Sleep anxiety????

[jannabin]

My 5 and a bit year old has always been a fabulous sleeper. Always happily into bed apart from the odd mention of a witch or two but it's never been an issue.

However, since Jan 1 (4 nights) she has been very anxious going to bed - obsessed with the fact that she needs a wee wee. I have taken her to the doc for a urine sample and await results but I think it's in her head because she is fine in the day.

Tough love doesn't seem to work (my way), she becomes hysterical. Instead - her father (softy) decided to lie with her for an hour and a half before she went to sleep.

I am particularly anxious because I don't want her to establish a new dependency to go to sleep as she gave up her dummy just 3 months ago.....with relatively no problems. She has since started biting her nails.

So I'm thinking have we made her insecure and this is a delayed response to no dummy? Is it because she has been worried about starting school - school dinners etc? I'm torturing myself. She doesn't seem to be afraid of her room but nonetheless I am putting her in the spare room tonight to try and break the cycle.

Any thoughts please? She had about 25 trips to the loo with lots of clutching herself before going to sleep. She is so tired after nights of this and I don't want it to become a major thing. I'm almost hoping she does have a UTI, because at least that can be fixed quickly!!

Has anyone heard of this before?

Will it pass? What is my best course of action? Good cop or bad cop?

Thanks if you are still reading this!!

my 3 year old is just the same at the mo.

hysterical the moment we leave the room, getting into bed with one of us a night.

I think it's due to all the hullabaloo of Christmas excitement, late nights, him sleeping in with his brother, visitors, going back to pre-school.

He was better tonight, 2 long stories, Daddy sitting with him till he was really settled. So fingers crossed.

I am hoping he will settle down with being back to the normal routine.

DS2 who is 7 has also been a bit unsettled, nervous about school, he told me he missed me tonight!

Thanks for that and thinking about it there have been quite a lot of late nights, so maybe it's a bit of readjustment. Last night was still 9 o'clock with 5 wee wees which was much better than the night before. I moved her to the spare room and she wants to do the same tonight to 'practice' getting to sleep. It's all a bit of a mystery though because it's never happened before. The teacher says there is no sign of anxiety or of excessive toilet usage. She's a smart cookie so hopefully we'll crack it in a few more days. Still no news from Doc on UTI but I think it is in her head.