DD(5) has started waking in the night to go to the toilet. All fine so far.
Trouble is when she goes back to bed, she doesn't go back to sleep.
What happens always follows a pattern. She will sit up in bed looking around the room, playing with toys sometimes (I mean, she always sits up looking around the room... But doesn't always play with toys)
She'll start singing or talking at which point we go into her to tell her to stop.
Then, between 30 and 45 mins after first going to the loo, she starts crying.
Every. Fucking. Time
Sometimes this cycle can repeat 2 or 3 times a night (I.e. We'll go into her when she starts singing then again when she starts crying.... she settles for a while, then starts singing again then starts crying again).
It has got to the point where, as soon as she wakes to go to the toilet, DH and I sit in bed, wide awake as we know, in a few mins, we'll need to get up to settle her. We can't leave her to sing or 'cry it out' as she wakes DS. Sometimes she starts singing again literally 30 seconds after being told not to.
We have tried...
Gro clock and explaining she needs to stay quiet when the star is on
Bribery, I.e. She got an Elsa doll for staying quiet for 2 wks. That worked for a while (she continued to sleep through for about 3 weeks, but then started again. Elsa was removed 5 days ago, and she's woken on two night since, despite being told she won't get Elsa back until she starts being quiet at night regularly.
Talking to her to make her understand that it isn't fair that she wakes everyone up by singing, that she cries because she's overtired and she needs to try to go to sleep as soon as she gets back from a toilet trip.
Threatening to remove all her toys from the bedroom... Since she doesn't always play with them, this seems a bit draconian.
Stopping her drinking after 4.30 so she doesn't need a wee. Makes no difference... She'll go to the toilet (for 2 secs at a time) up to three times a night.
Saying she'll need to have an early night the next night and her missing a bedtime story.
Nothing seems to work.
Does anyone else's DC's do this and have you found anything that has worked?
Many thanks for any advice you can give.