ve been reading up on regression and all the reasons they give, as to why, don’t apply. No new baby in the house, she’s not sick, were not moving, shes not constipated and I can’t think of any reason why she would be stressed.

She is a very strong willed little girl and likes to be very independent with everything else. I have started using a sticker chart again recently, hoping this may help, but doesn’t seem to be. Would appreciate any advice other Mum’s may have!


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  • You must be feeling frustrated.
    This regression happens quite a lot.
    First of all – Relax. It will take time, but she will get there. Perseverance. Maybe go to the toilet with her to see if she is having trouble with her clothing.
    I do agree with another answer about taking the pressure off.
    It will happen – she will get there, it just takes time. Hang in there, you’re doing great!


  • Keep trying and encouraging. Has something happened at home recently which may have caused her to regress? Lots of positive words and maybe a reward might help.


  • As long as there are no outside issues going on, you hand the power over to her, tell her she is a big girl and can use the toilet when she wants, as you know she can, and then don’t talk about it, mention anything at all for a couple of weeks, if/when she has an accident just go ok let’s clean that up, it hands them the power and takes the pressure off, my son became what they call “toilet training resistant” we were get quite stressed as he was almost 4 and getting close to kinder time, but once he didn’t feel the pressure he just did it all himself within 2weeks


  • A couple of things… Have you recently changed her underwear or type clothes she wearing…eg going to longer pants cause it cooler or fastened pants cause she no longer in nappy? It sounds silly but one of my kids was like this….fantastic when we were out and had been great at home…then became independant and did not need me take her toilet at home…then the wetting began…but only at home…I was really getting fustrated. One day I followed her in to the bathroom and discovered that she was struggling with getting her pants off over her bottom.Then I realised…when we out I always go with her cause it public toilets etc so I help.At home cause she independant I wasn’t going with her anymore. We had recently changed to slightly more fitted pants cause of having no nappy so they were harder to get off. Another thing consider is worms…Same child months later regressed with night time wetting, night after night after more than 6mths being dry. I accidentally discovered worms, treated her and the bedwetting stopped…after that if she ever regressed with bedwetting I wormed her and it fixed the problem(my daughter loved eating dirt :-/).might b worth a try see if it helps with your daytime issue. Good luck!


  • What different kinds of attention are you giving her when she potties in public and wets herself in private? I would celebrate every successful potty with my girl and silently clean her every time she did it outside of the potty. Keeping the attention consistant. We even had a special hand shake when she was successful and when she was clean we would then speak about reasons for the wet pants and remind her of the fun we have when she pottys in the potty.


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