I have a 5 month old boy who is quite a clingy baby. I have been trying for months now to put him in a cot at night but he refuses to sleep. He has a huge sleep association with comfort nursing which I'm struggling to break. He barely naps during the day unless he comfort sucks, then I continue to hold him (he'd sleep for hours like this). Even if he's asleep and I put him down in his baby bouncer/cot he will wake up immediately. He probably gets about two or three 20 min naps a day. I have to be in the room otherwise he wakes up sharpish, so putting him upstairs in a cot for naps is useless. I put him down for the night at 7pm in his cot, we have a routine in place (change in bedtime clothes, turn lights down, put white noise on, last breastfeed of the day). After feeding him to sleep I can put him down. Then he will last about 10-15 mins. Then cry hysterically until I give him a boob again. He cries with his eyes closed and rubbing his eyes, you can tell he really wants to sleep but can't. I then put him down again and he lasts another 10 mins, maybe 20 at best, then he cries again. This goes on throughout the night until I give in and bring him into bed with me at about 11pm, when he sleeps beautifully next to me until 6.30am. I don't want to keep co-sleeping and would really like him in his cot all night. I could cope with 2 hourly wakings even, but not every few mins. I really thought he'd grow out of it but he doesn't seem to be getting any better. My other problem is that he is completely breastfed and when he cries I'm not entirely sure he's not hungry as he's always fed at random times so I don't like refusing the boob incase he is actually hungry. This is why I'm struggling to break this sleep association as by the time I know he isn't hungry, he's already back on the boob! Any advice would be great.
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Oh wow! It's like as if I wrote this myself. Minus the breastfeeding as I'm bottle feeding but this is the exact routine I am having day and night. My boy turned 5 months yesterday and won't sleep in his cot during the night. I put him down at 6 as this is his bedtime and without fighting it, he sleeps. While me and my fiancé are downstairs enjoying some alone time it never takes long until he wakes up again and needs fussing or the bottle to fall back to sleep. After 10 pm it's on his terms and he won't sleep unless he's with me in bed. It worked so far and I really enjoyed my cuddles but like you said, there is a time when it needs to stop. Though I will miss his cuddles. Unfortunately he still wakes every 2 hours even though he knows I'm there. I'm still dreaming of a full night sleep that I never had again since he was born 
but he's at that teething stage ( my excuse for him ) that might wake him up all night. I've heard of sleep training and other tips but knowing my son, he would throw the biggest tantrum and that's the last you want in the middle of the night so I'm just comforting him and do what I have been doing all this time. I really hope they grow out of it on their own otherwise you and I are screwed lol I'm glad to see that I'm not alone with this and there's others who are dealing with the exact same issue. I'll be following this thread and hope there will be some good advise. 
I'm in exactly the same boat, my little ones 5 month tomorrow and since the day she was born has always slept on my chest or next to me in bed! I find it hard sometimes because I can't have one on one time with my partner but then I absolutely love the co-sleeping even though it is sooooo frowned upon 
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