DS bedtime issues and now wetting the bed.

[Elemis]

Posted this in potty training, but might be more behaviour related.
Ds is 3.8. He has always been very headstrong and stubborn, but now bedtimes are turning into a real battle.
I have always read him a story and then had a cuddle and stayed with him til he has gone to sleep.
Only 5 minutes, so wasn't a big deal
But now he is having real problems settling, tossing and turning, every excuse under the sun, wants a drink, want's another story, wants to go to the toilet, wants another plaster on his finger!
Taking forever. And having a fit with teethbrushing/bathtime.
I feel like he would be better off self settling, but if I go to leave the room he has a meltdown.
I was thinking sticker charts, telling him that big boys can go to sleep without their mummies, etc.
Any other tips?

Also

Has been dry at night for 6 months, not a single accident.
He has just wet the bed twice in the last 2 weeks.
Any ideas why?
He can hold in the biggest wee ever, and doesn't even have to go immediately as he gets up.
really not sure why this is happening.

not sure if the two are related!

Go with the sticker charts, and if you can get hold of an audio-cd of a children's story, you could play that while he self-settles (I have done this with my DS - Alan Bennett reading Winnie the Pooh!).

Have there been, or are there impending, any big changes in the household, eg new baby, moving house, change of pre-school etc, to explain him being unsettled?

I was thinking of getting him a CD player, he has a couple of stories he loves listening to in the car.
I think part of the issue is that he can't relax, he just stays stimulated. His brain won't shut down. ( his father is a bit like this) E.g I have a friend whose child goes to sleep as she is reading the story. He would never do that no matter how tired, because he is still interested in the story. An audio CD might still do that, but it's worth a try.
thank you!

No real big upheaval, but I'm starting to worry that he might have picked up that mummy isn't very happy at the moment. But we just had a lovely holiday. It could all be just settling back down after that, but we have been back 2 weeks!

Oh dear, why aren't you very happy at the moment? Anything you can do about it?

Hell, he wet the bed again last night.
have ordered the sticker chart.
Babysitter put him to bed last night, so can't say for certain what he had to drink or if he had wee before bed.

We are having a few conception problems right now, and things with dh have been a bit tense.
He hasn't seen any of it, but maybe picked up that I'm not 100%.
grasping at straws maybe?

Bedwetting need not indicate anything serious btw. You could of course check with GP for UTIs. But some kids just wet the bed. My niece went on bedwetting until she was 7 or 8 for no apparent reason, perfectly happy well-adjusted child.

How do you react when he wets?

I haven't made a big deal of it at all, just asked him why he thought it happened. "Well I must have been fast asleep mummy!"
He's been fine last two nights, so maybe it's nothing.
Struggled to get to sleep last night, but he'd fallen asleep in the car after swimming, so all messed up. Going to try and stick to a real routine, and then hope the sticker charts help with his behaviour