Nighttime tantrums about not wanting to go back to bed - at my wits end!

[Mamabear04]

DD 3yo has been waking up during the night to go to the toilet for around 5 months now. She's been out of nighttime nappies for about 3 months. She has progressively been waking up more and more to go to the toilet during the night. I suspect it's partially a separation anxiety thing but I just don't understand because up until she started waking to pee she had been sleeping through the night since around 8 months old. It's got to the point that she is waking every 1-2 hours to go to pee and I am honestly at my wits end. Sometimes she goes sometimes she doesn't. This past week she's been having tantrums during the night about not wanting to go back to bed and go downstairs ie get up for the day. She is waking everyone in the house up and I am getting progressively more angry at her. I have even taken her to the Dr to check she doesn't have something wrong with her but she's totally fine. I stop drinks around 5pm and only give her something to drink if she asks for it (bed at 7pm). I don't talk to her when I get her up to pee. Can someone please help me? I honestly don't know what to do and I hate being so angry at her. I am bloody exhausted!!! She's waking more than a newborn for goodness sake!!!!

Could you introduce a sticker/reward chart? If she goes back to bed properly or goes to the toilet on her own and straight back to bed she gets a sticker and then after X amount of stickers she gets a small toy or something? Working on independence such as going on her own and explaining what your expectations are could help. It'll be a lot of repetitive conversations but it'll eventually sink in. If she goes to preschool you could ask them to do some 1:1 with her about independence and making choices - we did this with ours and it made a huge difference. Sometimes they listen more to those who aren't their parents!!

Well she’s obviously playing you with the wee thing isn’t she. Is she in a proper bed- can she get out if you don’t come and take her to the loo? Would she just lay there and yell? Maybe she’s not quite ready to be out of bedtime nappies- she might prefer the security of having one on? It doesn’t have to be forever!

She's still in a cot bed with the sides on. She's never tried to climb out and has always been an excellent sleeper up until recently. We had talked about getting her a big bed but thought we would wait until she was settled with the new baby (he's 4 months now). She has always hated going to bed even as a baby and so really was putting off the enviable of the fight of getting her to stay in bed if We took the sides off the cot. Pretty pointless now I think about it because she's causing havoc anyway. I am honestly bloody exhausted and its been tantrums all morning because she's obviously bloody exhausted too!

I had something a bit like this with my 3 year old. I was also pregnant with no 2 so it was exhausting.

As per PP. i made it boring that if he wanted to pee it didnt involve me.

At first he still came to tell me he was going and i would lay still without opening my eyes saying 'ok then, and then straight back to bed'. And then he would go and wander back to bed.

After a week or so he stopped even coming to tell me and if he needed to go just got on with it and laid back down depending on what his gro clock said.

I think sides off. So she can be independent. And rewards.