3 Year Old Daughter Was Fully Potty Trained, Now Will NOT Go on the Potty!

Does it seem like a power struggle issue? If so, you could put her back in diapers and tell her when she's ready to use the potty and be a big girl, she can go back to underwear. Then back off and wait. Kind of a pain, but at least you won't be cleaning up her accidents, and it gives her back control of 'when'. It probably won't take long if this is what the problem is. If it is something else, clearly this approach won't help. You still may want to rule out the urinary tract infection possibility. It can't hurt. I hope you get this sorted out soon! P.S. Night training may take significantly longer, no matter what is causing this.

you've probably already tried this, but just in case i thought i'd mention talking to her about it at a time when you are not trying to get her to go to the bathroom. she might be afraid of something. my son had seen part of harry potter-- the one with the giant snake-- and was afraid to sit on the toilet for a while after that because he thought a snake might come through the toilet. it took me several days to put the pieces together and eventually was able to use humor and scientific explanation to convince him it was safe again. good luck!

It is actually common for preschoolers to regress back to not using the potty once they've been trained. The novelty is over. The cheers and excitement we give are gone. Preschoolers by design are ego-centric. They do things based on what they feel is best for them. Sometimes it's "I'll put up with being wet over the hassle of getting up and going through he hassle of using the potty". But they also might think "I'm not getting the cheers and stickers any more, so I'll get my attention from NOT using the potty". From your brief description, it sounds like some of this might be going on. SO, no more bribes. No more frustrating conversations with her. No more getting mad or lectures about "you know how to use the potty, why are you doing this?!" Instead, take away all attention from it. Everytime she has an accident, act like it's no big deal to you. Make HER responsible for cleaning up her mess. SHE puts her clothes in the wash. She gets new clothes to put on. SHE washes herself up with a washcloth. SHE takes the sheets off the bed. You get the idea. You can follow up with some help only after she's done most of the work. It's important to treat this not as a punishment but her taking responsibility for her choice not to use the potty. You can casually say to her after "That was a lot of work. I wonder if next time you'll chose to just use the potty instead. It's much easier." But then just drop it. The first few times she may think it's fun to do all the clean up work. But it won't be long until she realizes that she's not getting much attention for this and instead it actually takes up a lot of time. Instead she'll learn that she is going to get lots of high fives and "WOW! You're such a big girl" when she uses the potty and will seek out this attention again instead. Remember to regularly ask her to use the potty, about every three hours and especially during transitions (getting ready to leave, right before a meal, changing a playtime activity, etc.). Don't make a big deal out of it if she doesn't have to go. Just thank her for trying. If she jumps on and then right off, that's OK. Kids sometimes get wrapped up in their activity and forget that they have to go potty. Our simple reminders throughout the day help teach kids to make going potty part of their life routine and not just something we do when we just can't hold it in any longer. HTH!

My son did this and it turns out I was giving him bubble baths that were irritating him and in turn, it made him have accidents. I would rule out UTI by a quick trip to the doc. After that, take your bribery to a level of epic proportion. With my middle boy, I got a bowl of toys, candy, gum, etc. from the dollar store. Every time he actually went in the toilet (just sitting on the potty is not ok), he got to pick something out. Realize this bowl was HUGE and FULL.

Since she is at school during the day tell her she can pick up a toy as soon as she gets off school if she goes accident free while you are away. I did this with my son for two full weeks then when the bowl was empty we didn't do it any more. We never had an accident again.

Hopefully this helps, if you are still having trouble, it might just be the separation of you and your husband. Even though it has been 10 months or more, it still might be affecting her. At three she just might not know how to express it therefore cannot correct it. Who knows, maybe something is happening at her dad's place that upsets her or she doesn't understand. Ya never know.

Good luck!!!