Sleep routine

I am pretty sure I’ve created a monster. My boy will be 8 months on Sunday and he has not been a good sleeper EVER. Luckily he has been “sleeping” through the night since 4 months. But that came with him still being fussy and me having to roll over multiple times to give him his pacifier. Now since he can roll and lay on his side he’s a bit better but he’s still waking up sometimes and then I bring him in our bed. I never wanted to do that, I was so against it with my first son and tried everything to make sure I didn’t end up with a 5 year old sleeping in our bed every night 😂

My first son was the poster child for staying in nap routine and sleeping through the night, it was a blessing. This second baby, yeah he’s not as easy.

Now, each night I let him lay in our bed surrounded by pillows and he fall asleep on his own and then I move him to the pack n play in hopes he stays asleep all night. It’s 50/50. Then for naps during the day, we have to rock him and lay him in his room in his crib where normally he sleeps a half hour to two hours. 2-3 naps a day if we are lucky.

My main question to anyone is how can I get him to go to sleep on his own in his crib for naps and then how can I get him to fall asleep in his crib at night and stay asleep all night. ****The cry it out method does NOT work for us. I have tried and he won’t stop screaming and doesn’t eventually fall asleep. I’ve heard of “sleep training” but I still don’t know what it means after googling it. I wouldn’t mind him staying in our room longer if he actually slept but I need to cut these habits now before it’s too late lol

HELP!!! 😂😂