Sleep for 3 and 4 year old - do yours wake up during the night?

[BlueberryPancake]

We have two boys (three and a four-and-a-half) and they share a bedroom. Both regularely wake up at night, either because they need a wee, or they have a bad dream, or they need a cuddle. Sometimes (occasionally) one of them will squeeze in our bed and I'm too tired to put them back in so he'll stay there.

Result: we don't get a good night sleep and get woken up most nights, at least once.

They both slept through the night from 6 months old until they were both about 2.5.

Other parents share the same trend? What do you do to get a good night sleep?

Musical beds in our house. DS (4.2) gets in our bed EVERY night for a cuddle - I don't think any kind of bribery would work as he'd rather have the cuddle than anything else! DH decamps to DS's bed. Then DD(14 months) wakes up and goes in with DH.

Every so often I wonder about playing hardball with them, but hey, I don't mind the cuddles and we need the sleeeeeep!

my ds 4 still wakes through the night occasionally but mostly it's just him talking in his sleep. He used to wake up screaming and did used to creep into our bed until I had enough and spent three nights breaking the cycle. It's fab when it works but very hard at the time.

DS1 (now 3.10) used to come into our room 3 or 4 times a night up to 6 months ago - every excuse under the sun such as 'tuck me under', 'lost my blankie', 'need a drink', 'kiss and cuddle'.

I decided to go hardball on it as it really was getting out of hand - made sure he had a drink by his bed, I had a spare blankie by me which I could give him without getting out of bed etc and me and DH just refused to get out of bed for any reason although he could come and give us a kiss and a cuddle. First night, he cried for about 10 minutes in our room before going back to bed and that was pretty much it - he got the message very quickly and rarely comes into our room now. If he does wake up, he now puts his own story CD on etc.

I guess it depends on how much you don't want to be disturbed!

My 4yo rarely wakes in the night, unless unwell. Has been like that for as long as I remember.
My 2.2yo however wakes at least once every night. He doesn't seem to want or need anything but still wakes. Really annoying and utterly exhausting.

I went the other way with dd (about 3 mths ago, she was about 3.9), and went on and on about how BRILLIANT it was when she slept all through the night and didn't wake me up, cos then I am less grumpy and am SO happy. I paint a little picture on her wall in the morning when she sleeps through to say 'thank you' too sometimes (nicked that idea from a friend). Lots of praise.

She mostly sleeps through now - occasionally has nightmares/duvet ishoos. But i literally go in and say night, night and give her a kiss and go back to bed... mostly... Now it's just the early mornings (ds really, sometimes dd) we have to sort...

I have a 3 and 4 yr old as well, and about to have a newborn. Both boys sleep through the night now - if they do wake up it is for a wee, but they go and then go back to bed, iyswim? Unless it is nearish to 6.30, at which point they will come in and ask for brekkie!! Oh, but I do make sure the 3 yr old ahs a drink next to him. He does wake up to drink, I think as if it isnt there he asks for it or walks in and steals mine!!

DD is 3.8 and like OP's DCs used to sleep through up until around 2.5. DD will now get up several times a week (not every night thankfully) and get into bed with us. Depending on how tired/awake I am I either let her drop off and try to carry her back gently to her own bed or admit defeat and decamp to the spare room. I occasionally try to get her back whilst she's still awake but invariably I end up sitting next to her bed holding her hand until she drops off again which can sometimes take some time. When I leave her in our bed, she drops off instantly (whilst I cling onto the edge of the bed)! I'm hoping she'll start sleeping through constantly when she starts school in September.