My Daughter’s Daycare Wants Her Back in Pull-Ups: Advice?

A mom writes in asking for advice about a request made by her daughter’s daycare. She said the daycare has requested her daughter be put back in Pull-Ups due to a recent string of accidents. This mom says her daughter is fully potty-trained and has no issues at home. She adds that her husband (and child’s father) is currently deployed and that she herself is currently pregnant, so she suspects the accidents at daycare are a result of these changes in her daughter’s life and that putting her back in Pull-Ups could actually make the problem worse. What should she do?

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A member of the community asks:

“My daughter’s daycare wants her back in pull-ups: Thoughts?

My daughter will be 3 in 3 months, has been in underwear since last August. Recently at daycare, she has been having frequent accidents, mainly pooping ones, so they want her back in pull-ups. At home she is 100% potty trained, I don’t even tell her to go she sends herself for pee and poop.

Even if we go out in public, she tells me I have to go potty, and we go. Daddy is deployed, and we are expecting number 2 in 2 months, so I feel like it’s her wanting to be a baby again, and I feel like a pull-up is not going to help but makes things worst. Any suggestions? Did your children go through this? Did pull-ups help? “

– Mamas Uncut Community Member

Community Advice for This Mom Whose Daughter’s Daycare Wants Her Back in Pull-Ups After a String of Accidents

To see what advice the Mamas Uncut Facebook community has for this mom in need, read the comments of the post embedded below.

Advice Summary

The community offered this mom in need a lot of great advice. Read some of their responses below.

“It’s regression. It will get worse when the new baby comes. I’ve gone through this twice with my oldest when my middle and youngest came along. Daycare isn’t that great at potty breaks and sometimes kids are too busy playing to want to stop to go to the potty. Just encourage her that it’s okay to stop what she’s doing to let her teacher know she needs to potty.”

“Honestly the daycare has the right to not accept her until fully potty trained. At least they are giving the option to go back to pull-ups rather than kicking her out completely. She might just need a little more time.”

“From past experience, it sounds more like something is causing the behavior change at daycare. Maybe take her to the pediatrician; sometimes little ones will tell doctor what is happening. If she is 100% potty trained at home there is something not normal/comfortable at daycare. Good Luck mom!”

“I would find another daycare. If you’re not consistent with underwear, she is going to be extremely confused.”

“If she’s only having accidents at daycare it sounds like they are just being lazy and not making sure the kids need to go potty.”

“Sounds like the daycare is the problem, not your kiddo.”

“I work at a daycare and this is very common for kids this age. They get busy playing and don’t really want the hassle of stopping to go potty. We would never suggest putting a baby back in pull-ups if they’ve been trained for so long. I would say it’s probably difficult to keep up with her changing with a classroom full of other children, but with COVID they have way fewer children than normal…

… Don’t go backward or lower your expectations for your daughter to go potty. Switch daycares if you’d like or see if they will set a schedule to send her potty more frequently instead of waiting for her to ask. If they aren’t willing to work with you they are probably just being lazy and you should find a new daycare which will be difficult during this time because we all have limited openings. Good luck.”

“As a long time daycare worker, this isn’t uncommon. Kids are 100% potty trained at home but have accidents at daycare because they are distracted by their friends and all the stuff going on. Unfortunately, her having accidents is unsanitary for the other kids and there isn’t the staffing needed to have a teacher out of class to change your daughter’s clothes and clean her up constantly. Putting her in pull-ups at school prevents the accidents from being a hassle, keeps things sanitary, and speeds up the cleanup process…

… There’s nothing wrong with putting her back in pull-ups at daycare for a while. The new baby doesn’t help either since a lot of kids experience regression when a new baby is coming into their lives. She’ll get back to being 100% potty trained all the time even at daycare before you know it. Putting her in pull-ups again shouldn’t delay her progress.”

“As someone who works with young children… if the staff are doing all they can, with the number of children they have in their care, I would highly recommend you sending her in pull-ups, it would be appreciated. I’m sure they will do their best to encourage the potty training behavior and work together with the regression. However, it is not their job to potty train, and you are putting the staff members and the children in the classroom at hygiene risks by having feces and urine in the classroom.”

“Seems to me that putting her back in the pull-ups will just set her back and confuse her. Daycare needs to be persistent in getting her to the bathroom every couple of hours to avoid an accident.”

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