Blissful E » Blog Archive » potty regression and recovery

17 Mar, 2009

potty regression and recovery

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth ()

I have been wanting to write this post for a long time.

You will remember Nikki's triumph with potty training before we left Egypt. She finished her first complete week without accidents while we were living in our temporary accommodation there just before we flew away on our move to Perth.

Nikki continued to keep her pants dry during the long flight out to Australia, and during the first month we were here - while we lived in an apartment and searched for a house to rent, during our move-in to our townhouse, and while we first lived in our new home.

Dry pants continued even when Ben started work and I was one parent caring for two little ones (2.25 years old and 10 months old). Nikki would let me know when she needed the toilet and I would lift her up so she could go, then lift her to the sink so she could wash her hands.

(In Egypt she used a Babywunder Clear Potty as her toilet, and a bowl resting on the bathtub that was her height so she could wash her hands unassisted.)

At this point we bought stepstools to enable Nikki to get up onto the toilet and reach the sink herself. We checked to make sure the heights were correct and she was safe, and then we were back - we thought - to what we had in Egypt, where Nikki could take care of toileting entirely on her own.

A few days later - wet pants! Honestly, I was shocked. The toilet training book says that after a child is a potty training graduate (eg has gone for an entire week without an accident), the thing to do is just have them clean up any mess and change into dry pants. So I walked her through that, showing her where the rags were for cleanup, and she cleaned up and changed her pants.

Well, the number of 'accidents' kept increasing. I guess getting new clean dry pants was pretty fun! Nikki did not wet her pants when we were out and about (one of us took her to the toilet and lifted her so she could wash her hands), but at home she was wetting her pants four or five times per day. Accidents were happening without any warning and whether or not Ben was at home.

Needless to say, at that point I began to plan my days around getting us out of the house. And I did get a crash course as to where all of the public toilets are in central Perth! But sometimes I needed to be home and do some laundry or just sit for a while. And then would come the wet pants, and increasing frustration on my part.

One time she even had a poo in her pants. That was the last straw for me.

So I started to try things - I would have her practice once or twice, with me hurrying her along. I tried complete nonchalance - pants wet or dry, no worries. I talked to her about it. Ben talked to her about it. We tried not talking about it. I begged Ben to take her through the training again. I wondered if we should go back to diapers when at home. We told her she couldn't sit on any of the soft furniture until she'd gone a week without any accidents. Ben bought some stickers to give her when she made it through any entire day without accidents so we could give her an incentive and track her progress.

Finally we came to what worked. Ben was ready to take her through the training. But just before he was about to start, the idea of having her practice, without going through the training again, occurred to me, so we gave it a try. Ten practices every time she wet her pants, no matter what. We went about it as if she had just been trained and had not graduated.

And two days ago she completed another completely dry week!! I guess she just needed to know that it was as important to keep her pants dry here as it had been in Egypt. I also noticed during our many practices that she had a few questions about the sink and the toilet that were good to clear up. Using bathroom fixtures on her own had not been a part of her Egyptian toilet training.

Ask Nikki, and she will tell you that dry pants are the best!!

Tags: potty training

potty regression and recovery

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