We are starting to get a bit desperate now....Oli hasnt slept through the night for months. A normal night looks at lot like this:

Bedtime - 7pm ish, then first wake up crying a couple of hours later. A cuddle works and then he settles back down. Then he wakes somewhere between 1.30 and 2.30am and grizzles and cries on and off, if we ignore him then he keeps going and going, and if we go into him then he revs up more, if we pick him up he screams and it takes ages to settle him. We have been resorting to giving him a bottle - out of desperation - and now we are trying to wean him off that, but its hard going. Its getting really hard on us to lay in bed and listen to him grizzle and cry for hours at a time.

I just dont know what else to try....he wont have a lot of his bedtime bottle, so he may well be hungry, but we cant seem to get him to take more of his bottle no matter what we do.

Although DH and I take it in turns (he does one night and I do the next)...somehow DH manages to sleep through the crying when its my turn, but there is NO way that I can sleep whilst he is grizzling. So we are both knackered, and its getting a bit tough. Any suggestions hugely appreciated!!! 

Is he teething?   Does he have a dummy?  Is he getting enough sleep during the day?  I found when Tom has a bad sleep day we get a bad sleep night where he wakes up every few hours.  We have also been having night waking lately and I think it is teeth (its been going on for 6weeks but I have just noticed 3 new ones...finally).  Tom still has his dummy at night and this helps....we sometimes put bonjella on it and rub it around his gums as there is no way I'm putting a finger in there.  That sometimes settles him.  DH cant settle him at night at all.  He just screams and screams.  Dunno what I do thats different. 

We have also found Tom likes a night light....just outside his door.  Also we have found that changing the amount of bedding helps too.  Some nights if I think its going to be cool he has his winter gogo bag and other nights his summer one, with or with out a blanket.  This seems to make a difference.

Good luck.  This was about the time Tom started waking again too.

I am too tired to think logically about it now. I know that we dont have it as bad as some people, but he doesnt have huge sleeps during the day either, so its not like I can catch up then really!

Last night, we gave up and made him a bottle in the end.....after 2 hours of crying, screaming, grizzling....with no amount of cuddles helping....and we just couldnt cope anymore.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. He has been sick on and off for the past few months, with colds and an ear infection, but he seems well now. I cant feel any teeth, he has 8 and I dont know which ones come next...will have to check the rusk box!

We are willing to try all sorts of things now....its just starting to take its toll on us, so we need to sort it out. I dont know what to do about his daytime sleeps....I think maybe he is sleeping too much, but if I dont put him down he gets overtired and grizzly. He currently sleeps like this during the day:

after first bottle of the day (aprox 6.30-7am) he goes straight back down until 8.30-9ish

morning nap - about an hour - at 10.30ish

afternoon nap - normally about 1430-1500 ish for another hour

(its all been thrown out a little bit by daylight savings - like he is down now for a little nap, as he was giving me all the tired signs....)

The only time he sleeps longer than an hour, is after swimming, I havent been able to get him to have bigger sleeps, but not sure that would help anyway.

Simsam, just as an example, Tom's routine was something like this.

7am: wake

7.30: breakfast

9am: bottle then back to bed for 1.5 to 2 hrs

11.30: lunch

2pm: afternoon nap 1.5 to 2 hours

5.30: dinner followed by bath

7pm: bottle followed by bed.

Well, at least thats what he was doing till this week.  He was very happy in this routine. It may have shifted by an hour either way or so but always the same time gaps.  Its all turned to sh*t this week though

We are still using the StS and I think thats part of the problem. During the night he isnt too bad if we leave it off, but during the day he is a nightmare to settle without it.

We are in the process of swapping the milk at night for water instead. Its only night 2 of that approach (last night we gave up after 2 hours of crying!)