3 year old waking in the night for the toilet!

April - posted on 01/29/2010

I've not been in this situation, but it sounds to me like a habit thing. If this only happens at night, she probably just knows that you will get up with her to use the bathroom and won't just send her back to bed. If she has to use the bathroom this often during the day too it could be a medical issue and you should talk to her dr. about it.

Kristy - posted on 01/28/2010

She sounds so much like my girl its scary, take note i also have another friends whos little girls is also the same. However she is unable to go without nappies at night as yet as she drinks alot through the night and wets.

I know that it can seem like an absolute nightmare to us parents when we are living on such little amounts of sleep. I to am up most mornings at 5:30, she goes to bed around 8 and is usually asleep with in 10mins. For her i have always found the first couple of hours are her best sleep she gets, which doesnt help unless you can get yourself to bed by 9 and thats doesnt happen often.

I would ask your dr to do a finger prick test, this can be done in their clinic after a night of fasting. My little girl has had it done 2 ways, one is fasting and done in the blood clinic the other is fasting and done in your gp clinic. Both are just as acurate i was told and the finger prick is less invasive.

As for the brightness of your little one it can also be an uphill battle keeping her mind occupied, always keep different things going for her and get her into books these can be used for quite times instead of trying a nap. I tried holding my girl back and found it simply didnt work, always allow her to learn even if its something you dont think she should be learning till alot later.

My little girl has had over 3 years of health issues so we have day to day challanges that all hinder the natural growth process. We are working our way through things and things are getting better with sleep which ultimately is the important thing for both of us we still need sleep.

Good luck and rest assured you are not alone

Lindsay - posted on 01/28/2010

Thanks for your help Kristy and Debbie, its good to here other peoples views on the situation.

To be honest, its hard to remember the order of events. We seem to get over one hurdle and then stumble across some more.

My little girl has always been good at taking plenty of liquids and i always filled up her cup to her demand. She went from being toilet trained to not needing night nappies to sleeping all night. We must of had a full week of this until she started getting up through the night. She would wake for a drink most nights but then she began to need the toilet through the night and this has been happening for a few months now. This is why i began to look into how much she was consuming through the day. I make sure she drinks plenty but i thought that stopping her from drinking after a certain time would help her during the night. This obviously hasn't worked. I have started giving her more milk to fill her up a bit too. During the day she does take plenty of trips to the loo but i suppose i need to make myself more aware of just how often this is happening. I may need to get her sugar levels checked then? It could be an underlying problem.

My daughter is very bright and we have tried our hardest to help her in every way possible. We have the same routine every night. I've tried my hardest to find out if there is anything that's worrying her but i never get any answers.

She dropped her daytime nap very early on and she can function on less sleep than most kids. I was encouraging her to have a nap recently as i felt this is what could be the problem. However, its hard now because she is at Nursery in the afternoons and by the time she's finished its too late. You'd think that the disturbed sleep would affect them in some way but she seems totally fine.

The night terrors are not really a problem. I do however think that her mind is very active at night because she is learning new things every day and she's thinking about them a lot at night. This must be the same for most children though.

She has been waking about 5, 5.30am in the morning and by this point i am so exhausted that she is able to sneak in beside me. Wrong, i know but i really have to get some sleep. Its the only time she will sleep soundly! I cant tell whether its because she feels safe with me or if she just likes my bed? I think its most likely to be the first one! The thing is i wouldn't mind her coming in with me if she was sleeping all night long.

Anyway, i will take on board what you have suggested and keep and open mind. I realise each child is different and it will take as long as it takes. Doesn't help when most of my friends wee ones have been sleeping from 6 weeks old, so it makes me think that i must of been bad in my past life to deserve 3 years plus of disturbed sleep! lol

Fingers crossed a miracle happens tonight!

Debbie - posted on 01/28/2010

try giving her more fluids throughout the day as their bladder needs to get bigger to be able to go longer i tried the same as u and was also in the same situation but my doc says do not limit drinks through the day as the bladder will shrink meaning more toilet trips. also avoid any citrus based drinks as they stimulate the kidneys try giving cup of milk before bed instead. good luck.

Kristy - posted on 01/28/2010

Hi i too know what its like to not get a good night sleep, my 4 year old has only been sleeping through most nights for the last 3 months or so. As your little girl she to toilet trained at 2 and also with in a couple of weeks. The no night nappies was her choice at around age 3 i asked her if she wanted to wear one she said no and we havent looked back. I did this for a few reasons she too was waking at night for a toilet trip, most the times she was dry in the morning and it was summer and the nappies were giving her a rash. I found the night toilet habit isnt really something that can be broken, although once a night should be more then enough. I also let my little girl have water in bed with her and she will drink some through the night i find it doesnt increase her need to use the toilet.



I am interested in knowing how long she has been getting up frequently and is she doing the same during the day??? Also does she drink alot of water and fluids during the day?? You will find that restricting her fluids through the day and later in the day wont work, and you also have to remember that they do need a good amount of fluids. If she is drinking to excess in your opinion and feeling the need to go to the toilet alot but not really actually weeing alot then you may need to get her sugar levels checked. She may have low blood sugar, if this is the case she will drink alot and feel like needing the toilet more often but not really need to go for more then a dribble. What could also be happening is she may be going through a stage of being worried about wetting the bad.



I also use a night light and found that placing a potty outside her bedroom door to be a great help, that way she was able to go to the toilet without needing help.



What i will also point out is that if she has never slept well, and is now taking off in leaps and bounds at Nursery she might well be alot brighter then you realise. My little girl is extremely bright and the only reason she hasnt been branded gifted is simply because they dont test till 4.5 in AUS. I find she never needed the same amount of sleep as other children even as a newborn and she picked up things so quickly.



She too also had night terrors for awhile, if she is still having them i would recommend check the preservatives in her diet. I myself had night terrors as a child and my mum found that cutting out certain preservatives quickly stopped them. i found that cows milk was the thing that set my girl off, i ended up changing her to organic cows milk and we dont have any issues.



It really is a whole big hit and miss thing, you need to try and get her to tell you whats worrying her about the going to the toilet. You may find there is something that is bothering her at nights when she is asleep, kids can have some of the most awesome dreams without you knowing it.



Good luck with it all and you need to give her time to work through it all