Help. Sleep training at 8 mos.

Baby is 8 mos. Easy pregnancy. Sweet temperament baby. Not a big crier except in certain situations (will go into it below) Was sleeping 9pm-7am for a month from 3-4 months. Thought we had hit the jackpot with our unicorn baby. 4 month regression hit HARD. We have never recovered.

Nap schedule - 2.5/3/3.5

Variations happen because I pay attention to his sleep cues and don’t stick to very strict wake window schedule.

Baby eats well, and naps well.

He goes down easily - takes a bottle, and then dummy goes in and he is asleep. No problems transferring. He is very dependent on dummy however- if I didn’t give it to him he would start crying and would not go down.

Ever since 4 month sleep regression he wakes up every couple hours, mainly looking for dummy that has fallen out. He is now capable of putting it in his mouth but he STILL cries for me to do it. When I put it back in, he goes back to sleep almost instantly. So he is not hungry.

I have tried to leave him to figure it out himself - have put multiple dummies in the cot, made sure they are glow in the dark so very visible, but he gets worked up SO quickly if I’m not there to pop the dummy back in for him. Goes from waking up to screaming within about 30 seconds. If I let him cry for a few minutes he starts having full melt down.

Have tried to get rid of the dummy but he calms down so immediately and only wants it at night.

Feeling slightly bitter because I pushed to sleep train at 5 months but was persuaded not a good idea until after 6 months. His motor skills are slightly advanced so by 6 months he was sitting up and by 7 months he was pulling himself up to stand in the crib. So now, when I leave him to try figure it out at night, he pulls himself to stand and wails. I’ve tried Ferber method. Going in makes him more hysterical. I give up for the night after about 45 mins of going in and out. I’ve tried CIO but the longest I let him cry was about 20 mins. He never shows signs of calming down and I don’t believe in letting him cry until he is so exhausted he collapses.

But I can’t keep going like this. I’m doing every single night waking up every two hours. It’s been 4 months. Even if he goes right back to sleep, I am not getting more than 2 hour stretch and really affecting me now.

Please send help!!!!