15 week old always wakes in the evening after 1/2 hour then won't settle

[piupiu]

Hoping someone can help me here as I'm at my wits end.
My DS goes down well for all of his daytime naps and when it comes to bedtime at 7pm settles relatively easy (though not as easy as daytime naps)but then he wakes after exactly 1/2 hour and is then impossible to settle. He cries like he is panicking and seems really distraught. It can then take anywhere between an hour and 3 hours to settle him back down again.
I have tried restricting his daytime sleep in case he is not tired enough but this doesn't make any difference.No matter how much sleep he gets during the day it is always the same. he has been like this for as long as I can remember and it is not getting any better.
I also have a 5 year old and it means her bedtimes are difficult because her brother is getting all of the attention. If my partner is out at bedtime the whole situation is unbearable.
Has anyone had a similar problem?
I really don't want to leave him to cry it out as I don't believe in leaving babies to cry for hours on end. He's obviously trying to tell us something, but what is it??!!

Hi, DS2 does exactly the same ! For us, it's usually wind. He's usually so tired by bedtime that he feeds to sleep and doesn't bring up all his burps, so you can set your clock most days on him waking up 45 mins after going down, doing a big sicky burp, then having another feed.

He's 12 weeks and I've been at it since 7pm tonight . DP has just gone to settle him so I can have a break!

IME DS1 did exactly the same - i really can't remember when he started going down reliably, it did happen for a while until he discovered he could bounce around his cot

from what I can remember, after about 30/40 minutes sleep babies are transferring from light to deep asleep. If they cannot make this transition then they wake and will be unsettled. DS did this for quite a while. One thing you can try if possible is to go and sit with DS at about 25 minutes, so you are next to him as he starts to stir. If you can pat and shush as he rouses, you may be able to prevent him waking fully and in the ends he'll get the hang of it himself. HTH!

is he hungry?

He's definitely not hungry as he's usually fed for ages just before.
I'm thinking it could be the wind thing. I'll see what happens tonight!

If it takes up to 3 hours to settle, why not just watch tv or cuddle together for 3 hours instead?

tbh, - I'd go with the hungry theory too. Can you wind him and then feed him again.

There is a crazy stage that most babies hit at around this time and it can usually be helped with more food.