SOS! my angel is a sleep monster

[Anonymous]

My sweet little 2 yo angel morphed literally overnight into a sleep monster. He simply won't go to bed at night. Nothing has changed in his routine, he's not sick, he's not uncomfortable, no new bed, sheets, laundry detergent (yes, I've thought that far). He simply won't go to sleep at night. Instead, he cries. He stops when I go into check on him, but starts again as soon as I leave. I've ruled out fear of the dark, fear of being alone etc. Last night, he cried for over two hours. The night before that, he went to sleep (almost) right after I put him in bed, but then woke up from 2-4 am and cried. The night before, he was up until three, crying. To be fair, it is really more whining than crying, but not for anything in particular. Until Sunday night, he ALWAYS slept from 7:30ish until 7 in the morning. Two weeks ago, we even managed to eliminate the pacifier without a blip (only to bring it back last night because I was at my wit's end - even then he cried for an additional 20 minutes). We have a six month old, who even in infancy didn't leave me this exhausted! I should also add that he is exhausted during the day, and is a nightmare- hitting and kicking, throwing tantrums, etc. Until Monday, this was not a problem. This is bad. Anyone go through this and can offer suggestions?