DS (7) waking 1am til 3am.

[sukisoo82]

DS (7) is waking between 1am and 3am every night for the last 5 nights and I'm broken.

He says he's not scared but he can't settle back to sleep. He shares with his brother, has a night light, no sugar before bed, he has Weetabix before bed, lavender, bath and quiet reading etc.

Sometimes he says he has tummy ache (but I don't know if he's now just saying this as he's fine in the day and he knows it's getting our attention). He was had sleep problems in the past. He's a very light sleeper and DH was going past his room every night earlier in the week to get medicine for a blocked ear (DH) so I think he's now in a pattern of waking and is stuck. I also don't get back off as I'm peri and a light sleeper myself plus I'm waiting for him to go back to sleep.

He went on holiday with DH and got back last Tuesday (I couldn't go) and stayed up late every night til 11pm whilst he was away.

I'm hoping he'll settle down as he's got bags under his eyes bless him.

DH got up with him last night and it took DS coming back in 5 times and DH taking him back to bed 5 times. Do I co-sleep to get him back to a full night? It's that or up and down for 2 hours every night.

School next week too!

He's not ill.
Do I keep leading him back to his own bed and wait til he falls asleep? It takes 5 times of us doing this for him to eventually fall asleep by which time we are all awake and struggling to get back off ourselves.
There's a sofabed in their bedroom but it does my back in.
If he wakes up and sees me in there with him though, he'll go off much quicker.
I need a sleep consultant lol.

Is he showing signs of being anxious about the return to school? And is he getting enough physical exercise during the day? Mine definitely struggle with this during the holidays especially when I'm working full time and can't take them out often enough.

I understand how much you may be struggling. My 4 year old wakes for an hour each night and is hysterical, says it’s growing pains. You just feel so exhausted and can’t get uninterrupted sleep
i had night terrors & sleepwalking age 3-9
i definitely think GP could help
i would test out just leaving him on his own for a week or two, especially if you think he’s doing it for attention.

He's ok about starting school and looking forward to his new teacher.
I think he might be out of sync from his holiday and possibly a bit of night time separation anxiety from me as I was unable to go on holiday with him? (10 days away).

Following and absolutely sympathising with you, I could have wrote your OP myself! DS (6) sounds so similar. Full tummy for bed, bath and story (he reads to us), nothing is working.

Usually take turns with DH but he's just started night shifts and this is slowly killing me off 😩😩