2 1/2 year old waking up middle of the night

[AZmom09]

My son goes to sleep around 7:45 every night. Recently he has been waking up between 12-2 am crying. Sometimes i can get him back down, but sometimes he is up and wont go back to sleep. Just cries and cries.
He wakes up every morning at around 7:45/8 am. Depending on the day he may or may not take a nap. If he does nap, its around 1:45 pm and i wake him up no later than 3:30pm. He sleeps in a dark room in his crib. I'm not sure if maybe he needs a nightlight, but  i dont think it would help b.c then he may not go to sleep since he is so used to the dark.
Any idea why this happens? And how can i get him back down without a fight and without having to put him in crying himself to sleep.
TIA!

[<Catherine>]

Hi

Do you notice any difference to his nights on the days that he has napped? And does BT vary depending on whether he's napped or does it not make any difference?

[AZmom09]

I dont think so. But if he does take a nap during the day he usually goes to sleep later than 7:45 since he isnt as tired.
But i dont remember if he wakes up in the middle of the night if he naps. To be honest he barely naps anymore, even if he woke up early that morning sometimes he refuses to take a nap and then i put him in a bit earlier 7:15/7:30.

[Kay Dee]

Hiya, could you move his nap a little earlier? Both of mine needed to be up by 2/2.30pm so they had a decent A time to bed to sleep well at night. A nap too late in the afternoon caused all kinds of problems!

[AZmom09]

He goes to playgroup till 1:15. Sometimes i am able to get him down and sometimes not, but if i do get him down are you suggesting i give him a very short nap? Wake him up after about 1 hour?

[<Catherine>]

If he rarely naps I think your only option really is to bring bedtime forward so that he's not so OT - probably more like 6.30/6.45pm.