Almost 4 and not sleeping through.. HELP!

My boys have been sleeping through the night since they were 6 months old. they were always terrible nappers, and dropped their naps at around age 3, but have ALWAYS slept well at night.
HOWEVER: As of about June, they started waking up one or two times a night, asking for water, to go potty, or just from a bad dream. The latter I understand, but the first two are frustrating to me because they can GO to the potty on their own, and can access their night time sippy cup and have water, but don't. We WOULD just let them yell until they got up and took care of themselves, but because they share a room, the yelling kid is likely to wake the sleeping kid up, so we generally go in. We've tried talking to them about this, at night AND during the day, but to no avail. I understand we're facilitating this by going in (we normally go into their room and tell them to stop yelling, to get up and walk to the bathroom or get themselves a drink, and then we wait till they do, and then we go back to bed), butI don't know what else to do at this point.
Also, the problem is getting worse. Over the past week they've (and it's primarily one of my sons that does it but occasionally we have a bad night with both) started yelling– starting at around 2 am and repeating every hour or so– saying things like "I NEED A HUUUG!!" or "MY PILLOW IS WONKY!!!", or my favourite, "MY PYJAMA PANTS ARE PUSHED UP TO MY KNEEEEEES!!!". It's insane. It's ridiculous. I am so frustrated and angry but don't know how to deal with it. I don't see how we can ignore it because then we end up with tow kids awake and screaming. But I don't know how to get it to stop.
Can anyone help so we can all get a decent night' sleep again? Please??

 

I would tell them that starting on _____________ day (give them a few days heads up) you're not going to come in the room until the clock says 7:00 and buy them a clock. Show them how to read it. Then stick to it. You might have a few nights of both being awake, but what you want to show them is that before a certain time, it is completely unacceptable to wake someone up, including their sibling. Build the idea up, mention it over and over and over. Of course they're going to try you, see how much they can get away with, but stand your ground! Don't go in there except for emergencies.

(Don't let them know that there are exceptions like being sick, let them figure out the exceptions as they're needed.)

Also, are they getting enough exercise during the day? I know on days that my two haven't gone outside and totally exhausted themselves, they're up in the middle of the night.

 

They get to a park or playgound pretty much every day, plus play in the backyard and go for walks. I'm pretty sure they get enough exercise...
We could try the clock thing again: we tried it before with pretty bad results. It worked for a couple of nights and then we had several nights of terrible screaming (one kid waking the other kid up, and both of them yelling and screaming and getting up and coming into our room screaming) and we went back to the routine of going to their doorway and telling them to do whatever they need to do themselves.
Thanks for the tips, though.. please keep 'em coming!

 

Luckily jazz sleeps like rock because at almost 5 jessy gets up every night and gets in bed with me. I'm very heavy sleeper since the girls are no longer babies so I don't know when she does it

 

My girls started the same exact thing. Waking me up to snug them up, to get them water, to take them to the potty when they were perfectly capable of taking themselves. I started a sticker chart. They get a sticker if they don't wak me or daddy up for things they can do on their own and I specifically told them those things. When their chart is full, they get a special treat. It made a huge impact when Allison got a sticker and Sarah did not, and Sarah had no problems staying in bed after that. Sticker charts work great for my girls because we don't buy toys or anything except on special occasions, so the fact that they can get a toy when their chart is full was a huge motivator for them. Plus, they love stickers.

 

Yes, I was also going suggest a sticker chart, and once they get so many stickers then they get a special reward or treat (pick something that they really like), then show them the stickers, talk about the chart, and just jump in and start. Then make a big production in the morning if they stayed in bed and give them their stickers - this might take a few days to a week to get things sorted out, but if you pick the right reward (that is, whatever reward motivates them), then you should see success.

Good Luck!

 

do they actually wake each other up? I am amazed at what ours sleep through sometimes... anyway, I don't know anything else to add, except that hopefully if you were to not go in, the other one wouldn't wake even if the one was fussing...

good luck! sleeplessness is NO fun!

I know this last week was bad for us, but I did notice that we got them to bed late every night... and finally we did get them to bed at a good time last night they slept almost until 7a like normal...