Toddler peeing on the floor

[CMW74]

Hi there,

I know there have been other questions asked about this, but I am still not sure if I have an answer or not!

We have a toddler who is 2 years and 8 months old.  He has a brother who is 8 months old.  The 2 year old was potty trained about two months ago (give or take) and he took to it really well.  He approached us and asked to wear big boy pants and since then has had three accidents which were on the next two days.

However he has started to pee on the floor - intentionally.  This evening I was upstairs looking for a reward sticker for him and he followed me up.  He told me he needed to pee and I told him to go ahead.  He then went into his room, closed the door, pulled down his trousers and pants and peed on the carpet.  I walked in as he was pulling his pants back up.  He has done it on other occassions too, once on the landing, once in the dining room and on one occassion poo'd in his room.  We have also discovered that he has peed in his toy basket and suspect that he may also have peed on his bed - although this  may genuinely have been an accident.  It is bewildering to us as he has also started to get up in the night to use the bathroom instead of going in his pull ups. He NEVER does this at nursery, grandma's or when we are out, only at home.

Everything I have read to date seems to suggest that the new baby might be the reason but can this still be the case as he was potty trained after the baby was born?  We have tried punishment and asking why and the only answer we get is that the wee comes out of his "willy".  Again is this a genuine lack of understanding - are we expecting too much?  

Many questions I know - but really want to do right by our little boy.

[CMW74]

Thank you for your reply.  No we didn't shout we simply asked him why he had done it but he couldn't give us an answer.

We have started giving him some time on his own with us.  We put his brother to bed and then he gets to choose what we do together - nursery rhymes, story etc before bed.  Since then we haven't had an incident - but it is early days.

We haven't put a potty in his room, but that sounds like a really good idea, so that if he feels he won't get to the bathroom he won't get distressed.  He has been waking us up to use the bathroom, as he seems to prefer to do so and I don't want to discourage that,  but the potty could be a failsafe.

[skepticalpeach]

Well, my DD wasn't fully potty trained until she was 3. So, I think it's normal to be having some issues at his age. How do you react when he goes on the floor? Try not to make a big deal of it and calmly explain to him that he should go on the potty. Maybe even put a training potty in his room for now. Once he starts using that regularly move it to the bathroom. I think that using the bathroom is something you really have to do on their time. Let them set the pace and push them a little further when you think he's ready. Take it slow and let him enjoy being a kid.

My DD pees on the floor when she is in timeout. We never yell at her for doing this, but she gets a longer time out if we go in her room and see pee on the floor. She also has to help clean it up. But, she's also 5 and knows better!