I think it is OK to give the paci again - Tracy said in her books that she feels a paci is a great soother for some LOs right up to 3 months old. I think what I would do is wait and see if he falls asleep with it in his mouth in the end - if so, you would want to gradually remove it for him so that he is spitting it out just before he actually goes to sleep. Of course, you could choose not to give the paci and continue with the pat/sh only, but if it only takes a couple of sucks of the paci for him to calm right down then I think it is worth it. TBH, I am not sure exactly what point paci use changes from 'helping with soothing' to 'prop' - probably when he *needs* it all the time for sleeps / every 45 mins.
As for pat/sh - you only are supposed to do this if they are fussing / crying. If he is calm, just put him down and stand back and wait and see what he does. It's hard to do this, I know, as you feel like you should be doing something 'active' to help them get to sleep. But, actually, if you could put him down and he was calm and he started being able to drift off to sleep on his own, then that would be the most amazing and wonderful thing!!
I remember one of Tracy's programs where they had a LO where they did just that - they put him down, stood back, shaded his eyes to help prevent over-stimulation, and he ended up putting himself to sleep (this was after many weeks of 'walking the baby').
One thing that I think I never quite got right was the 5 minute 'hold' after swaddling but before putting down - you are supposed to just hold the LO upright against your shoulder with minimal stimulation to generally help calm them, then gently pop them into their crib, then stand back and watch to see what happens. You are supposed to do this without any pat/sh or talking or whatever and only then commence with pat/sh if they fuss / cry.
You would then pick them up and start pat/sh process before putting them down when they are calm. If they get upset (beyond what you can calm whilst still in the crib with pat/sh), you pick them up again and start pat/sh process. Although this feels a little like pu/pd, it is markedly different as you are using the pat/sh as the calming tool. Tracy's book explains it really well and their are some links on this board that explain it all in depth as well.
HTH
One last thing - do you use a swaddle? If so, then that is great. If not, then you might want to consider one to help him remain calm whilst he is getting to sleep. However, if you feel he has enough limb control through the 'jerks' when he is going to sleep / every 45 mins, and you don't use a swaddle, then I would just keep him out of the swaddle and hope that he carries on finger sucking (which is ultimately much easier for everyone in the long run than paci use).
It's funny, because my 'LO' is now 2 yrs old, but I remember this stage so, so clearly.
I never really cracked pat/sh 'properly' mainly because my DD has bad reflux, but I remember reading anything and everything about it!
