Help! Long wake-ups every night *yawn*

[Mamaka]

My 3yo a tendency of waking up in the middle of the night, usually around 3:30ish and then being awake for 1.5-2 hours which means I'm awake for 1.5 - 2+ hours. :yawn :-/ Currently this has happened 5 out of the last 6 nights, and I'm getting completely worn out. He still nurses, will nurse down to sleep at night but I haven't been bfing him back to sleep when we have one of these wake-ups and he's been going back to sleep w/o a problem. Also, once he's awake, he's awake and it's pretty much a guarantee we'll be awake for awhile. Sometimes I can catch it just as he's waking up and bf him then and he'll go back to sleep, but that's not a for sure and more often then not, he still wakes up. :sigh He's really good about just lying there, I don't let him talk or play, remind him it's night time and at night we need to sleep, etc. and he's really good about *trying* to go back to sleep and he *wants* to sleep, it just seems like he can't. Any suggestions? Anyone else dealt with this?

[Psyche]

Nope. My little baby is doing this to me. Last night I think he was up for several hours. In fact I'm not sure he slept from midnight until 3am. It stinks. :hug

[Leen]

That sounds really frustrating. :hug2 What about giving him something like Calms Forte or melatonin (I think that's okay for little ones altho I'm not 100% sure) or another homeopathic/herbal sort of thing? It seems like he just can't shut his mind off from what you're describing.

:pray4 he sleeps better tonight so you can get some rest, too.

[swimming with sharks]

can you give him a good protein snack before bed? He could also be going through a growth spurt.

[aleigh]

Is he napping too long during the day?

[Rabbit]

Mine usually are hungry or thirsty when that happens.

[Mamaka]

Thanks for all the suggestions and hugs. :tu :)

We've been giving him melatonin off and on for a few months at our ND's suggestion, and at first that worked great but then in the last few nights it hasn't helped. :( He dropped naps quite awhile ago and goes to bed quite early and very easily (which is nice). He gets enough sleep for his age when he doesn't do the middle of the night wake-up but does start accumulating a sleep debt when we get into one of these cycles. When he does nap, he has a hard time going to sleep at night and often will stay up very late (sometimes 11 or later vs usual bedtime around 7) and still has the night waking. He snacks before bed, usually pretty well though adding more protein is a good idea. :think

He's a really busy busy kid during the day, I'm wondering if some of that translates into his nighttime sleeping? I'm also wondering if we need to change his nighttime bed routine and help him be less dependent on me for sleep. Anyway, keep the ideas and suggestions coming, they're getting me thinking about stuff we could try.