Best way to settle back to sleep?

[Gloria42]

DS (2.2) has generally always been a good sleeper (7.30 - 6.30 most nights) but since he turned 2 at New Year, his sleeping has gone from bad to worse.
Every night he wakes at least once, probably twice, and the only way to settle him is to sit in the chair in his room while he lies sleeping/dozing on my lap. Then we have to be sure he's actually asleep before we lift him back into bed. This process can take anything from 30 minutes to 2 hours.
DP and I are exhausted (both work fulltime), so any suggestions about easier ways to get him back to sleep would be appreciated.

I'm assuming he's in a bed then, not a cot? Either way personally I wouldn't take him out - anything that keeps him in bed is a good start, otherwise it will become a rod for your back that he stops self-soothing.

Sounds a nightmare, you muct be knackered, it was about this time my son (now 2.5) started demanding a light when he woke.

How about trying an Autofade light which fades out over 15 mins so he doesn't feel alone? Worked a treat for us. I would go in, set a low light on it then set it to fade, pull his musical bunny thing and leave. He got used to going back to sleep pretty quickly.

Or one of those little lights in the shape of a bunny etc where he squeezes the tummy to make it come on? Maybe he could get used to it the first few times with you there, then switch to doing it himself?

The tougher approach would be to walk in, lay him down, say sshh sshh and walk out, as many times as it takes, but not sure if you're up for that?

Lotster, he's still in a cot. We experimented for about a week with a bed and it was even more of a disaster!
We've tried putting a drink in bed with him, but it's not a drink he wants, just cuddles.
I've kinda tried the shushing and putting back to bed, but I generally cave in as he gets more hysterical!
I know we've brought this on ourselves, it used to be only when he was ill he needed this kind of attention. Now, although he has the usual never-ending snotty nose, it seems to be all the time. He's got grandparents who would love to have him stay over more often, but we don't feel we can let him knowing that they'll spend half the night trying to get him back to bed!

One thing we thought is that maybe he needs to drop his nap? He still generally sleeps 1.5 hours in the day (1 hour when at nursery).

I feel your pain ;) No advice really, but we have a similar problem with my DS who's a bit younger (18 mo) so I'll share my story.

He's been teething/ill blah blah for a few weeks so I've been taking him into the spare room when he wakes and spending the rest of the night with him there. Started off well, he would usually go straight back to sleep and everyone was happy. However, it got progressively worse - he would fidget and poke me, lie on my head (!), giggle, etc before he would go to sleep.

Two nights ago I decided I was going to be tough and he was staying in his own cot all night - when he woke (4.30am) I went in and told him to go back to sleep, and laid him down. He did not like that one little bit. I kept going back in and laying him down again but he was getting increasingly hysterical so after 40 long minutes I gave in and took him into the spare room. It took him 2 hrs of fidgeting to get back to sleep.

So last night he woke even earlier - 3am - so I gave up straight away and took him into the spare room. It was ridiculous - an hour later he was jumping about on the bed laughing. I'd had enough by then. I took him back to his own bed and told him he was to go back to sleep. And suprisingly he did - I went back in one more time, but after some relatively mild whinging he went to sleep and didn't wake until 8am! Hopefully that bodes well for tonight.

Sorry - this is really long and probably not very useful!

DrJane, it does make me feel better not to be alone!