Newborn will only sleep if held

[NewmumOct]

My DD is 9 days old today and pretty much since she was born she would only sleep being held or lying on my/husband chest.
This is all day and night. She is breastfed which means she spends most the nights on me and naturally i end on falling asleep with her lying on my chest. I know she has reflux and plan on taking her in to the GP on Monday.

I am unsure if its the reflux thata causing this or if she just likes being held.
My first born had reflux and it was pretty bad.
He would sleep in his cot, i just had to make sure he was held for 30mins after feeds etc

Has anyone experienced this? Any advice?

I've experienced it a few times over. A good front carrier was my answer. Your baby has been curled up inside you all day every day for all her existence, hearing your voice and heartbeat, having you right there. Of course they want you close. One day you will miss it. Meanwhile, I'd make sure I have a good way to wear baby. Congratulations on your new little one.

So normal I think. Look at Lullaby Trust safe cosleeping guidance. I just slept with my second in a bed together from birth.

This. We can say this with the benefit of hindsight but appreciate when you’re in the thick of it, it’s hard to really appreciate the contact that she craves.

DH and I dealt with it by taking it in turns. My rest time was regularly interrupted for feeds, but taking shifts so to speak got us through that early newborn phase.

This. We took it in shifts in the early days to avoid either of us falling asleep while holding her. Babies like to be held, there’s nothing wrong with it but it can be tough when you’re so exhausted. I breastfed too. Make sure you’re following safe sleeping guidelines if you are falling asleep with her.

Congratulations on the birth of your baby girl.

Our DD was like this for the first couple of weeks, for us swaddling helped - we used the Love To Dream suit. They are quite expensive but you can find second hand on Vinted too.

We’d put her in the LTD suit, give a breastfeed and then DP would go for a walk with her in the sling. This seemed to help wind her a bit more and settle her to sleep
, then we could put her in her cot. We now don’t need to do the walking bit in the evenings and put her down after a feed ( DD is 7 weeks old now).

Every baby is different though, hope you find your solution x

Completely, though unfortunately, normal. However ending up unintentionally drifting off with them lying on you isn't the safest and you'd be far better to plan for safe cosleeping to try to get a little sleep. Lean into all the help you can in the daytime for people to hold baby so you can get some rest where you can. You're deep in the trenches but this too shall pass.

Have you tried a side sleeper? I used to feed my DD to sleep in one of those. It wasn’t a perfect solution as she always wanted to be held as well but with feeding and leaving my arm around her I managed to get a bit of sleep