We're 3 weeks in and our son will only sleep if one of us is holding him. The second we put him down in the bassinet he wakes up screaming. My wife is running on fumes and I'm trying to take shifts but I'm going back to work next week and I'm freaking out. Is this normal? Do we just accept being zombies for months or is there something we're doing wrong?
This won't last forever I promise. We went through the exact same thing with our first. The contact sleeping phase is real but temporary. Get through it and then you can work on the independent sleeping. You're not creating a bad habit by holding him right now, you're keeping him alive and sane.
Welcome to newborn life. You're doing the right thing even though it's exhausting. He's only 3 weeks out of the womb so in his brain you ARE his safe space. Swaddling helps a ton, and white noise. Around 4-6 weeks it usually starts improving.
That's totally normal newborn stuff. He spent 9 months attached to your wife so the idea of being alone is terrifying to him. Give it a few more weeks and try the SNOO if you can swing it. Game changer for us.
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Three weeks in is still really early. Our second one did this too and it drove us crazy. The good news is it gets better pretty fast. Try contact naps during the day but work on putting him down for at least one stretch at night. Takes patience but he'll figure out he's safe in the bassinet.