Regressing after having learnt a new skill, is quite commonplace in kids. Most parents spend a lot of time and effort in potty training their child, and suddenly one day, the child starts regressing. He gets back to wetting or soiling his/her pants. A lot of parents deal with this situation head-on, whereas others might despair and resort to diapers. Potty training regression is something that can surely be overcome with a lot of love, support and patience. Here are a few tips that will get your regressing kid back on track.
Instill confidence in your child
Try to strike a friendly conversation with your little one and inquire as to why he/she is having trouble in controlling. There are many reasons that children have like being scared of wiping and getting their hands dirty, scared of hearing the sound of flush and many other toilet fears. Try to tell them and teach them how to do it the right way. Refrain from using harsh words and pressurizing the child. Try to make them at ease because stress only worsens the situation. The “I know you can do it” spirit can really boost their confidence.
Be consistent in your efforts
Remember never to give in to potty training regression by getting back to diapers. It is important to be consistent in your efforts to take them out of this temporary phase. The child might continue to soil and wet his pants for a longer period, but never give up. Tell yourself that you’re not the only parent fighting the battle of potty training regression. There are many parents out there. You should keep motivating the child to do it the correct way and not give up.
Provide positive reinforcement to the child
You can motivate the child by giving a candy or a little present, if he or she remains dry for the entire day. This kind of positive reinforcement can boost up the confidence of children to do even better the next time round. You could even put up a reward chart and give them stars each time they use the bathroom. Positive reinforcement can effectively help them come out of the potty training regression phase quite easily.
Do not give negative attention to wet clothes
Try to say very little or nothing at all about soiled or wet clothes. Some children get put off by this, leading to more stress and more wetting. Other children get more intimidated by the mother giving a lot of importance to wet clothes, and try repeating their actions to get more attention. So, try to avoid giving negative attention at all times.
Regular reminders
Keep on reminding children to use the bathroom in a friendly and fun way. Do not make it a command by saying “go to the bathroom” or as a question like “would like to go to the bathroom” as both of these would be met by a strong “no”. Just keep reminding them casually that “it’s time to visit the bathroom” or “let’s all go to the bathroom together”. This would make it seem like a fun activity or something normal.
Encourage your child to help clean the mess
You can encourage your child to help with cleaning up the mess like dumping the poop in the toilet or helping wash the messy underwear along with the mother. Kids enjoy helping and treat this like a regular clean-up activity and not as a punishment. This way your child will gain more responsibility and would understand the amount of hard work that goes into cleaning all the mess. You could perhaps make your child understand how unhygienic it is to do all that in clothes.
Understand the child’s reasons and don’t be harsh
Do not get into the negative mode by getting critical and emotional about the potty training regression incidences in your child. Negative reactions and punishments can in fact reinforce the wrong behavior and habit in your child, instead of improving upon it. Also, do not engage the child in long discussions, asking about the reasons. Try to be have a friendly talk with the kid and be more positive in your approach.
Do not make it a disciplinary matter
Discipline means being consistent and not any form of punishment like being harsh, time out or spanking. Try to introduce positive reinforcements and make yourself more open to communication, to help ease out the matter. Your consistent efforts to make the child realize the right from the wrong in a positive manner, would be the right kind of discipline to the child.
Do not despair and revert back to diapers
The worst thing to do for a parent would be to give up fighting the battle of potty training regression and reverting back to diapers. Getting a child back on track is a process and it doesn’t take a few hours or days to be corrected. Take this as a challenge and try to use this as an opportunity of knowing your child in a better way. Being positive and consistent are the two main things, you would require for winning against potty training regression.
Find out if regression is caused by some medical reason
There are times when the potty training regression phase is never-ending. This is when you should try finding out whether it has any link to some medical condition. At times, children hold back their bowel movements when they have painful experiences, therefore a constipated child refrains from using the potty and goes into the regression mode. There can be a host of medical reasons like urinary infection, a small bladder, dietary problems and others that may want you to seek medical help to get it corrected.
