Cure for sleeplessness

Well as some of you know AJ has been an awful sleeper since he was about 11 mths old. I dont know what brought it on or why it started but it did. So from 11 mths til now (he's 27 mths) I have had 6-7 hrs of sleep or less every night! And not continual. Say I go to bed at 10pm. AJ would wake up at 12am and i'd go back to sleep around 1. Ok so there's 2.5 hrs of sleep. He wakes up again at 4 and is up 30-45 min back asleep by 5. Then is up at 7am for good. For me a grand total of 7.5 hours. But by the time im up I feel exhausted because I truly did not rest well. This was an on going thing every night. It didnt matter what I tried: Tylenol, warm milk, melatonin,a fan, a radio, keeping him up late, not letting him take a nap which was prob the worst idea ever! So as a mom I was just totally frustrated and felt overwhelmed and sad that my child just wouldn't sleep. What else could I do? Would he always be a bad sleeper and this would follow him throughout his childhood? All I know is im tired and I need sleep. Not that I just want it, I NEED IT. I cant nap during the day so dont suggest it (:P) because I wont even when I can. Working now 4 days a week I have 2 days to clean the house. So I do.

After my grandma passed his sleeplessness seemed to only get worse. He'd wake up 2 hours after he'd gone to sleep and cry and whine and wouldn't go back to sleep in his room. So I slept in the guest bed with him. He sleeps all night. Now for a moment im happy because I got some sleep but all my hard work isn't paying off because im going backwards now. AJ has NEVER had to sleep in our bed, so the next few nights i try and get im to sleep in his room. Or once he's asleep in my bed I move him to his room and same thing happens... he's up 10-15 min later and is screaming crying. But I am happy to say I grew a back bone after 14 mths of suffering and just let him cry... I told him I loved him in his room, sang to him til he was almost asleep and closed his door behind me and closed my bedroom door. He cried for about 30 long minutes and was out. He slept til 9am the next morning. And last night he didnt even wake up I didnt hear him if he did. 9:30pm-8am!! Thats almost 12 hours! woohoo! I of course didnt go to bed til 11:30 (lol) but still that was so nice to not have to get out of bed and deal with something that shouldn't of been anyway! So I am hoping this continues and that tonight he will sleep well and that I can start being a better momma and hopefully have more energy to do things I love <3