Desperate, totally desperate, for our early evenings

[rachael07]

My DS is 6 months old. He slept great when he came home from the hospital: 4 hours at a time(!) in an arm's reach co-sleeper, right against the side of the bed. From that moment on, he slept less, and less, and less. We started bringing him to bed in the early AM, but soon it became impossible to sooth him in the co-sleeper. I would literally crawl my upper body into the co-sleeper and curl myself around him so his whole body contacted mine, but he would just cry until I put him in our same bed-space. We decided to bed-share starting at about 10pm every night (this used to be his first wake up of the evening).

This worked great for a few weeks. He didn't want to nurse. He just wanted to be in bed with us.

Unfortunately things have gone downhill. He goes to bed at about 6:30-7pm every night, and wakes up every 10-30 minutes until we lay down in bed with him. We can't sneak out after he's fallen asleep. He wakes up every 1-2 hours for the rest of the night, crying his head off. He doesn't want to nurse. He just "wakes up" (his eyes are shut) sobbing for 5-10 minutes and needs to be cuddled and comforted.

I'm dying, absolutely dying. My husband and I both work full time and we have been constantly sick since for weeks -- not good for anybody, baby included. My life is in utter chaos. I must find a way to have even 2 hours in the early evening

We moved the co-sleeper into his nursery and put a bed rail up. We did one night of sleep training (baby in crib, me comforting him from a distance). He slept for 3 hours that night, all by himself, and then we brought him into bed. We tried again for several nights, but after that, no matter what I did, he would cry and cry until I held him in my arms. I've tried a few half-hearted CIO sessions, but they leave me /and/ the baby hysterical. Working mother's guilt is getting to me and the crying feels like too much.

I'm desperate for ideas. 

What do co-sleepers do for the early evening?

Is it possible to "sleep train" a baby to sleep alone for a few hours at the start of the night and to co-sleep for the rest?

Will he ever grow out of this? It has been getting worse for weeks.

Thank you for your advice

Edited to add: he naps 3 times per day, usually at around 10am, 1pm, and usually again sometime between 3 and 5pm (occasionally two "naplets" during that time). He takes short naps but falls asleep with no more than a few minutes of fussing. He naps really well at daycare. If we try to keep him up past 7pm -- forget about it!

[Snapdragon]

have you tried swaddling him? maybe that would comfort him enough to sleep longer stretches? It works for some babies well and not for others I guess.

[rachael07]

He used to like being swaddled and then I stopped when he got to  be about 3 months old. I got worried about the safety issue -- when he sleeps alone, he tries to get onto his belly (preferably with his nose firmly stuffed into something soft... drives me crazy!)

Maybe he's old enough now to try again. I'll give it a shot

Miserable night last night :( he didn't cry as much but he was up every hour just fussing and being upset while in bed with us.... urrrrrgh