I am sorry, this may be quite long, it's my first post and I am desperate for help. I have a 22 month old son who has been a challenge since birth. He cried virtually non stop from the moment he was born (I am not exaggerating, he came out crying and cried solidly for the next 16 hours) until about three months old (except when having very short naps) and has yet to sleep for a full night, or any more than three hours in fact. He suffered with reflux which we eventually sorted out and hence that contributed greatly to his early issues. I am not an inexperienced parent, I have a teenage daughter and son was a late and surprise arrival. I hadn't counted on how he would be. My marriage is at breaking point and the lack of sleep/musical beds/screaming and crying has taken a huge toll. We have tried everything, I mean everything. Nothing has worked. I have noticed that my son will not settle again for at least 8 hours after a nap. Tried cutting out nap, but he would just fall asleep at say 8 pm, have his "nap" and be awake for the rest of the night into the early hours (sometimes until 5 or 6 am) running around having a whale of a time while my husband or I are catatonic on the sofa. He will not fall asleep in his bed, he gets up, sometimes 20 or 30 times before he will settle. We now either leave him to fall asleep on the sofa or husband takes him into our bed until he falls asleep (which is where he is as we speak). He rarely gives in before 11 pm at night. Hence, husband and I have no time together, no relaxing evening and I end up racing around doing chores until son wakes up again for round two. It is also affecting our daughter who is just starting her GCSE year. She dotes on her brother but the nightly activities do affect her sleep and I am seriously worried about this too. I should point out that I am an older mother, my son was conceived because my so called permanent method of contraception failed and this was obviously undetected and he was born when I was just shy of 42 years old. I am a fit and active Mum but approaching 44 years old, I simply don't have the energy I had in my 20's!! Please don't get me wrong, my son is a beautiful, bright little boy and adored by us all but we can't go on like this. I think I have said enough for now, but would be grateful for any input from anybody who has experienced similar issues! Again, I am so sorry for such an essay!