15-16 month sleep regression ideas?

[Palora]

Hi, has anyone experienced anything like the following and do you have any suggestions?

From 4 months to 15 months my son slept in his cot in his own room with no major problems - mostly he slept 7pm-7am. I could just put him down and leave the room and he'd go to sleep, and self-settle when he woke in the night. However at 15 months he had a stomach bug and since then we have two problems:

1 - he needs me in the room to go to sleep. I've managed to wean him off being stroked/ patted to sleep but I have to sit by his cot and lie him down every time he stands up. This can take up to an hour with up to 20 stand-up-lie-downs. Then he sleeps very lightly so we have to tiptoe around all evening in silence.

2 - he has forgotten how to self-settle so despite the above routine will often wake a few hours later yelling. Picking him up or stroking him at this point just enrages him. All he wants is to be taken into the spare room to co-sleep. We have resorted to doing this because he normally goes straight to sleep that way and we don't have the energy for a battle in the middle of the night. We are not opposed to co-sleeping in principle but I am a v bad sleeper myself (maybe I need to be sleep trained) and I sleep very poorly next to him so I always feel exhausted in the morning.

We are just not sure how to solve these problems. We have tried controlled crying in the past with some success but I hated it and can't face it this time. Re bedtime, I'm interested in "gradual retreat" but how would that work if he needs me to lie him down when he stands up? I'd just have to keep running in every time anyway. Pick-up-put-down has never worked with him - he finds it disruptive.

This has been going on for about 6 weeks now - any suggestions very welcome, thank you!

[Halftime23]

hi @Palora. I know this post is a couple of years old but I could have written it myself. My son is 16 months old and we are coming up to 5 weeks of the sleep (non-sleep) that you describe. How did you overcome it? Any advice?