Ever wondered why your baby prefers to be held and will often sleep way better when being held?
It's because humans are part of the carrying mammals category!
Carrying mammals are the most immature mammals at birth. They depend completely on their parents for food, warmth and safety.
They are designed to be carried for an extended period of time while their brain continues developing.
Other carrying mammals include apes, kangaroos, koalas. Think about pictures of these animals as babies, where do they tend to be? That's right, attached to a parents chest, back or pouch.
So your baby is not broken, it is innate that they want to be held. In fact, newborn babies have a primitive grasp reflex. Every noticed newborns grab hold of anything in the palm of their hand - it was to make sure they could hold on to parents fur, now clothes, to keep safe.
So you are not doing anything wrong or "creating a rod for your own back" by holding your baby. You are doing what we were designed to do.
And for reference other categories of mammals;
Follow mammals - such as horses and giraffes can walk soon after birth and follow their parent for food
Nest mammals - such as dogs and cats, these parents leave their babies and return to the nest several times a day to feed them
Cache animals - such as rabbits and deer, leave their babies in a safe place and return once or twice a day to feed them.
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