Getting baby to sleep

Lisa
My son was born 10 weeks premature, so although he is 5 months old now he is really 3 months in adjusted age. He is breastfed and gets formula for extra calories twice a day.
I've always given him his formula before bed, because it seems to fill him up. Typically, he falls asleep once he is done and is out after that. About a month and a half ago he started sleeping 7-9 hours a night without waking! I know how lucky we are for that. But the last few nights he will fall asleep, and I'll put him to bed in the cosleeper (while I'm still up) and he will soon wake up and cry. I know it's best to put him to bed drowsy, not already asleep but he will not sleep otherwise. As it is he doesn't really sleep during the day because once I put him down, he wakes up. A lot of the time if he isn't already in my arms and he is in his swing or his basinet, he will cry to bed held.
I'm really not a fan of the crying it out method, especially this young, and he's not even in his crib yet. He has woken up three times tonight, and I've picked him up and brought him into the living room with me once he started to cry. He has almost immediately fallen back asleep every time, right now he's in his swing. Then he will stay asleep for 10-30 minutes once I move him before he wakes again. I was trying to start getting him to bed closer to 9pm, because he was falling asleep around 11pm. I'm not working right now so our schedule has been kind of funky. 
I know it's normal for patterns to change, but this is really frustrating! I just want to take my shower 😭😫.