Can't do it any more

[OohNoo]

Really struggling with 8mo and sleep.

At night he wakes up about every 2 hours or more often to feed (I realise at this age it is probably more for comfort/habit than because he is starving)
Daytime, he can stay awake for literally hours after first showing signs of tiredness - he will only sleep on the breast or by being rocked (which we are with some success converting into a sitting down cuddle/jiggle if you see what I mean...) - but attempts to make him sleep before he reaches this point often result in several minutes of ear splitting screaming, back arching, kicking etc. until I give up because I am exhausted.
Putting him down at night is a bit hit and miss, generally better than in day but still needs feeding/rocking... after this he will sleep fairly well, just wake up, feed, sleep again etc until morning.

Any suggestions on how to improve this?? What do I tackle first, night waking? Settling to sleep?
Methods which involve as little crying as possible please - not really a believer in controlled crying and know I wouldn't have the heart/energy to go through with it anyway.

A few months ago I thought fine, I'll just keep going until he eventually improves by himself, but I'm just. so. tired.

Help please?!

I feel your pain! Sleep deprivation is the worst. I'm struggling too but with different aged little pickles!

Do you have anyone else at home? When weaning no 1 I sent my husband in for all night wakings as he wouldn't smell of milk. I know you're not trying to wean your lo but could you start sending someone else in with a bottle of water? I think it's supposed to help your baby get used to not having the milk feed / comfort and then I think they're supposed to stop waking altogether.

I did use cc when I was at your sort of point and used it for all naps and bed time and night waking. I got advice from hv and the sheet they gave me also had details about progressive retreat or something. Which doesn't involve the crying. Sorry I can't remember more but it's a non cry method I think and it would be suitable for all sleep times.

Good luck and as everyone says this will pass, it will get better!

sleepbabies.co.uk/html/resources/case-studies.html
hi we used a sleep consultant, Sian Thomas if you have a look at above page, case study, millie. This is very similar to what we did. I used Sian as was at breaking point but you could certainly do it alone. We had an identical situation to you and he started sleeping through in three weeks but we saw improvement in 3 days. changed our lives.