I've smugly been thinking how great it's been that since Aidan was potty trained last fall that he's not had a single accident. HA.

Over the past couple of weeks, Aidan is constantly having "accidents." In his words, ""Just a little accident, it's okay." No, Aidan - it's not! I can't figure out exactly why...it seems connected mainly to when he's playing and doesn't feel like taking a break...something that was of course normal during learning, but he's been trained for 9 months! I suppose it could be him thinking about the baby or something, but I'm not sure.

I keep telling him I'm putting him back in diapers and he screams about that. I've not yet actually done the diaper thing, but I'm thinking I should. We sit and talk about why it happened, and he just dismisses the problem as not being a big deal. Oh, and he'll also go and change himself after an accident thinking we won't find out. Yeah, right buddy.

What he's not doing is peeing a lot when he has these accidents, pooping, or wetting at night.

That said, I do think it's that he's peeing, not just leaking or something.

Any advice on how to stop it?

Matthew has very few accidents, but when he does it's "accidents happen, mom" :rolleyes:

Maybe go back to reminding him every 20-30 minutes about going and if he's playing intently make him go so he doesn't forget?

Anna isn't anywhere near being trained, but the other day she peed all over the floor and said "It's okay Mommy. These things happen." *sigh*

David has recently started doing this. I actually pulled out one of his diapers and told him that if he was going to pee his pants like a baby then he had to wear a diaper like a baby and I actually went to put it on him. Luckily for him it didn't fit. Now when I tell him to go to the bathroom he doesn't argue...he goes and the "little accidents" went right out the window. BTW: David has been trained since last June.

Rebekah is in that phase, too. She waits too long to head to the potty. I think she's just starting to get out of it because she'll get herself to the potty again and then say "I didn't wait too long!"

What I did was just not make a big deal about the accidents. I just said "Why did you wait so long? Next time, go sooner!" And then I praised her alot when she made it in time. Also, it helped that she peed on a couple of her favorite dresses and her favorite shoes and couldn't wear them until they were clean (and I purposely didn't clean them). When she'd ask for them I'd tell her she couldn't have them because she waited too long to go potty and they were dirty.

We're STILL going through this with Matt who is 6 (and has been basically trained during the day since he was 3). To say it's frustrating would be an understatement. :rolleyes:

We actually did go from panties back to pullups with Isabelle once, and I think it was a big mistake. She went from "sort of trained" to "not trained at all", and just really gave up on going potty totally.

What we do, now...when she has an accident, she has to sit on the potty, no matter how much she argues that she just went and doesn't have to. And if we notice that she's getting too involved in an activity, and it's either been a long time since she's went, or she's starting to "do the dance" then we take her away from the activity (turn off the TV, take away the toy, bring her inside) and tell her the sooner she goes potty the sooner she can get back to what she's doing.

Abby went through this last summer after she had been trained for about 7 months.....I think it is becasue by that time they get comfortable in the fact that they are trained and end up holding it too long. For us, most of the time it was happening at the pool when she would be in the middle of playing....it was so fustrating. Since I knew she was trained (and not going through the process) and knew when she had to go and when she didnt have to go I finally had to tell her that if she had another accident at the pool we would have to go home and she would have to sit in time out. I felt kind of bad about it but after several discussions about the accidents with her and trying a couple of other things I didnt know what else to do. It worked. We never had another accident...when I would see her doing her little dance or grabbing her butt I would ask her if she needed to go and she she didnt put up any fight.

She still has the rare accident from time to time and we just say "it was an accident, and they happen" and she does not get in trouble or anything....because they do happen. It is just when there is a particular pattern to them that you have to make sure they know you mean business. :)

I mean, I totally get that accidents happen and if it was few and far between, I wouldn't get mad. But we're entering a pattern. It happened again after I posted. :complain: I decided then to follow through with my diaper threat. I made him lie down like a baby and put it on him. He was crying but refusing to talk to me about the accident, even though I tried every approach I could think of. In the end (ah, about 3 minutes later) he pulled down his pants and took of the diaper. I clearly should have seen that coming! We talked about it more, and he got all dramatic ("you're making me really, really, really, really, really, really, really sad mommy" - complete with sticking out the bottom lip - where do they learn these things?!) and he still wouldn't tell me why he's having accidents. I think it's like Wendy says though - they get so comfortable with the process they push themselves further than they should.

Anyway, that was an hour ago and he loudly announced to me about 15 minutes ago - "I'm going potty mommy!" - something he never does, he just goes. So maybe something got through to him? I'm not holding my breath...

Harry went through a phase of accidents too. Thankfully it was shortlived, but it's not uncommon. There are two 5 (nearly 6!) yr old boys in our playgroup who still have accidents all the time. Nearly always at my house too :rolleyes: The last time they were here, one of them shit in our cubby house! :complain:

Ewww Clare. :errr:

Micayla doesn't have many accidents, but when she does it seems like it's when she's playing and busy. And she always comes and tells me she "peed in her panties" :rolleyes: It's extremely frustrating but we never make a big deal out of it.

Caroline was doing this too, but only when she was too busy doing something like playing or watching TV... I asked her ped about it and she said it is VERY common... they don't want to stop what they are doing, it is NOT regression according to her... she said just take frequent potty breaks.