My son is 3 weeks old and will only sleep if I'm holding him. The second I put him down in the bassinet he wakes up crying. My wife and I are running on maybe 2 hours of sleep total. Is this normal? When does this phase end? I'm not complaining about bonding time but man I need like 20 minutes to shower and eat something that's not cold. Any tips for transitioning him to the bassinet?
Have you tried the 'fourth trimester' approach? Basically treating the first few months like he's still in the womb. Swaddling, white noise, contact. Some babies really need that security before they're ready for independence.
Hang in there, the fourth trimester is real. Have you tried warming up the bassinet with a heating pad before you put him down? Made a huge difference for us when he realized it wasn't ice cold.
Man, you're in the trenches right now. At 3 weeks that contact sleeping is pretty normal even though it's exhausting. We did a lot of shifts where one of us would hold him while the other grabbed sleep - it got better around 8-10 weeks for us.
I remember those days. Hardest part was just accepting it was temporary and not a sign something was wrong. Get a good audiobook or podcast going because you're gonna be sitting for a while. It gets better around 6-8 weeks when they start sleeping longer stretches.
Sign in to join the conversation.
Totally normal at 3 weeks, man. My daughter was exactly the same way. The contact napping phase is real but it does pass. In the meantime, have you tried those contact nap hacks like warming the bassinet with a heating pad before you put him down? Might help with the transition.