Help! My 3 year old wakes up in the night, and can't get back to sleep

[daisymlaisy]

Hi there, I'm new to mumsnet and very keen to get all you mums/dads advice on our childs sleep problem.
dd1 is nearly 3 and recently wanted to stop wearing nappies on a night, as it was her choice we encouraged this and gave her the benefit of the doubt.
She is very good at calling to us in the night when she needs a wee, which is more often than not at 5am, this is great as we haven't had any wet beds.
The problem is she refuses to go back to sleep. We are absolutely shattered, as we are so not used to this, previously she was always 7-7 sleeper.
I have tried to put a nappy back on her, but she refuses, and I know I should encourage this but what can I do to get her back to sleep?

bump

not sure as not at this stage with dd yet (just got dry in the day)but my friend leaves potty in her sons room and he has a torch (he loves the torch) so he can go to the loo on his own and then he goes back to bed plays with torch/toys/book for a bit and ineviatbely (sp?) falls back to sleep

My 3 yr old DD, has recently been waking at 11pm having gone to sleep at about 7-7.30pm, she is wide awake and does not go back to sleep until about 3am. She was potty trained in October, and wakes for a wee at night (even though she wears a nappy)which is a good thing, I suppose. I feel like I have tried everything, she has numerous nightlights, a potty in her room. I have tried leaving her to cry, but she gets hysterical and I have an 18mth DS to consider. I have got into bed with her and I have brought into bed with us, both which I hate doing.I am at a loss, has anyone solved this problem??? Help me!!!

Hi we've also been going through the same problems with our (just) 3 year old daughter. She had been a great sleeper since 6 months old but the problems seemed to start with potty training. Although she wears a pull-up still she is usually always dry in the morning. She started by shouting that she needed a wee - so we would go to her and take her to her potty (as she needs help to pull her pull-up and pyjamas back up). But then we started to get calls for another wee, poo, drink, food etc. It got to the stage where she wouldn't go back to sleep on her own. We decided that we needed to be stricter and do not go into her room but tell her to "go to sleep" and if she says she needs a wee only helping her once onto the potty. After 3 horrific nights of the worst tantrums she's ever had we looked as if we'd cracked things and she was falling asleep within a couple of minutes of shouting out. However, the last 3 nights she's started crying a lot when I leave the room after her bedtime routine - it's as if by doing the CC she's becoming scared of going to bed. I think we're going to try a night-light tonight to see if that reassures her more. I was wondering if you'd had any success since your last postings? The potty is now in her room - what do you think about maybe stopping her wearing the pull-ups so that she could manage more independently/picking her up and putting her on the potty before she recognises that she needs a wee and wakes up? Thanks.