Son, now 11, wakes up at night and can't fall back to sleep himself

[JD331]

Our youngest son is 11 and is really good kid, has alot of friends, very athletic and no real issues Except one.  While he doesn't have a problem going to sleep  (we go up with him, he puts himself to bed, says his prayers, we tuck him in and leave), he has a habit of waking some time during the night and cant fall back to sleep without soothing from his parents (mostly his mom).  We've tried everything.  We resist his calls but he gets angy and yells and will not stop. We've taken away privledges, we've yelled at him, we've tried to calmly reason with him, we take him to the bathroom, we've got fans, nighlights, white noise, the works.  He still will not go to back to sleep on his own and needs to be soothed. He mostly says its dreams that wake him and that he keeps thinking about it and it keeps him up. We posted a list nest to his bed of "helpful hints" of how not too worry about it, think happy thoughts, etc. -- but he ignores it and continues to call out. We keep waiting for him to out grow it, but its been going on for years. He doesnt do sleepovers becuase he knows he'll wake up.  Most important, his Mom and I dont get an undisrupted night of sleep.  Any ideas on how to handle this?  

[margypops]

Whilst he knows that you will give into him he will continue ,it is possible you have enabled it without meaning to, 'we take him to the bathroom' why at 11 year old he takes himself to the bathroom, so he yells if he does that then take a privillege away the next day he really likes, What time does he go to bed as going too early wont help, it is hard but the only answer is not to react to his behavior, it is a habit he has got into, and he knows you will give way if he persists..so you have to put up with the yelling and get tough on him.. Good luck