My 4 year old is potty trained. He has been going pee pee for sometime in the potty, but only about 1 month before his 4th birthday he began to do poo poo in the potty. He turned 4 last month. Now all of a sudden he is doing pee pee in his pants & poo poo on the floor again just like before when we couldn't get him to use the potty.
I know this is normal & sometimes happens. I guess I am just wondering if there's anything I can do to help him get back on track. I try to be patient with him, but I know that he knows what he's doing. My daughter (almost 3) comes & tells me when he does it. I understand when he sleeps sometimes he may have a wet accident, but I can't understand why he is doing both in his pants or on the floor during the day now!!!

By Luv2fly on Monday, October 27, 2003 - 12:18 am:

Any big changes going on in his/your life or routines? Any other stressors?

By Kaye on Monday, October 27, 2003 - 08:53 am:

Mine is going to be an unpopular answer, but.. If he has been doing this successfully and there is nothing strange going on in your life, then it is just time to be mean. It is more than likely him being lazy. I think the next time he does this I would just say, you know what, this isn't okay. It makes more work for mom and it is just gross. You are a big boy, next time go in the potty, but this time, clean this up! And then let him clean it up. At four years old, he is old enough to know how to use the potty and when to go. He should know social skills and I pooping on the floor is just not okay.

By Mommymindy on Monday, October 27, 2003 - 11:33 am:

Luv2fly: Nothing unuaual going on. The only thing I can think is that he is jealous of his little sister all of a sudden. He has a 1 year old sister, but I am thinking "HELLO! she's been here for a whole year & needed more attention before now!" so I doubt that is it.
Kaye: Thank you for your response & I have no problem exerting a little authority with him. The last time it happened, he went into his closet & pooped. I told him to go & get some TP & clean it up. He got all grossed out, but he did it! I cleaned up the carpet part, but he picked it up with TP & put it in the potty & I said, now, where does poo poo go? In the closet or in the potty? He KNOWS, that's the problem. I asked him "are you a big boy or a baby?" He says he is a big boy & I tell him, "act like it please". I read on another post about someone putting a diaper back on their daughter. He does the exact same thing her daughter does. He walks around like he's happy to be in a diaper. His other sister will be 3 next month & she is not potty trained yet. I was thinking maybe he wants to have his diaper changed like his sisters do or something??? He was very proud when he went for his 4 year check-up telling the Dr. he is a big boy & he uses the potty! I don't know what else to do!!! I guess we'll be patient until he "grows out" of this one too!! LOL

By Mommyathome on Monday, October 27, 2003 - 05:09 pm:

He pooped in his closet? You are a very patient mommy. If my DD(4) pooped in her closet she would be in some very very big trouble. Kudos to you for your patience! Good luck with the problem.

By Momoftwo on Monday, October 27, 2003 - 09:58 pm:

I'm the one who posted about putting the diaper back on my daughter. When my youngest (21 mo younger than the 3yo) was born, any hope of potty training the oldest was lost. She didn't potty train until she turned three and it was a bit of a battle. It wasn't that she couldn't, because she would hold it for hours and cry for a diaper. My mother said (and she had three) that it is normal for older siblings to revert back so that they can be "babied" like the baby. That is about as far as my knowledge on the matter goes. Now I have to find that thread and see who all was horrified at my lack of parenting skills! Good luck. Please report any progress - I'd like to know what works!

By Battykatty on Monday, October 27, 2003 - 10:09 pm:

Dunno if this would help, but if he is doing this for attention or laziness.. you can still continue to let him wear his underoos but put a diaper outside of it? (if he is still small enough to wear the bigger size diapers). This way, he feels the poo/pee, but it doesn't get messy b/c of the diaper?

When my ds was born, dd wanted to be a baby also b/c so much attention was being paid to ds's diapers. So I put one on her outside her panties and when she asked why she is still wearing the panties inside, I explained that she's a big girl..but she wants to be a baby so she can PRETEND to be a baby, thus the diaper outside her panties.

This would work great too for any that are undergoing 1st time potty training..since I think the training pants doesn't really 'click it' in their head that it's underwear since it still feels like a diaper and absorbs most of the mess..

By Mommymindy on Tuesday, October 28, 2003 - 01:04 pm:

I will let you know momoftwo. For the last couple of days, he has been doing better. No accidents. My husband says that he saw an ant in the bathroom one day & ever since then, he has been afraid that there are "buggies" in the bathroom. That (when he was with him at night) he only wanted to use the other bathroom, where "there aren't any buggies". We told him we took care of the problem. We tried to tell them there was only one buggie & it's all gone now. Maybe this was the problem all along & now he's getting over it?? Hubby also said that yesterday he brought out a diaper to him & asked for it to be put on him. What am I gonna do with him?!!?? Maybe I'll try the outside of his underwear thing. It's no problem for him to use the other bathroom except that it is in our bedroom & sometimes the baby is sleeping in there. Oh well, I will keep you all posted! Thanks for all your help!!!

By Kaye on Tuesday, October 28, 2003 - 03:04 pm:

As for the buggie problem....out of the blue one day take a water bottle and him by the hand and say, my goodness I hear we have a buggie problem. well lets go fix that! And go squirt your special spray around and tell him, this special spray keeps most of the bugs from even getting in here. But if bugs do make it in here, this spray makes them scared of people!

By Battykatty on Tuesday, October 28, 2003 - 03:59 pm:

I have to share this with ya'll since you mentioned the bug thing. I'm sorry if it's not totally related (don't hurt me)
DD usually never goes to the potty before we somewhere and waits until we're at an event where the facilities are not exactly sanitary to use. Well, a few weeks ago we took her to the State Fair and she of course didn't go before we left the house. When we got to the Fair she decided she had to use the port-a-potty. She saw a cricket in there and decided from then on that she would rather always prefer to use the potty at home first!

By Mommymindy on Wednesday, October 29, 2003 - 10:38 am:

That's good, Battykatty!! I just couldn't believe that he reacted like that! he is doing better now! For the last 4 days he's gone in the potty & only had accidents at night. This wetting at night thing makes my job harder (laundry), but I don't like going back and forth from diapers to undies. I don't mind, scrubbing his bed & washing blankets has become part of my morning routine!
Kaye: I will try the trick you recommended!!

By Trina~moderator on Wednesday, October 29, 2003 - 01:33 pm:

Mommymindy, Glad to hear he's doing better! My DS didn't fully toilet train until he was about 4.5. The night wetting is very common at this age. Many kids are simply not physically capable of staying dry all night until they're 8 or 9. My DS (7) wore Good Nights to bed until about 6 mos. ago. We spoke to our ped. and he said he doesn't even treat bedwetting until a child is at least 8 because it's that common. We tried all the recommendations but nothing worked. The Good Nights saved us a lot of stress AND laundry.