For the past 3 nights my 15 month old DS has been waking anytime between 11-2am and not settling back to sleep for at least 3 hours. He starts off quite promising and will let me rock him (not ideal I know) but everytime I think he's calmed down enough to be put back in his cot he wakes up crying and won't calm down until I pick him back up. He gets progressively worse as time goes on, to the point where he won't let me rock him, just arches his back and screams, Won't accept cuddles, doesn't want any milk. There's literally nothing I can do to console or comfort him, he just screams and screams. The only way we've managed to calm him down is for my DH to take him out in the pram, which I really hate the idea of but go along with it out of desperation. He still needs a bit of rocking when he returns from his late night walk, but eventually does go down in his cot. Although this seems to coincide with the 3 hour mark so not sure if it's the pram that's helped or just the length of time it's been! Also to add, he wont come in our bed, trust me I've tried, he still just screams/cries and won't settle.
Previous to these horrendous few nights he's been a fairly ok sleeper. He would settle himself at bedtime, usually 6.30-7pm. He would still wake in the night, normally only once, and I'd be able to go in, replace dummy, rub his back a little and he'd settle back down. Completely manageable, even though it would be nice if he slept through. I know I'm still helping him a fair bit to fall asleep at the moment but it was working! He has been ill the past week or so, but at the thick of his cold he was still settling himself at bedtime. His cold is much better now but his sleep has gone to pot! Also worth mentioning he has been crying at bedtime and needing rocking to sleep, which he hasn't needed since he was 6 months! We also tried CC last night but it made him even more hysterical, I just couldn't do it!
My thoughts are maybe teeth? Although calpol doesn't seem to make any difference. Or just he's ridiculously overtired! He's still on 2 naps in the day, and they're generally 1-1.5 hours each. But maybe he's still catching up from disturbed nights when he was poorly?
I'm beyond exhausted and dreading more nights like this. Not sure if anyone has any words of wisdom or has gone through something similar and come out the other side? I know this won't last forever, but hard to see a light at the end of the tunnel!