Sleep problems with 9 month old

[CoffeeOne]

9 month old DS1 has slept through the night (7 hours) since he was 8 weeks old. A month or two ago he started teething badly and then he had a really long cold virus that floored us both. Since then he won't sleep for more than a couple of hours at a time.

He still sleeps in a cot in our room (despite having a lovely nursery of his own). I'm not ready for him to sleep alone yet.

I can't bring myself to leave him to cry so anything more than a whine he gets picked up and comforted.

If he's really unsettled he co-sleeps with DP and I in our bed. Lately we've resorted to using a pillow in his cot which sends him straight back to sleep.

I'm not sure how much longer I can function on 2 hour stretches of sleep. I go back to work in January and I'm dreading how tired we're all going to be.

Any advice about reinstating a routine/keeping him in his cot without leaving him to cry would be very much appreciated.

Thank you QTpie.

I suppose I should be grateful for the sleep we did have! I think it's a good idea to reassure him that we're there without actually picking him up. We'd actually talked about one of us sleeping next to him when he's in his own room too. I'm not sure if I'm actually holding him back by keeping him in our room, he knows our bed is an option then I guess. I can't let him cry either so I guess we'll have to wait it out.