8 week old wakes every few minutes

[hiss42]

DS is 8 weeks and mostly BF. He has several structured naps during the day, and a bath and massage routine in the evening and is put down at 7pm. He falls asleep in his moses basket but wakes up with about 5 minutes of being put down! Gentle rocking and a slumber bear help him get back to sleep, but it just lasts another few minutes. These little 'naps' get longer and longer until 2am when he can last about 20mins, then he's passes out from exhaustion and sleeps till around 4 when it starts again.
A dummy helps but as soon as it comes out he wakes up, so am trying to avoid it or i'd have to sit up all night holding it in. He also responds well to swaddling, but it doesn't keep him asleep and he's getting a bit old to be fully swaddled.
Anyone have any tips for soothing him for longer? Have tried earlier and later bed times with no results. Am desperate for some sleep :(

My DD was like this in her moses basket. We started cosleeping - she then did/does 2 hour stretches.... I never intended to cosleep but was hallucinating from lack of sleep!

Oh and she still only does 2 or sometimes 3 hour stretches... at 15 weeks! (Sorry)

Are you sure that he has been winded enough? Both my DC never settled unless all the wind was up!

Alternatively, has he been fed enough? If you say he is mostly bf, could you give the formula at 7pm as a top up?

Finally, is he crying or grizzling? If it is the later, it is really worth leaving him for a few extra minutes. Usually they fall back to sleep again!

Do you offer him a feed when he wakes? Bfed babies tend to feed ALOT in the evenings, it's called cluster feeding, they do it to increase your milk supply and to fill themselves up lots to help them sleep longer in the small hours.

All of mine have done this in the evenings before dropping into a deep sleep later on in the night.

Could it be silent reflux.. try putting him to sleep on his side, or slightly raise the head of the moses basket? If he responds to this, perhaps mention it to the HV as if it is reflux there are lots of things you can do to help. Often people assume reflux is only present when babies are sick a lot, but actually it can be horrid for them even if they dont get the sickness bit.
Worth considering perhaps?