“Drowsy but awake”

How?? How do you ladies get your little one down in that drowsy but awake stage? Is there just a moment when they start being ok with it?

I have tried everything and the second I put him down he’s super alert again and either cries, panics or smiles and thinks I’m going to play with him... then I start the process all over again but after re-starting so many times he’ll usually just end up being rocked to sleep on me.

Even then he may wake up when I put him down. He’s started falling asleep with a tight grip on my t-shirt so he knows when I’m not there 😭😭

Any advice? I feel like I’ve read every page on google and I just can’t do the cry it out method 😢