"I can't sleep" AIBU to not give a shit?

[FatOldBag]

Or am I actually the sodding night time entertainer? 7yo dd wakes dh or me up in the middle of the fucking night, pretty often, just to say "I can't sleep" - translation: I'm bored. I tell her to go to bed and stay there, dh will take her back to bed (she knows where the fuck it is)! I'm heavily pregnant with dc3, I don't want to be woken up at night because someone is fucking bored. She's gone straight to bloody sleep and I'm still awake an hour later because I'm so uncomfortable it's hard to fall asleep now. Sometimes if dh doesn't tuck her back in, she'll cry, and she'll get louder and louder and louder until dh goes in to settle her - it's like a big tantrum. I'm fucked off with it. AIBU?

I know it's shit but both of your kids need to be tackled, because as long as the 4 year old is up and down, the 7 year will think it's okay to do it too.

What punishment would you suggest the OP try, out of interest?

Id let her take a book or toy to bed to look at if she wakes up, and take it away if she wakes a parent up (unnecessarily). And also give her a telling off.

However, as already stated, and before the pearl clutching starts, I'd happily sit (and have sat) for hours in the night reassuring an ill or scared child. But I have very little patience for being woken 8 times a night just because they fancy getting up for a bit.

Sorry, the punish thing was if we told her to put something away for example. And she didn't do it.

We tried bribery and rewards for going to the toilet but she isn't interested, she just doesn't go! She will hold on until someone goes upstairs for something rpthen will jump up the two little steps and go because someone upstairs means the stairs are safe. She also doesn't like being downstairs if we are ALL upstairs though so for her to do that there needs to be someone on each level!

Missed the pregnant bit, sorry. Maybe she can bring her duvet in and make a little nest in the floor then? (Whilst not waking you obvs) she is obviously, even subconsciously, seeking reassurance.

Sorry missed another bit..re the toilet at school. She either doesn't go or goes when her friend does.

And no she ha s never gone alone!

Thanks for your thoughts everyone. I really want to move away from having 4yo in bed rather than let 7yo and 4yo in there - that'd be an absolute bloody nightmare even without a baby imminently added to the mix!

I might give in about the reading, I'll give it some thought. The problem is, it feels a bit like sacrificing her sleep for mine. She does get tired if she reads too late into the night, and then she is whingey and super sensitive in the day (as in crying or wailing at anything slightly not going her way) which is really miserable for her and everyone else.

I don't think a reward chart would be effective with this tbh. I think I will try a serious talk about it, in the day time when we're both awake and not tired and grumpy and just see if I can get her to understand what's ok and what's not at night time and why because I'm fucking tired. Maybe do a flow chart of what to do in every eventuality she normally comes up with, that she keeps by the bed and checks to remind herself when she's thinking of waking us up.

She's 7, not 17. Jeez.

She sounds anxious, poor little thing. I was the same at her age. Please let her express her own feelings as well as sharing yours and maybe brainstorm solutions together. Relaxing music, story tapes, maybe?