My 3.10yo has been waking frequently complaining of bad dreams or 'bad thoughts'. I'd say this is genuine about 50% of the time (ie she is genuinely upset/scared) the rest of the time it's for attention I think.
Once awake she will keep calling us into her room multiple times. We try to reassure calmly, check if she needs loo, give a quick cuddle and leave. We have in occasion got cross- it's so frustrating 
. We have given her a night light.
If she was our only child, unless she was genuinely upset, we'd do one check then leave her to it. But she has a 1yo brother in the next room. She knows that if she shouts, she will wake him.
She is knackered and so are we- and totally unsure what to do. Last night was an hour of it.
I'm so close to pulling the Santa card...
Any ideas?
Ps cosleeping not for us