PT Regression
adamsbabble
member
My daughter is going to 3 in August and we started PT last January. I just started putting her in underwear and after a few accidents, it clicked with her. She PT fairly easily, but still would never poop on the potty. I figured at least we were taking a step in the right direction with her being pee trained, and we would keep working on it. I never put any pressure on her.
Recently she has regressed. She won't do 1 or 2 on the potty at all. I don't know if not being fully PT had something to do with it, or if it's just the fact that she's such a willful child or that going potty isn't fun/interesting to her anymore.
I've tried everything to get her back into it. Fruit snacks, stickers, even a little peer pressure (talking about how all of her big girl friends wear underwear and go on the potty). We've talked about how when she fills up her sticker chart, she'll get a special surprise. She couldn't care less. Getting her to sit on the potty is a struggle, and she pees/poos in every single pair of underwear I put her in.
Honestly, EVERYTHING is a power struggle with her these days, not just PT. I know this is normal for a 3 year old, but I didn't expect to deal with PT regression. I wouldn't be so frustrated if not for the fact that I know she is bright and can do it. What is my next step? Back off and let her initiate? Stick with it and start putting a little more pressure on her since I know this is a battle of wills rather than her not being able? I've been very low pressure with her and don't believe in punishing for having potty accidents, but does that still apply when you know your child can do it and is just doing it to be stubborn? I am thinking of doing something like taking TV away. I wouldn't take away food/drink/playtime but TV is something that is a "treat" in our household, and I do believe in not giving treats and rewards. WDYT? I'm just at a loss and honestly clueless, so please no flames, but I am open to hearing all advice and tricks.
Re: PT Regression
We have trouble getting DS to sit on the potty at home, and I think it is more of a battle of wills than anything else. So I usually say something like "let's go potty and then we can go outside/watch TV/other fun thing". Most of the time that works. He hasn't been very receptive to other types of rewards, like stickers (although we had a bit of success with m&m's in the beginning). But what happens is he thinks "yeah, I want to go outside", and he immediately wants to do that thing. So he'll run to the door, and I'll say no, you have to go potty first, and that usually gets him and he'll go. I'm not exactly sure what you call that tactic, but it works most of the time. It's like I have to plant that seed, something I know he'll want to do, and then use it. And if for some reason it doesn't work, I usually don't have to wait long before he's asking for something else (to eat, see, or do) and then I'll just use that.
We also use a little peer pressure too. One day I even got him to go by saying I bet Cody (our dog) would like it if you went potty and he had his pants down before I could even finish my sentence. Or characters on TV, or grandma, whoever. I really believe peer pressure from his classmates at daycare is what got him going in the first place.
Another trick is telling him whatever character on his underwear will be sad if he pee pees on them. The only downfall to that is when he does have an accident, it makes him sad that he made Mickey sad. But it's always ok when I tell him it's ok, I'll wash him.
Now, if I could just get any of these things to work with pooping in the potty we'd be cooking with gas.