Feeding to sleep 5 months

[Penny08]

Hi. A bit of a long one I will try and break it down.
My baby is 5 months. He breast feeds and we co sleep. He will only fall asleep when feeding (or in a sling) and will only sleep/ nap on me. He wakes as soon as I put him down. This is for naps and through the night ( he will lay next to me in bed on a night) He wakes every 2 hours through the night. I sit with him on me through the day to sleep as I’m worried he won’t nap enough. I have read everything, bought all the books, downloaded online courses.
I’m worried I have created a sleep association that he can never break. I go back to work in Sep he will be 9 months. What if he won’t sleep for the child minder? I’m so worried it’s making my time with him now stressful as it’s all I think about. I guess what I’m asking is. Will he grow out of it? Have I caused him a problem? I’m just going round in circles and feel I’ve got it all wrong.
Thanks in advance for any advice.

I think he will grow out of it but you need to give him the chance to fall asleep another way. My baby was the same and only fell asleep feeding or being rocked and couldn't be put down for naps. He started nursery aged 6.5 months and after about 3 or 4 days there they got him to fall asleep on a mat on the floor, which I didn't think was possible! Recently now he is 8 months and weighs a ton, and kept waking up at night to feed for 2 seconds I tried putting him down awake in his cot and he has slept there at night without waking, and for each nap since (over 2 weeks now). He felt asleep without crying at night, and sometimes whines a bit for 5 to 10 mins prior to sleeping for his naps in the day. I was so scared to try this as I thought it was impossible he would be able to sleep this way, and that he would scream so I never gave him the chance. Try it, but if it doesnt work just wait a few weeks and try again, and keep giving him the chance to try. I think its something developmental which they can learn to do at different ages for different babies.

I could have written this, looking forward to reading the replies. We’ve just built our baby’s cot so going to try putting him down drowsy-but-awake for his next nap and see what happens.