3 year old wont sleep!! Please help!

[LivingForPinkGin]

Please can someone help me I am at the end of my rope, my 3 year old has suddenly decided that he no longer wishes to sleep. He has never been a good sleeper but the last year he started sleeping through the night. The last 2 weeks he screams going to bed, he has never done this before he usually goes to sleep fine but now as soon as I leave the room he screams and screams and gets out of his bed for what seems like an eternity even though he is clearly tired. I have tried ignoring him, walking him back to his bed not speaking to him, telling him its night time but nothing works.

When he finally does go to sleep he has started waking up in the night and doing the same, just screaming. Last night it was from 3:15 to 5:30 non stop.

I ask him whats wrong but he wont tell me. Just stands there screaming he usually has good vocabulary. I thought he might be scared of something but I asked him today when he was happy of he was scared of his room and he said no I love my room!!

I have no idea what to do can anyone please help me or at least tell me I am not alone here I feel like I am going insane!

To get him through this, I would sit with him as he goes to sleep. Stay right through until he is fully asleep, then sneek out once asleep.

Then next week, sit a bit away from the bed. But still stay until asleep. The following week, be stood by the bed but still wait until asleep. Next ne stood by the door, then outside the door and so on. Give it a few days to a week between each change and always stay until asleep.

Is he actually awake for the middle of the night part or is it a night terror?

DD (3) who is usually a good sleeper had a phase recently. I was softer on it than I would usually be because I just don't know how her little head is processing the weird situation we're all in.

I ended up staying with her and stroking her face until she fell asleep. It only took a couple of nights of this then normal service resumed.

This is something I usually won't ever do as it's so easy to get caught in a trap of it then being a long-term need but I just felt her distress was real rather than me being played!