Nearly 3 year old getting up at night wanting to wee and then awake forever - anyone got any tips?

[alittleconfused1]

I was wondering if anyone had experienced the following and can give me in any advice I am desperate!

My daughter is 3 next month. Since she moved to a bed a couple of months ago I have been having a massive problem with early wakes to wee, and never going back to sleep. When I say early I mean 3/4/5am. She get up and/or calls for me saying she needs a wee, then if I don't go she cries (which I think is because she has 'wet' herself even though she is wearing a nappy), and then she is WIDE AWAKE. If I go in and put her on the potty... she is WIDE AWAKE. I take her back to her bed, and have either sat with her hoping she will go to sleep or given up and got into bed with her, but more often than not she hasn't gone back to sleep. I have a rule we get up when her Gro Clock comes on, so it's often hours of lying there, crying inside(!) until the owl comes on at 6. I can live with 5am but recently its been 3am and 4am, she doesn't nap, and so is just past it most of the time by lunch.

She has been out of nappies by day since September. There doesn't seem to be a correlation with dry nights (she has had a few, or a few until say 4am when she calls for me), and very wet nights (where her nappy is sodden at 4am but she still calls for me).

I am aware some of this is probably more about Mummy coming rather than the nappy. I have told her on a number of occasions to stay in bed until Gro clock lights up, and also have told her the last few days that it's ok to wee in her nappy in the early morning and go back to sleep (I read this online, no idea if that's right or not!!) but she just keeps saying that she doesn't want to wee in her nappy! I really don't want to leave her crying because she has wet her nappy, but it's also not sustainable for us both to continue getting up at 3 or 4am. I am not really sure when she can't switch back off but she just doesn't, so doesn't even doze, she just fusses and sings and talks and pokes me etc. but if I leave the room she gets hysterical.

What on earth do I do!? Has anyone had similar and have a fix?

Thanks so much!

Could you try removing the nappy at night and leaving on a night light and putting a potty by her bed?

If she’s waking in the early hours, one of the most common causes is hunger. It can be difficult to judge how much they actually need during the day but I found this guide from the Caroline Walker Trust helpful.

Interestingly one of my DF’s swapped from 3 meals a day and 2 snacks to 6 small meals with her DC on the advice of her HV and her DD started sleeping through straightaway. So instead of a snack of say fruit she would give her something like cheese on toast or scrambled egg.

Both of mine had an awkward phase of 4am wees when they were getting close to nighttime dryness. I did always get them up for a wee when they asked, as I didn't want to encourage them to ignore that signal from their bodies, but yes, it's painful, especially as by that time, it's tricky to get them back to bed!

Do you have an audio player, toniebox, yoto, something suitable on your phone? I try to stick to music to listen to in the middle of the night, but will sometimes put on a mellow, familiar story for a child who is having trouble getting back to sleep. We do also listen to it after reading stories at bedtime, so there's a bit of a sleep cue, tucked into bed, listening to Yoto = time for sleep.

A healthy supper to make sure she isn't also hungry is also worth trying!