Sleeping Help Needed

So, here's the scoop. Prior to this week, around 7 each night Evan would show signs of being ready for bed. That was my cue to take him upstairs and start our routine. He would get a lotion-y massage (more in an attempt to control the eczema than anything), costume change, and swaddled. Then I would nurse him, usually for about 15 minutes or so. He would ALWAYS fall asleep, I'd put him in his bed, and he would sleep for any number of hours. Sometimes all night, but more recently he would only sleep until about 2, want to eat, then be awake again around 5. While it could be annoying to get up at 5, this was not a terrible situation. His nap schedule during the day was random, and usually the naps were short, somewhere around 45 minutes each. 


This week, most of that has gone out the window. His naps have regulated a bit. He's been napping every morning from 9 to 11, give or take a half an hour either way. Then, he's awake for about an hour, and sleeps for about 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. That's not the problem.


The problem is the nights. I've been sticking to the routine of massage, costume change, swaddle, and nursing. However, when he finishes nursing, he is WIDE awake. Ridiculously so. Smiling and cooing and fighting his way out of the swaddle. I try laying him down with his pacifier and the mobile, but less than 15 minutes will pass and he gets very angry. So I try the pacifier and rocking him. That calms him down, but he's not sleepy at this point. I've tried arms in the swaddle, one arm in, both arms out.


I reread the corresponding parts in Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Weissbluth. That's the book I picked up to help get Steve sleeping through the night all those months ago. According to the book, I'm doing everything right. The only thing I haven't done is just left him to cry it out. I tried that last night. He cried for 45 minutes solid, getting louder and louder as time went on, and when I finally went up there, he was short of breath and on the verge of hyperventilating. It was miserable. Tonight, I just put him on the floor in the living room. He worked his arms out of the swaddle and looked around. When he finally started whining and his eyes got red, I resumed the bedtime routine: diaper change, reswaddle, nurse, and finally sleep. At 9:15 or so. 


I'm looking for any suggestions. Any ideas on why Evan is pulling this business? I thought maybe he was approaching some sort of milestone, like rolling over, but it doesn't seem this is the case.