I’m desperate for sleep? Help!

My baby all of sudden cries every time I lay him down. Sometimes I can lay him down totally knocked out and then 2 mins later automatically wakes up and cries. Sometimes it takes me 2 hours to get him to stay in his rock n play. Once I get him in there he sleeps for almost 4-6 hour stretches but getting him to lay down all of sudden in there is a struggle. I never had this problem. The drowsy trick doesn’t work my baby. He has to be knocked out. I’ve tried so many times to put him down drowsy and he fights it. He will just start screaming his head off if I try. I refuse to do the cry it out method. Plus I know that won’t work because I’ve let him cry for 45 mins in the car seat to get home when he’s tired and he fights it to no end. He never passes out no matter how tired he is. Anyone have advice or going through this ??