advice needed please

[klw01]

I have a 2 and half little boy who has always been good at sleeping - sleeping 7 to 8am. Nearly 2 months ago our next door neighbours decided to start drilling at midnight for ages and scared my little boy. ever since he is scared to go to bed and always asks what noises are. He also insists he has a light on to and if i turn it off he is in floods of tears ( not tantrum tears )
I am lucky to get him to sleep by midnigth now and he is now constantly through out the night getting into our bed. I have done everything i can think of by doing the super nanny tatics by putting him back into his room - trying to explain to him he needs to sleep to saying to him if he goes to bed will do something nice when its sunny. As i am a full time working mum its now taking its toll on us both. he still has a afternoon sleep as he stioll need it but its limited to an hour at midday. He to is also shattered but the time i do tea bath story then bed he seems to drink his bottle and is awake. I have tried a tv, putting a gate on his door but he climbs over.
Any ideas please? thanks

i would sit with him until he falls asleep.

he is scared, and he is telling you that. ignoring it and keep leaving him alone in his room won't make that fear go away.
he needs to know you are there for him.

it might take time, but you should be able to lessen the amount of time you spend in with him or do gradual withdrawal method or something like that

thanks
again i have tried this 2. i even offered to lie in bed with him but he tells me to go. in the night he gets into my bed but he fine with me putting him back once he had a cuddle and the lights left on. its the problem with going to bed.

At about this age my ds was just the same. We got a lovely nighlight for him to have beside his bed, and basically for a couple of months we just read him to sleep! Chose a nice long story that was kind of 'over his head', so that he could just listen to us reading more as a reassuring 'noise' and he dropped off while we read.

Wouldn't have done this if we could have avoided it but like your DS he was truly upset at being left, not tantrumming at all, simply anxious.

i just re-read your OP and noticed that you said he is shattered, but by the time you've done tea, bath, story he is awake.

that could be part of the problem. he is getting overtired?
have tea earlier, cut out the bath and get him in bed a bit earlier. they get a second wind if kept awake too long and then it can be a real nightmare getting them to sleep

Just a thought, have you shown him what was causing the noise? If he has absolute proof of what it was he might find it easier to cope with. Better still if you can then take him round to your neighbours and show him the shelves they were putting up or whatever (although I suspect if they were drilling at midnight they're probably not terribly cooperative people).

Perhaps you could find a Handy Manny or Bob the Builder DVD where they are using drills, so he would associate with a kids character, rather than being a scary mysterious noise that happens in the middle of the night (might be better to go down this route first).

I know with my DD it's usually fear of the unknown rather than the 'thing' itself.

Best of luck - I really feel for you.