My child keeps having potty accidents during training – what do I do?

During potty training, there will be accidents (and you can be certain some will be in the most inconvenient places!) but don’t panic and remain calm – don’t get cross with your child they really can’t help it and any negative attention may provide stress which could then impact on how well potty training will go!  Just clean up and move on!

When out and about always make sure that you take

•          spare pants (lots of)

•          several changes of clothes

•          wipes

•          nappy bags (for soiled pants and clothes).

Portable potties are really useful when out and about as they save the mess of having to wash out the potty etc – you can just bag it up and throw it away like you would a nappy or wait until you get home to empty it out.

If after a week your child is continuing to have accidents, you are not having any success with getting them to go on the potty/toilet then it may be that they aren’t quite ready, but don’t panic or make any fuss, just go back to nappies for a little while until they start to show signs that they are ready. Don’t let your child become distressed or worried – if your child is very resistant then they are not ready.

Should my child wear a nappy at night?

Initially, yes.  This will be the last thing to ‘click’ for them – it’s a long time between going to bed and waking up in the morning!  Take them to go to the toilet before they go to bed and first thing in the morning.  Once they are dry during the day you will then start to see that they are having drier nappies in the morning.  For some children this can happen soon after day dryness, for others it can take months but just let your child adapt in their own time.

Often you will notice that your child’s nappy will be warm where they have had a wee when they have woken up, this is again a sign that they are likely to be ready to start going without a nappy at night.  If you can catch your child before they do this morning wee and get them to do a wee on the toilet first thing in the morning you will start to see that they will start to wake up, hold and then wee when they get up. Once you are confident that they are dry at night you can take the nappy off, but make sure you have a mattress protector on the bed and easily accessible change of bedding in case there are any accidents in the night.

Stick with it once you have started toilet training (unless you can see that your child isn’t ready) – it may take a few weeks but eventually it will all come naturally.