2.5 year old with sleep issues

My 2.5 year old boy has had sleep issues since he was almost 1, prior to this he was sleeping just fine but at 10 months old he got an ear infection and everything changed from there on.  He ended up having 10 ear infections over 10 months before having tubes put in and during this time his Doctor put his sleep issues down to pressure build up in his ears.  The tubes were put in in June of last year and he hasn't had an ear infection since but his sleep issues continue.

After we get him to sleep he'll always go 3-4 hours without waking (although he moves around a lot) but then after this timeframe he starts to tense up constantly, kicks his legs out and cries and moans in his sleep.  On a really bad night this can wake him up every few minutes so one of either my wife or I go in and sleep with him to get him back to sleep straight away. On a good night he just tenses up a lot but still wakes up every couple of hours.

When he wakes up in the morning he always seems absolutely fine and goes throughout the day with no issues.  He's a very active child who, at best, will nap for about an hour during the day.  He goes to bed at 8pm every day and he occasionally has issues at bedtime because he doesn't want to go to sleep and will try various tactics to stay awake such as pulling his eye lashes or standing up.  Typically though, bedtime routine lasts 15-30 minutes and he'll sleep (albeit as described above), for about 11 hours in total.

His Doctor has tried him on a couple of different digestive aid medicines and antacids. We've tried lactose free milk, and we've kept food diaries but haven't spotted any patterns.  We've just moved to a new City so need to find a new Doctor to take on this issue but we're not sure what we should be asking at this stage.

I did wonder about RLS, but any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

He should be examined at a Pediatric Sleep Disorders Clinic. You might re-consider the pattern whereby you and your wife lie down with him in order to help him resume sleep. It's not useful to encourage that pattern.