Potty training issue, why the baby suddenly stops after 4 months. What to do?

Question

For the past 4 months my toddler's been going potty when I took her to the toilet.

Now she is 21 months old, and since last week she suddenly stopped going to the toilet. She pees on the floor and seems very comfortable going there too. I'm beginning to think that she thinks the floor is the place to go.

When I'm with her all day long I take her to the toilet almost every 45 minutes, and every 30 minutes if it was after meal or liquid intake. She sits in the toilet for 5 seconds, said she is done. I let her out, she runs off to go pee on the floor. I don't get it.

Is it just her entering the terrible 2 phrase and she's simply refusing to do what is said? Why did she suddenly stop going?

Once I scolded at her after an unsuccessful toilet run and she immediately let one out on the floor. She cried with a sad guilty face. I took her to the potty again told her to pee and she did pee. Every time she goes in the toilet I reward her, but it doesn't seem to improve her behavior.

Should I be worried? Is there something I should do or not do?

Thanks for your suggestion.

Answer 1

It's possible that she's still too young to be potty training.  Up until now you have been the one telling her when she has to pee.  I'm guessing that now she is learning how to recognize that need herself, so she's experimenting with it.  In order to successfully potty train she needs to be able to recognize when she has to pee, which she probably wasn't doing if you were always taking her to the potty and having her go.

Answer 2

sometimes kids will backtrack for no reason...it sucks, i had to deal with it myself. your child might be adjusting to a big change around the house..big move..someone new in the house...something like tha will do it

Answer 3

Completely take all the pressure off her. This means taking the pressure off yourself. Stop reminding her so often. Do YOU need to pee every 30 minutes? It could be annoying and she's resisting. Accept that she will have misses. They are part of the process. She'll get it. Everyone does eventually. What you want to avoid doing is making her feel ashamed or having the goal be to please you as she learns. If you are using disposable diapers or pull-ups, stop and use cloth or training pants. Be prepared to do a lot of laundry and clean up a lot of messes (find some Bio-Kleen Bac Out). The goal is to get her to know the feelings of her body and the results and making the choice about where to go potty.  But, this really sounds like just the way things go. Look up the Yahoo group IPT Late Starters. (Infant Potty Training). There are a lot of useful discussions, especially if you are interested in a gentle method for young toddlers.  

BTW, the reward system is coercive. It might work on older children but its counterproductive since NOT gaining a reward is actually like a punishment...

Answer 4

i would just try to explain to her that poopy and pee pee belong in the toliet and big girls need to use the toliet.

what changed? there had to be a trigger for her to start this behaivor. if you can find the trigger you might have the answer to your problem. good luck

Answer 5

She is not ready. She does not even understand what she is doing yet!! 17 months is far too young to begin potty training. She was only going because she was living on the potty! Every 45 minutes?? Too much.

Wait until she knows what she is doing and until she is able to tell YOU when she needs to go.......not the other way around.

In addition, a child should never be scolded for wetting their pants or for accidents. She doesn't have the problem....you do!