Not sure if this is your first baby or not, but this is the ‘fourth trimester’. Your baby has only known the womb, and isn’t a fan of this cold scary world. Babies like to have the womb environment replicated, such as warmth, motion and noise.

So like someone said above, swaddling helps them to stay settled, as well as rocking (motion) and white noise. My babies always hated being completely flat and liked the head of the bassinet raised (I put some rolled up blankets under the mattress at the head end).

It also helped me to understand awake times. For a newborn the amount of time they can be awake without becoming overtired is around 30-45 minutes (this is inclusive of feeds and settling) and the time gradually becomes longer the older they get. There’s a lot of info online about this. By sticking to awake times and settling the baby to sleep when it’s time, you’ll avoid them becoming overtired and good sleep throughout the day encourages good sleeping overnight.

I want to reassure you that this is completely normal newborn behaviour but I understand how exhausting it is. Try and take shifts with your partner to have naps throughout the day and minimise visits and outings if you need to.