I feel nervous writing this so please be gentle. I have a very tough cookie of a 10-week-old. He's the cutest little guy but he has been a tough baby from the start (and I'm not just saying that since he is my first, multiple friends/sisters/family members have verified). He is so cranky, never goes down to sleep easily, and hasn't slept more than 4 hours at a time since he has been born (and that's rare).

We are trying to decide if/when to sleep train. I'm 90% sure that the if question is yes, but I'm not sure on the when. I'm considering trying as early as 12 weeks because he honestly just seems miserable and is always over-tired. He sleeps great in his carseat on the go or in his stroller, but at night it is bad. His first stretch is usually about 3 hours, followed by an hour for feeding, diaper change and then soothing back down, then maybe a 2.5 hour stretch, and then repeat the whole thing hour routine for another ~2 hour stretch. We of course struggle with any sort of naps too. And I would say that about 1/3 of the nights he just will not sleep after 3am unless we hold him. He can be in the deepest sleep in our arms, but he is up and screaming as soon as we put him down.

We have tried everything obvious -- we swaddle, use white-noise, put him in the rock'n'play, keep in pitch black dark, use a pacifier, etc. He just won't sleep for long at all, and it is a production to get him to go down.

I should say that he is a big baby -- 14 pounds already at 10 weeks, and is healthy in every respect other than sleeping.

So my question is -- did anyone sleep train successfully at an early age? Am I crazy for considering it? I don't want to do it to drop feedings, but just to get him to go down easier on his own and stay asleep for a bit longer. At his feedings as-is he often will just eat a bit. I don't think he is waking out of hunger. I am just getting really nervous as I will be going back to work at a pretty demanding job at 14 weeks.

Thanks for the advice.