2 week old baby... will only sleep when held

[babylove8]

Hello!
I am sure this is fairly common, but my baby is 13 days old and won't sleep unless being held. We have a next to me crib, sleepyhead and have tried on the bed next to me (practising safe co sleeping), but she just cries after a few mins and won't settle. So at the moment me and my DH are taking turns holding her throughout the night.

We did have a few nights where she did sleep in the crib in her sleepyhead and only woke up twice to feed (it was bliss!) but she's well and truly regressed.

Any advice / solidarity would be much appreciated!! One very tired new mum here!

It's not regression, it's development if anything but I know that doesn't help you right now. As you said it's really common. Does your baby have a dummy? Might help them settle apart. Have you tried baby sleeping bags? Or wrapping in blanket on you and then transferring. DD mostly stopped waking upon transfers once we used the sleeping bags, think it was because of the temperature change she often woke. Will she sleep in a pram? My pram carrycot was safe for occasional overnight sleeping and she slept great in there, could push her to sleep in it and then leave her asleep in it at least for one chunk of each night or something? Also you could try other things to settle them like white noise altho I never bothered to try that personally as the noise drove me insane. Oh also a bouncy chair or a rocker something you can use motion to get them to sleep in and then they may stay asleep in it for a few hours at the beginning of the night at least?

@MeadowHay thank you for your response.
She's got a dummy but generally spits it out and gets agitated, she has been sleeping in grow bags and I was thinking of trying to swaddle tonight... white noise doesn't seem to make any difference.
We could try the pram/bouncy chair. It's good to know this is normal, I'm just wondering whether it's something she'll grow out of or whether we should proactively be doing something to help her feel comfortable in it..

She will grow out of it eventually even if you don't do anything and even if you wanted to help her along her way, imo 2 weeks would be too early. It depends on your baby as all of them are different and will have different sleep habits but newborns can't really be taught to do anything they don't want to do imo. People might come along and say otherwise and maybe their techniques worked for their baby but our DD if she wasn't happy about something she would let you know, by screaming blue murder for hours. Anyway even people who talk about sleep training generally accept its definitely not suitable for babies under 6 mo, some people say older. We have been fairly lucky with our DD with sleep to be honest compared to lots of other people but when they're tiny you just do what you all have to do for the most sleep you can get I reckon. Don't worry about like what you should or shouldn't be doing. All you need to do is all try and get as much sleep as poss!

Ah thank you @MeadowHay,
You've made us feel a lot more relaxed about it. We'll keep trying her in her crib/sleepyhead and hope she starts embracing it soon, in the meantime we'll keep on as we are. Thank you again!

Sympathy from me! DS is getting better (he's 5 weeks now) but was like this for the first week. Not entirely helpful but the only thing that worked for us was giving him some formula; I cracked at 3am one day and then he went down immediately. Sadly it doesn't work reliably and he'd still rather sleep on us than anywhere else. We generally let him for naps but try to persevere with the next to me or Moses basket at night even if it takes a while.

Cosleep at night and use a sling during the day.

If you’re breastfeeding then try to master the side-lying position, it’s by far the easiest way to safely feed the baby to sleep while getting rest yourself.

so normal for 2 weeks old!!

my little one is a lot older and still only will sleep when held if poorly or just feeling a bit shit
all about them feeling safe!

mine was more settled at around 2 months and slept in a moses basket

Our DC2 spent a while in hospital as a new born and the nurses were experts at settling babies. Not sure I ever completely mastered it as it took me much longer to settle him using their method, but it did work. They'd basically put a baby in their cot but not let go of the child at all for a minute or so. Then they'd move to cocooning baby's head with one hand, patting it's tummy with the other hand and whispering in its ear. After doing that for some minutes they'd slowly move away... basic idea obv to make baby still feel cuddled in their cot and to help with temperature of cot being cooler than a body. Maybe also helped that the nurses didn't smell of milk, so baby didn't notice them leaving so much?

Hi, just to say could be reflux. My DD was fine being held upright but would cry after a couple of mins when put down. Not picked up till 6 week check at GP as few other symptoms and HVs said it wasn't - they were wrong. Got her on ranitidine and she turned into a happy, giggly, sleeping baby after 4 weeks as she wasn't in pain any more ❤️

Same thing happened to us and eventually (at 4 weeks) our bubba slept in the Sleepyhead. Just keep trying the Sleepyhead and it should hopefully work. Can you pop a muslin that smells like you over the sleepyhead? Have you tried swaddling?

This is all totally normal and will get better!

Thank you everyone, all really helpful! I'll try swaddling tonight, I have done before and she's desperately tried to break free, but so many people have suggested it, so it's worth another go I think!

I will also make a note to keep a muslin close to me tomorrow and use this at night moving forwards. Fingers crossed!

@chocodrops I do think she gets a bit of reflux but I'm not sure that's what the problem is and it's more of a whiny cry rather than a painful one, but I'll keep an eye on it.
Thank you!

@AppropriateAdult I've tried side lying feeling and it does work although she does de latch fairly easily. However once she's fed and asleep, it doesn't take long for her to realise she's not on me, and cries again!