DS needs boobie to STAY asleep... HELP!!

[Mummyfor3]

DS is now 20 weeks old, he is exclusively BF and I co-sleep with him. He is the world's worst sleeper and seems to only need 6-8 hrs in total over night and a couple of 1/2 hr naps during the day. He occasionally will fall asleep in moving pram (seems to have movement detector though, as wakes up as soon as wheels stop turning ) but usually falls asleep on breast.
Now here is the thing, I do not mind feeding him to sleep, but he needs a nipple in his mouth to stay asleep and will nibble all night given half the chance. He refuses a dummy, occasionally will accept my little finger to suck, he only sucks his own fingers/thumb when awake.
Oh, and he is teething: 2 front incisors have erupted during the last week. However above problem is longstanding.

Any ideas, oh wise MNetters??

PS I have tried the "No cry sleep solution" with DS1 who was much bigger night mare re sleep, but he was a bit older. DS2 never had a problem settling himself.

Try re-reading the NCSS, esp the bit about pulling them off the breast before they fall completely asleep.

DS was an awful sleeper as well, so I sympathise

I had this problem with 5 month old DD - we coslept since she was 2 weeks and would always want to be sucking on my nipples through the night. I found that if I physically moved away from her after feeding she would sleep better...we have quite a big bed so I'd just crawl down to the bottom corner and leave her next to DH - it meant she would settle quicker and sleep better if she couldn't see/smell/sense me. I'd crawl back up when she genuinely needed feeding and then when she fell asleep I'd retreat to my corner! It worked in so much that both me and DD got more sleep this way for at least part of the night. Now she has been moved to her cot she sleeps much better - it may be that your DS would benefit from this and sleep better as a result. For co-sleeping-to-cot stories and solutions check out this thread.

My DD also cut her teeth quite early and has been a very bad sleeper. I think the main problem is that because of the pain they suck more slowly and therefore, need more time to feed. At that time, putting her down before she was fully asleep didn't work (but I haven't read the NCSS, so maybe I was doing it wrong). What worked better was to make sure she had actually finished feeding either waiting until she really pulled off, fully asleep or doing some breast compression to push things a bit.

She has started sleeping better after she cut her 8th tooth. Now she sometimes falls asleep by herself, so there is hope!

Also recently I took some fenugreek capsules, because I had the feeling that my supply had decreased with her bad sucking. I don't know if this can make a difference in your case, but there's nothing to lose.

Hope this helps