My Four Year Old Is Constantly Peeing in His Pants

I like Nicole P's sugestion of setting a timer and making him stop what he's doing every 2 hours to use the bathroom.

The only other suggestion I have is to make him go to his room for 20 minutes each time so that he learns that it takes less time to go when he needs to than to try to hold it and have an accident.

It has to be worth it to him to stop playing.

I could have written this exact question about my little boy who will be four next month. This has been happening for a year now and I am so tired of doing laundry all the time just to keep clean underwear around. He goes through multiple pairs a day. We have talked to him and tried to figure out why he keeps "getting spots" on his underwear. I'm going to try setting the timer for every hour and making him go, even though he throws a giant tantrum every time I take him away from playing to make him go potty. I like how someone said "it has to be worth it to him to stop playing". Good luck with your little guy! I'm sure going to need it . :)

Set a timer for two hours. Every two hours make him stop what he's doing to use the potty until he can learn to break away from whatever he's doing on his own to pee. Vigilance!

Are you sure the pee is happening because he waits till the last minute, or if he's just tucking himself away after peeing too quickly so that the last few drops are going into his underpants instead of the toilet?

My guy is 3 and has been potty trained a year and started doing this occasionally a couple of months ago. I know it's from his confidence in his holding skills, he's actually told me when I've told him to go "I can hold it!" and from what I hear a lot of kids do this a year or so after being trained, seems they get over confident in their abilities, lol!

He catches himself when he starts, stops and runs to the bathroom, it's usually a small spot the size of a quarter or so. Of course he wants to change so I bought him some printed boxers for him to change into as undies/shorts when this happens. They look like shorts and no one knows there's nothing underneath, and after his nightly bath they go in the dirty clothes hamper. They're actually easier for him to pull up and down in a hurry so he doesn't have any more accidents that day, plus once he has an accident he's more attentive and compliant in going, This and making sure he goes every couple of hours has helped cut down on the accidents overall.

I've been told when he starts preschool in a few weeks the teacher takes them potty before class, before/after outside play, before and after lunch and home, so I think he'll be OK there...plus he'll have a change of clothes in case he has to change.

I think it's a last minute thing for my DD, too, or anticipation. We were on a nature hike and I pulled DD over to a tree and she peed as soon as the air hit her bare butt...all over her skirt and panties...and my shoes...

My DD is nearly four and doing the same thing with mostly tiny accidents. Dealing with it has been very frustrating. When she has an accident, I tell her, "If you had gone when you first thought you needed to go, you'd be done. But now that we have to wash your leg, change your pants and socks, etc. it's going to take us a long time. Not really worth it to wait, is it? Even a little bit needs to be changed because pee smells."

DH thinks it's an attention getter b/c I work from home but I may show him this thread to say "It's not just us!" I did point out to him that our friend's son (SAHD, no side job) had problems with pooping accidents when he was 4 so be glad it's just pee.

I've gone back to reminding her to try to pee before/after meals, before we go anywhere, etc. I told SD to take DD to the bathroom before shopping at every store when they were running errands yesterday. Even if she says no, take her anyway. When DD gets annoyed with this, I tell her that she doesn't always go to the potty when she needs to, so until she is always dry, I will be reminding her.

I know she can stay dry. She stays dry better when we are out and about. It's like she just isn't embarrassed enough to not pee on my carpet but she's motivated not to have an accident in front of her playmates.

My daughter started doing this at age 6! After ruling out any bladder issues etc. we noticed it's because she would wait until the last minute because she didn't want to stop playing. Then she'd anticipate going and she'd often pee on her way to the bathroom or sometimes as she was pulling her pants down.

We started instilling habits of when she should go (after every meal, etc.) and we would set a timer for every hour so she'd have to stop playing and go to the bathroom. This included playtime in public places.

Eventually she got so irritated with having to stop what she was doing to try to go that she must have decided that stopping playing when she felt the need to go (instead of waiting until the last minute) was a better idea than having to try to go every hour.

She also had issues with telling us she didn't have to go when asked as we were leaving a place, but then telling us she had to BAD in the car 10 minutes later. One time I was on a stretch of highway and it was at least 20 minutes to an exit so I pulled over and she had to go on the side of the road. She was so embarrassed, that cured her of that!

We didn't make a big deal out of it at any of the times, just let natural consequences happen. She made the decisions to control herself all on her own!