Hayley has started doing the same thing...cries as soon as I put her down even though she is tired. We do use a dummy, but only at sleep time, I think it's becoming a bit of a safety blanket for her and gets her to go to sleep (I think it's the sucking action), I don't want her to get too dependant, but at the same time I'm using the mantra "whatever works"!

Once she is in her cot I tuck her in, pop in her dummy and if she starts crying I'll pat her back, as she has started to roll onto her side to go to sleep and kind of scruffle her face into the mattress. Looks quite cute. Lol. if she gets really distressed then I'll pick her up and when she has stopped crying put her back down, although usually as soon as I pick her up she is bright eyed and chatting away again! She sometimes seems to go to sleep, then will be 'awake' and crying in 5 minutes or so, like she has given herself a fright. I used to be able to stick her dummy back in and she would go off to sleep with no troubles, but now I have to go through the whole re-settling routine again.

Will he settle if you stand there patting the side of his tummy/bottom? I dont know if it does much good but I also make "shhhh" noises while I'm patting her. She used to be such a good self settler, I'd put her down and she would go to sleep pretty much straight away, now it can take 10-15 mins to get her to sleep, unless I give up and take her out to the lounge room for a bit and try again in 15-20 minutes.

We've also started having early mornings...4.30 this morning! Gave her a feed but she didn't go back to sleep until nearly 6am, and then was awake again at 6.50!

Sorry I probably wasn't much help, I just hope it is a phase they are going through and will be back to their old selves in no time! Might be something to do with starting teething??