HOW to help a newborn sleep alone?

[Isadora2007]

I haven’t a clue how to get a teeny one off to sleep without being held. If he is put down he starts wriggling and grunting then cries and then takes ages to settle again so no one sleeps- but if he sleeps on someone he will sleep for up to a 4/5 hour stretch overnight.
It’s exhausting us both as we share the nights and neither gets more than 5 hours broken sleep a night.
He is EBF and nearly 5 weeks old.

What about a sleepyhead and then heat it up with a hot water bottle or wheat bag before you put him down in it

My LO was exactly the same and refused to sleep anywhere except for our arms for the first couple of weeks. He's now just turned 5 weeks. The sleepyhead was a real game changer for us. I started off by feeding him to sleep and cuddling him for 20/30 mins or so until he was in a really deep sleep, then transferring him slowly into the sleepyhead with a blanket tucked in under his arms. We usually warm it with a hot water bottle and use white noise (always) and a dummy to settle initially (if needed - he's a big comfort sucker so this helps if he's a bit fussy!). We also found that putting a hand on his stomach once we put him down helped him to feel more settled. We also used a small cushion under his legs and up against his bum initially, again to make him feel more secure when he was kicking about and just feeling empty space. He's gradually gotten used to it and will go for longer stretches, and he's now much better at settling himself in there if he wakes when I'm moving him.