Many GT kids have minds too active to sleep. It is pretty common. Exercise helps some kids, as does an early enough bedtime that they don't get overtired.
I am one of the lucky ones. My kids both slept through the night quite early (6 weeks for DS7 and 8 weeks for DS4). Of course, they were giant kids, too, so there's something of a trade-off there, I think...Big babies, harder labor, but sleep sooner.
As for sleeping alone: I was a hard-you-know-what and let them each scream it out for a night when they were old enough to put themselves to sleep (over a year old, but I forget how much over a year--???). It was a night of pure misery, but it was just one night. They were both good at getting themselves to sleep after that. It's not a strategy that everyone can use, but it worked like a charm for me. I just reminded myself that they weren't hurt, just tossing a fit. Fits I can resist!
Also, both our kids are pretty independent, so if they wake up at night, they usually just deal with it on their own. (And I stay up so late that if they wake in the middle of the night, I'm usually still up anyway.)
So all in all, they're good sleepers.
Not all GT kids are, so I am VERY grateful to the GT gods (or whomever) on this one!
