My DS of 3 yrs 10 months creating misery in the family

[mewmewpower]

My DS of 3 yrs 10 months has been a nightmare to put bed since January and to stay in bed . My DS will sleep for 5 hours (at a maximum of 7 hours) and that is kind of it! He will wake at very irregular times i.e. last night, put him to bed at 7:30am, he woke at 12:30am for a wee, then again at 3:20am and then again at 4am. We are all (including my eight year old daughter) shattered. We have tried the supernanny tricks, holding on the door for 4 minutes, open up comfort him put him back.....but yet he still decides to get up, the reasons he gives are: I need a wee, I need a different tissues, I am now absolutely shattered and I've still got to try and do 5 days of part time work!! Does anyone else have this problem? We come across a technique that we think words, but then we go back to square one!!!! aarrrgh.... I just want to to enjoy him and certainly my husband does too!!

If you have tried the Supernanny technique and it hasn't worked have you tried ignoring him? If he says he needs a wee then just say 'ok, go on then' and leave him to it, maybe put a step next to the light before he goes to bed? If he says he needs a tissue say 'ok go get one then' etc? If he thinks everytime he asks for something he will have to do it/get it himself he might give it up as a bad job.

Does he really need the toilet? Perhaps he has a urinary tract infection

He is old enough for a star chart. Perhaps a small prize if he sleeps though the night might help.

Some kids sleep more lightly than others, then habits form as they wake and can't self settle. Highly drastic this, and actually I can't quite believe we did it now, but it was the only thing that led to us getting a whole night of sleep.
So make a bed up on the floor in his room. He'll see this as a massive treat and if he's stressed about it in any way, it'll calm him to have you close. Explain that you'll only stay if he doesn't talk/ get out of bed, etc. If he makes noise, you calmly get out and go back to your bed - no shouting or engaging with it at all, it's just what happens. If he needs a wee, then say he can go, but he doesn't need you to go with him, or to tell you when he's back. He soon learns how to be quiet to keep you close. Then next stage is he wakes, sees you there but says nothing and goes straight back to sleep. Final stage is he starts sleeping through again - ie when he gets to the top of the sleep cycle, he's so chilled and calm that he no longer wakes, so it doesn't matter that you're not there. Then you get back to your old bed! Took about three months with us, though the bed hung around on the floor for longer. It was a pain, but pretty much straight away we all started getting enough sleep, which is let's face it essential. I do appreciate though that it may sound bonkers