Baby will only sleep when held - it’s ruining my mental health

Oh mumma ❤️ please know that you are not failing at anything.

Please feel free to message me. I have a 10 week old who sleeps on me too. If I can help by being a shoulder to cry on, I'm more than happy to be that for you. I can understand and empathise with the frustration that's coming across.

Have you spoken to your health visitor? x

I promise you that this ends! My first born was like this, I lost count of the nights we just sat on the sofa so he could sleep & I willed the nights away, but also begged for sleep.
I have no advice, just know that this absolutely does end.
You won’t know anyone who isn’t a baby who sleep on their parents like this, so eventually this does end & dare I say it you may miss the snuggles (it took years for me to feel that)
Feel free to message in those early hours, it’s a lonely time & I am now up breastfeeding a four month old every waking hour! X

You are not a failure of a mom for struggling emotionally or mentally with being nap trapped. Every time my LO fails her bassinet transfer I feel that tension, anxiety, frustration, almost sadness. Every time I hear her start to fuss on the monitor before the 3hr mark from the last time she ate I feel my blood pressure spiking. For some that nap trapped and co sleeping life is not something they’re built for. It works great for a lot of people and that’s fantastic but if it’s not working for you it doesn’t make you any less than. I have personally strongly disliked the instances where I’ve been “forced” to co sleep(as in she needed connection in order to fall sleep but I didn’t have the energy for anything else). I always slept very poorly and woke up incredibly sore. You aren’t alone ❤️

It does get easier, I know right now it feels like that’s impossible but it really does. I know you’re not looking for advice but I just wanted to share that the only thing that would actually help keep my youngest stay settled was a love to dream swaddle. For weeks I’d sleep on the sofa through the nights for like max 20 minute half hour stretches, soon as I tried those l2d swaddles it was a game changer, she was such a sicky baby and would always instantly wake up with reflux or being sick when we lay her down until we moved her onto kendamil comfort milk alongside the boob, it’s so easy to blame yourself and feel like you’re doing something wrong but honestly, you’re not at all, it’s all new to both of you, even 2nd/3rd children etc, no baby is the same.

Please don’t be hard on yourself, becoming a parent is so fucking tough. You’re doing amazing, one day it’ll change and these tough weeks will be such a distant memory xxx

Ur not alone!!! My 7 month old still nap traps me every day every time! We also co sleep. I was absolutely 💯 miserable when he was 10 weeks old. That misery is a distant memory now. Feel free to message me

You are NOT a failure at all! I felt the EXACT same way with my son, and as hard as it was I knew I needed to sleep train to some level so that I wasn’t nap trapped every single day!! My mental health was suffering SO bad being stuck on the couch holding him while he slept… we used the love to Dream swaddles and supervised sleep in one of the snuggle me loungers — both offer similar snug sleep environments and I found my son often would nap really well in them! He almost exclusively slept overnight in the love to Dream swaddles too!
I fully plan to use very similar strategies with my soon to be newborn because I now know that my mental health is the MOST important thing for my family! You got this momma!

What kind of carrier are you using and how are you swaddling him at night?

Hey. Having babies is extremely difficult, you are not failing at anything. At that age both my kids were sleeping on me for naps too. This changed at around 6 months when I sleep trained and everything became so much easier. I would definitely consider this closer to 6 months. And I know this sounds such a long time away but it will pass quickly. You got this.