Is this normal? My wife and I are running on fumes. We try putting him down and he's fine for like 5 minutes then loses it. I know newborns need to be held but this seems extreme. How long did this phase last for you guys? We're starting to go a little crazy with the sleep deprivation.
Normal doesn't mean easy. Those first weeks are brutal on sleep but they really do grow out of it. The hardest part is accepting you're not sleeping much for a bit and stopping fighting it.
The newborn stage is all holding and contact. Don't fight it yet. Focus on shifts so you and your wife can actually get sleep. My wife would take one 4 hour block, I'd take the next. Survived on that.
We're in this exact phase right now. My daughter will sleep for maybe 10 minutes if I put her down then it's like she has radar. Everyone says it gets better around 3-4 weeks so we're counting down.
Totally normal and totally brutal at the same time. We went through the exact same thing at 2 weeks. All I can say is it gets better, but those first few weeks are just survival mode. You're doing great even though it doesn't feel like it.
It's normal but man is it exhausting. With three kids I learned the hard way that sometimes you just gotta hold them. It won't last forever even though it feels like it will.
This was us too with our first. The witching hour cluster feeding is real. Try contact napping in shifts with your wife so you both get some sleep, because yeah, running on fumes is exactly how it feels.
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Totally normal but also totally miserable. Our newborn was the same way. Get him contact napping in the first week or two - not a failure, that's actually what's supposed to happen. Around week 3-4 we could start small stretches in the bassinet.