He fights sleep - HELP!

Ive never had issues with my older two boys sleeping. Theyve always been pretty great at it except for the odd occasions of night waking or night terrors (and Mr Preschooler not day napping lol) so I never really had to worry about sleep routines etc

But Mr McCrankypants (ds3) has been a bit of a fusser from word go. He slept in 3hrly blocks from birth which was great but just recently, say maybe the last week or two, he has been so unsettled and what I know notice is fighting sleeping! He will be changed fed and cuddled, but as soon as I put him down either calm and happy/sleeping he will pop those eyes open and scream bloody murder. Now Im all for the occasional cuddle or feed to sleep but unfortunately with two other busy kids and lots to do I just dont have the time to spend hours doing the feed-cuddle-sleep-nowaitImnotasleepscreaming-repeat again and again and again routine. Ive tried slinging him but he is extremely heavy (upwards of 7.5kg at 4mths old and wearing 7kg all day is a nightmare) and as soon as he's off to sleep and I take him out BAM he's doing the screaming thing again.

Ive tried to take notice of his tired signs but at most all I see is him rubbing his eyes and by then Ive probably missed the boat; and I end up having to leave him cry for 5min or so til he gives in. Im ok with controlled crying occasionally but I would rather try some other methods first before resorting to using it "full time" until he gets the hang of it.

Any idea's?

Oh and he is demand breastfed which is fine with me and we cosleep of a night but would I be able to implement a loose sleep routine for the daytime ie regular day napping at this age/stage?

I wish I could offer advice, just gotta give hugs.

Emily is doing similar, she has gone from self settling 90% time to fighting sleep and night time gone from sleeping 5-6hrs block to waking constantly.
I don't know if ours is from starting solids cause it was a few days after all this started or if its just a phase. Driving me nuts tho.

Could you try put him down sleepy but awake still and pat pat for awhile to help him learn to get himself to sleep? Thats hard cause it does take time so you may need to organise the other 2 with an activity so you can spend time.

Usually we have 1.5- 2hrs awake time. Maybe try put him down after 1.5hrs see how he goes?

hugs hun

I dont have any advice because DD has never gone down for a nap awake & gone to sleep herself. In the end I have resorted to rocking her to sleep in the rocker during the day & leaving her there for her nap