8 week old will only sleep when cuddled.

[batch74]

My 8 week DS will still only sleep if I'm holding him. Once asleep if I move him to his Moses basket he'll wake within 5 minutes and cry to be held again. He will sleep in the car and pram but as soon as either stops, he'll wake up crying to be held. Is this normal, or should I try to get him out of the habit? My DH thinks I should keep putting him down to try and get him used to it but I can't bare the thought of not holding him when he wants.
Strangely when we put him in his Moses basket in our bedroom at night, he will sleep. It's just during the day he insists on being held.
Just wondering whether this is normal and that he'll get better as he gets older. In which case; I'll carry on enjoying my daily cuddles!! 😍

Transferring a baby who's asleep rarely works once they are passed the newborn stage.

It's much more realistic to accept that baby is likely to need to stay asleep where he falls aslerp. So if not in your arms, perpetual rhythmic movement often helps.

As you've found, a pram or carseat will do this job. At home a bouncy chair or swing do a similar.

If he will be put down awake and goes to sleep without crying, great. A dummy may help with this, if you agree with your DH' s suggestion. But putting a baby down and them being distressed, that's not going to help an 8 week old sleep.

You can try a hot water bottle to warm the basket before putting him down. Might help. But if he's okay at night and it's not impacting your sleep, then I wouldn't worry too much.

My ds is the very same, so during the day I just held him while he slept, at night he was pretty good once we put him down within 15 minutes of falling asleep, enjoy the cuddles! He's almost one now and I still love when he naps in my arms during the day

Oh bless him he's only tiny still. It's scary out there in the big world and he just wants to be close to you.

My DS was the same and I just went with it. We co slept for a while and he's now nearly 5 months and sleeps in his cot all night.

The hot water bottle trick is a good suggestion. Do you swaddle him?

And yes, enjoy the cuddles! When you're in the middle of it, you worry it'll be like this forever and he'll still be co-sleeping when he's 18.

But in fact this phase is so fleeting. Before you know it, he'll be in his own bed and you'll look back on this early, special time and wish you could do it again!

My DS (7months) is currently in his bed for his morning nap - something we've only just started doing but he's taken to very well. He sleeps all night in his cot and was in his own room at four months. He's happy and content. But he still snoozes in my arms in the afternoon and I love it. I sometimes put him to bed and he'll stay but if I know he'll sleep for longer I'll cuddle him.

Snuggle! It won't last forever and I'm back at work in six weeks so it can't for me so I'm enjoying it while it lasts. Your baby is still so little so don't worry about it!

I remember exactly the same thing with ds1, when he was a baby - he'd fall asleep if I was cuddling him, but wake up very quickly if I put him in his moses basket.

If I had known then what I know now, I would have just sat and cuddled him whilst he slept - it was a phase and didn't last that long, as far as I remember (he will be 24 in August, so I am having to cast my mind back quite a long way).

If you use a sling, you could put him in the sling whilst you do essential stuff - but I wish I had realised that half the stuff I thought was essential, back then, really wasn't essential at all - and what was more important was that ds1 napped and I made use of that time to have a rest too, whilst cuddling him.

Enjoy cuddling your lovely, squidgy little boy - it is a lovely phase.

Thanks for all your comments. I'll try them but I'm not going to stress if not. I'll just enjoy my cuddles whilst he's young!!

Mine went through this phase and it's my biggest regret that I didn't just cuddle them. Screw the washing up and cleaning. I wish I had sat and cuddled rather than stressed as they soon grow out of it.