Is There Any Way to Get My 6-month-old Baby To Sleep in His Crib without Letting Him Cry?

My son has never been a "good" sleeper and was very high-needs for the first few months of his life. He hated sleeping on his back from day 1, not even sleeping in the hospital bassinet. At home, the only way anyone slept was by co-sleeping or having him sleep on one of us in a recliner. At some point, we managed to get him to sleep in his swing. That was a big accomplishment. Later, I had success getting him to sleep in a bassinet while swaddled (he hated swaddling at first, but liked it when he was a bit older.) Then he reached a stage where he was breaking out of swaddles and outgrowing the bassinet, so the swing has become his primary bed because I didn't want to cosleep anymore. He sleeps quite easily in the swing, which is great, except that he is now almost 6 months and will outgrow it soon. He already squirms around like he wants to roll on his side but can't because we buckle him in. We really need to get him in the crib, I think.I feel like there is no way we will be able to do this without letting him cry. We have researched the Ferber method, but I refused to do it until at least 6 months since the research suggests that before that is too young. I know it will more than likely be a miracle solution for his sleep, and that it won't psychologically damage him, but it's just terrible to experience crying, as I'm sure all parents know.A few weeks ago, we tried just picking him up and putting him down til he fell asleep in the crib. He ended up so upset that he cried nonstop even in my husband's arms because he was exhausted. I finally just said to put him in the swing, and he fell asleep right away.I've followed all kinds of suggestions to transition him out: the swing is next to his crib; he plays in the crib sometimes (he loves the mobile and loves rolling over); I try putting him in there to see what happens (on occasion, he will nap, but it's rare and unpredictable); I have other sleep associations going like a white noise machine, dark room, pajamas, story, etc. I don't know what else to do. I'm reluctant to buy a Magic Merlin suit or Zippity-Zip because it's hot right now.Any advice?PS: he still doesn't sleep through the night, and it's only recently that he's begun "going to bed" at a set time (8pm) and sleeping until 6-7am with a few wakeups in between. He's easy to settle when he wakes up, but we're all still waking up. He's breastfed, and I've reduced night feedings to just once or twice a night.So my point is, I'm scared of this progress going completely out the window, and I'm scared of having to let him cry. via /r/Parenting http://ift.tt/294IHIV