3 Year Old Was Potty Trained, Started Preschool, Now Constantly Pees Her Pants

If it's not a UTI, then you may want to consider that this is a control issue.

I see that you're SAHM. If this is your daughter's first time being away from home on a regular basis, she may feel that things around her are changing and she can't control them. What she can control is when and where she goes potty.

This could be an indication that she isn't mature enough for preschool and needs another year home with you. If you're looking to socialize her, then maybe you could join a local Mom's Club (if you don't belong to one already) and schedule play dates. Or you can put her in a ballet class once a week so she can get used to a structured, classroom enviroment.

Neither one of my girls went to preschool. I worked with both of them at home and my oldest was able to test into kindergarten early. (She missed the cut off by 5 days and it's very difficult to test in early where I live) I'm not against preschool but it really isn't neccessary.

Talk to your doctor and her teacher and I'm sure the 3 of you will be able to make the right decision.

Dear J.,

If she has no medical reason, it could be that she is so busy playing and afraid to miss something that she would rather pee that leave the fun. I would ask the preschool teacher what she is doing when she pees. I would also ask the teacher if she could make the child go. I would encourage you and the teacher to keep telling her that she can come right back after she goes potty. A lot of kids go through this. I would assume that she either is to busy playing or she really doesn't want to be at preschool. I would keep a journal and record everytime she pees at what time and what activity she is doing and see if you can find a pattern and go from there.

I do daycare and go through this every once in a while with one of the kids. Good LUck
B.

I would take her to the doctor to make sure she doesn't have a urinary tract infection. This happens with girls and sometimes leads to accidents. Also, I would not try to punish because it might be that she can't control it and then she will get confused.

One thing that my son did at about that age was have accidents when he was doing something he didn't want to stop doing. Since that once meant it was all over the floor, I made him help me clean it up. Afterwards I gave him a hug and let him know that accidents were ok, but the game/tv would still be there when he got back from the bathroom.

Good luck

After ruling out a UTI as the others have stated, I would go back to a sticker chart or something along those lines. Maybe start with a sticker for each day she doesn't have an accident at school, and another for at home each day. Then a "prize" after a certain amount of stickers. There may be other kids at the school having accidents and she may think it is okay. Talk to her teacher too. Her teacher may encourage, praise her for going at school and that may help. It could be she has a lot going on now that she's in preschool and she forgets. If she's exhausted from preschool, that could also be affecting her behavior at home, and why she doesn't want to go. My oldest started preschool this year too, and he has been miserable at home because he gets so worn out at school. He's adjusting now, she may need the adjustment time too.

The fact that she is peeing her pants twice in a two and a half hr period does seem to indicate the potential for a urinary tract infection. I would 100% agree to start there with the ped. If you find there is not a problem, then there are certainly many ways to address it so keep us posted.