To want to cuddle my newborn

[workingmummyof2soontobe3]

My baby is 5 weeks old, he’s my third baby and likes to be held. Constantly. My other two would let me put them down while I was making tea, doing housework etc but I’m attached to my baby all day everyday. My husband is doing everything around the house but I’m normally the one doing all the housework so it’s a bit of a challenge for me to sit back and watch. I am secretly enjoying lazing around with my newborn on my chest though. I do however keep getting a lot of comments about how I’m creating a clingy baby and making a rod for my own back. The alternative is to listen to him cry all day which I’m not prepared to do but I do worry he will never let me put him down ever again (irrational I know)

So please tell me how you spent the first few months with your newborns and when you was able to get on with off jobs again and do you miss those early days of cuddles?

Who is telling you that you are making a rod for your back!!
Cuddle away

@DuckbilledSplatterPuff

Who is telling you that you are making a rod for your back!! Cuddle away

A nurse in hospital told me I shouldn't let mine sleep on me or he'd want it all the time!!

Mind you she also forced me into the shower and told me to stop crying or the baby won't cry.

She destroyed my self confidence with him
Wish I'd ignored her.

You can’t create a clingy baby! Put the baby in a sling - he gets cuddles and you get your hands back!
Both of mine were like that, i just had them in a sling for as long as they liked! Now that they have grown up, they are challenging in different ways ;) but not clingy at all!

Plus now i dont have any babies to cuddle anymore but the washing up is still there! Babies wont be babies forever, you’ll be doing the dishes for the rest of your life!!

Mine was extremely clingy for the first 3 or 4 months. He then got the idea of grabbing toys and trying to roll over and, eventually, crawl and then he kind of got the point of being out of my arms and I could leave him for a few minutes here and there.

He's now 18 months and really quite independent, for example I left him playing in his cot for 20 minutes the other day while I took a call for work and he barely noticed I was out of the room. We also BF'd until 16 months and often co slept when he was tiny, and now he sleeps through 8pm - 6.30 most nights. No rods for any backs were made and the newborn cuddles were lovely

Same... But mine is 8wks ☺️❤️

I cuddled or put them in a sling for the first few months. No rod made here.

No rod here. I cuddled and cuddled and cuddled some more. If you want to you could consider a sling which would free you up a little. But enjoy!

All my newborns stayed in slings on me for first six months

You are actually growing their brain
You can’t spoil a child by cuddling
Instead you are ensuring their brain is developing
Cuddle away

Congrats on your baby. At 5 weeks I'd absolutely be happy to just sit there and rest and cuddle as much as possible. I think in coming weeks / months though you will want a bit of freedom again - it'll change naturally. DD2 was very cuddly at first but it quickly got easier to put her down.

You can’t spoil a baby, it’s incredibly old fashioned to believe so. Cuddle away, they’re only tiny for 2 minutes.

That's what I did with my third...Best feeling ever..wished I had cuddled my first born a lot more!

@LongLiveGoblingKing

I have a clingy 4 week old. Can I ask how you are getting sleep at night? Mine only wants to sleep on me and cries when he's in the next-to-me crib.

We bedshare. I've had to since she was newborn because otherwise I just didn't sleep.

DD was the cuddliest baby in our NCT group. At nearly 2 and a half, she still is, but she's also by far the most confident and independent. She just oscillates between one extreme and the other.

Thanks everyone 😃 so what’s the best sling out there? I’ve got a wrap thingy which we used one day and I loved it and he was content in there but every time I’ve tried it since he cries but I don’t know if that’s cause he’s already over tired and I’m getting him in there too late?

@LongLiveGoblingKing I’m sleeping with him on me at night too! I prop myself up with lots of pillows and a pillow under each arm and I just doze. I do manage to get him in the next to me for a couple of hours sometimes but it’s rare. To be fair I did co sleep In the first 6 weeks with the other two too but this one has to be on me not just next to me

You don't make babies clingy, they either are or they aren't Mine was and I'm glad I enjoyed it while it lasted, she's 12 now and no chance!

I had these comments. My last baby I would jump up as soon as she murmured. We were attached for 3 years. At 2 she was very very clingy. She used to cry if I washed up so I would pop her chair by the sink and we would sing songs.
Everybody told me she would be so clingy all her life. She is actually my most independent child. Out of my 3 children she is the one who will at 5 tidy up after herself, take her plate into kitchen after a meal, washing straight in the wash. I believe this is because she saw me do it all and just learned to copy.
She isn't clingy at all now. We enjoy a cuddle but she will play happily with her sisters or by herself, she is the best at going to sleep and has no issue going to school.

Enjoy your baby, I wish I had that time with my older daughters who are now 13 and 7. I listened to all the comments and didn't hold them as much. My last baby I decided to do it my way. She is probably the most rounded of them all.

@workingmummyof2soontobe3

Thanks everyone 😃 so what’s the best sling out there? I’ve got a wrap thingy which we used one day and I loved it and he was content in there but every time I’ve tried it since he cries but I don’t know if that’s cause he’s already over tired and I’m getting him in there too late?

I had a babybjorn Kept him close and secure and my hands were free!

My eldest was the newborn who never wanted to be put down. He's 9 now and will begrudgingly cuddle me once a day if I ask. He also coslept through necessity and now jumps at the chance to go on every trip away and sleep over he can.

I've got a one week old cuddler and I'm right now lying in bed with my 4 year old having done bedtime with him - he was a cuddler too! I love our Ergobaby Adapt and it's working well even for my tiny newborn. My son was in it until about 18 months - it's very supportive.

Ergo Baby was my life saver.

I had one of those! I remember the relief and amazement when she’d tolerate sitting in her bouncy chair long enough for me to have a wee or finish a drink - think it was about 4-5 months. She’s 11 months now and still pretty clingy, still contact naps and cosleeps despite my best efforts, but getting more confident and independent gradually. I do get a bit touched out sometimes, but I also know it won’t be like this forever.

I liked the close caboo sling when she was tiny and then the Tula sling when she got a bit bigger. I used the local sling library so could try a few. Worth looking into if you have one nearby.

He wants contact with you, you want contact with him. He's read the 'Be a Successful Baby' manual and he's lucky to have a mum who is willing to go along with him.

My very adult dd says she's often thought we should go back to the maternity unit where I was told I was 'making a rod for my own back' and say 'Here she is, the rod for my back! I did it my way and she's turned out just fine!'

@workingmummyof2soontobe3 I would recommend looking at your local sling library. There are so many out there you may want to hire and try and few out first before committing x