6 months - now staying awake in middle of night!

[liquoriceandtomatoes]

My ds has always woken numerous times a night and is wide awake very early (4.30am/5am) but recently has been feeding at say 1am and then not going back to sleep but staying awake for 2/3 hours. We really thought his sleep couldn't get any worse but now it has, this is killing us. The room is dark, no stimulation, eye contact.... he's always gone back to sleep before.
He has a cough so this could be why though it didn't happen the last cough and he's blw, could this be why? Or the fact that he's rolling around more in the days? His daytime naps have gone haywire too, obviously sleeping more. Miserable/manic in days.

Could I do anything? Is this a 6-month thing? And will it end soon?

Would love to offer helpful advice but am afraid I was in a similar situation last night. After an hour of him yelping, I eventually gave him some Calpol (figured he could have sore gums, maybe) and the put him in his vibrating chair next to us where he eventually fell asleep. But clearly, in the long run, it's not a solution.
Horrible stressful nights, you get to dread them, don't you?