My DS is a horrible sleeper - very hard to get to sleep, very alert even when knackered. He sleeps lightly during the day and during the evening, he wakes up at least every hour between bedtime at 7 and about 10.30 when sleep seems to kick in properly. Sometimes he just wants to be turned over (even though he can roll, he seems to get stuck on his back and cries), and sometimes he just wants to be picked up and held for a minute before going off to sleep again. We are run ragged and can't ever relax in the evening.
During the night, he does self-settle. He has been having a run of teething so his night sleep has been affected but basically he gets up for a feed between two and four then wakes for the day between six and seven thirty. So not too bad, apart from the fact that it's totally unpredictable and he can be a little bugger about not wanting to sleep. Last night, for the sixth or seventh night in a row, he was unputdownable between two and five. He will sleep in our bed, but we have a large cat too who sleeps on the bed and I don't want to risk having him sleep on the baby, even at 11 months... besides, I really don't think he would sleep very much better in our bed. We usually give up around five and whack him in there, around the time he's winding down anyway.
We swaddled him for the first few months as he moved around all the time and woke himself up; then he had a peke moe to transition to a sleeping bag with his arms free. He sometimes sleeps well on his stomach, but won't be put down on it and he wakes in a panic when he's been sleeping that way. He won't be comforted without being picked up. I have never been able to soothe him with my voice/patting - it just makes him incensed. He also refuses to drift off to sleep himself. Ever. Anything will distract him and make him wake himself up again. He cries but not in a winding-down way - to the point of making himself choke after a minute or two. Not a fan of CC anyway, but it's really not an option. And pick-up/put-down was hell for everyone as he took several very confused hours to go to sleep each time.
Basically all I want is for someone to tell me he'll grow out of it. My husband told me today he didn't want another baby because the current one is so awful at sleeping and we are so tired. And he meant it. :(