DS (4.5) wakes after 2 hrs of sleep

[Pollywatts]

Please help!

My DS (who has never been the best sleeper) has fallen into a habit of waking two hours after he has fallen asleep and crying out for me in absolute terror. I am fairly confident irs not night terrors as it happens almost to the minute.

As both my DH and I work we have fallen into the trap of letting him into our bed so we all get good sleep but I am worried that he is getting too old for this now.

He is due to start school in Sept and I really could do with some advice on how to break the habit. We tried the 'waking to sleep' idea but no success. we both feel that his is a security issue, he doesn't feel safe without one of us with him at night but we don't know how to help him get over this...or is it just an 'age thing'

Any help greatly appreciated

Does it happen just once a night or every 2 hours?

I find that if I put my DD's to bed too early they tend to treat the first couple of hours as an afternoon nap and then wake up being very fresh and awake :) when I'm not... So maybe put him to bed a bit later or tire him out a bit more physically during the day?

Or maybe it is something to do with sleep cycles (sp?). I seem to remember, that the deep sleep turns into light sleep after about 2 hours - he then needs to learn to turn over and go back to sleep even if he is briefly awake. In that case I would say he needs to stay in his own bed, no entertainment, no food/drinks etc.

HTH

And is he really 'too old' to come into your bed? He'll very likely be very keen to stay in his own bed once he is at school and sees what the other children do ... he'll move on when he is ready.

Thanks for the advice, I guess I want to do whats best for him, and at the moment he seems to need the reassurance that he can come to us in the night.
I have started reading a book by dr Feber about solving sleep issues, and most of it makes sense so far...haven't got to the solutions bit but he does say half the time the problem is parents wanting to 'do' something when the best course of action is to do nothing.....easier said than done when its 1am and the child is crying his head off in a terraced cottage with elderly neighbours one side, and a couple who work shifts on the other!

xx