2 year old waking for hours in the night

[GP24]

looking for some advice for my 2yo (he will be 2 this week). He’s never been a good sleeper, until about 18 months old was still waking up to 5 times a night. He now goes to sleep okay, but for the past 4 months has been waking for 3+ hours during the night. I looked into split nights, but he still does this with either a reduced nap or even no nap.

I’ve seen a sleep health visitor, changed his routine to try tire him out more, reduced his nap, gave him a teddy to sleep with, he sleeps in a dark room. He is in a cot bed as he could climb out of his cot - been in it since 18 months.

I can’t figure out what is causing him to wake up and stay up, he’s treating the first few hours of sleep as if it’s a nap, then is wide awake wanting to play. His usual routine is:
7:15 wake
1-2 nap
5:30 tea
6 bath
7-8 bedtime, asleep by 8 usually

he then wakes anytime from 11 onwards for multiple hours. I’ve tried changing his nappy, giving him a drink, bringing him into my bed, checking if he’s too hot/cold - I have no idea why he’s waking up and staying up.

he’s definitely not getting enough sleep because his behaviour is awful, and when he does get a decent nights sleep (frequent wakes rather than staying up) he is like a different child, he’s so happy and well behaved

Is there anything else anyone would suggest?

[TashieWoo]

I am by no means an expert as my only DD is month younger than your DS, but perhaps he isn’t quite tired enough? We’ve found that the optimum time between her nap ending and going to bed is 6.5 hours,

so maybe try a later bedtime at 9pm then see how he is