we are having a fecking dreadful time atm - ds begins crying in his sleep around 3:30-4am when his bedtime dose of calpol/nurofen wears off - and then keeps it up at intervals for around 1.5hrs (on a good night). He thrashes around a lot and grabs at me, usually trying to get my hand in his mouth. He is clearly trying to sleep, but it's not working - some nights I am rocking him, singing to him (after giving meds), co-sleeping, cuddling, a few times I've even had to sit up while he goes to sleep on my chest like when he was tiny. He is also suddenly extra clingy (both in the day and night). He doesn't usually want to feed, though sometimes all this whingeing merges into his early-morning feed.
His cries sound to me like pain, frustration, or both - he's never just awake or playful (except occasionally if he wakes up enough, when having meds - though usually this just makes him more unhappy). Usually his eyes are squinched shut and he's desperately sucking his fingers, which used to settle him. He is also frequently pulling at his ears - and tooth #4 (in 4 weeks) is just cutting through.
Is there usually a break now? Will this long difficult period wreck his previous, quite good sleep patterns? Is there anything else I can do? Seems to me there's no point trying any of the sleep methods in this case, would you agree?