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We didn't start co-sleeping until he was 6 months old. Before that, he slept in a swing. Have you tried a swing? or Nap Nanny? He is still co-sleeping at 12 months old but starts each night and every morning in his bed (around 3 am we take him in there).

For the next kid, we are going to do the arms reach co-sleeper for the really young ages.

We would swaddle our little man and put him in the swing and he would sleep for as long as he would sleep.

Have you tried swaddling? I find that baby is okay as long as he's in a swaddle. I think he maybe thinks he's still in my arms that way?

I co-slept from day 1.. well, day 3 (since I couldn't co-sleep with her at the hospital).
It worked well for us. She sleeps on her own now, but sometimes I'll fall asleep next to her when I'm really tired and she wakes in the middle of the night.
LO is 13 months old.

Our LO slept in a swing too, it was the only place she would sleep besides on top of us. We moved her out of it at 6 months though and that was a battle and a half, my husband jokes about making her a big swing for as she grows. But now she starts the night in her crib and then moves to our bed. She's hated the crib from day 1 though so we're going to move her to a floor bed once we move because she seems to do fine with them when we're visiting family.

We had the same issue as you! The first night in the hospital LO slept A LOT just because I had been on a groggy/tired-inducing med while in labor that passed to him. But our first night at home, I laid him in his bed next to ours and he never slept more than half an hour at a time. His whole first four weeks were made up of my husband and I taking turns all night in the rocking chair holding him while he slept.

Finally at 4 weeks old, we gave in and co-slept. I swaddled DS and let him sleep in the crook of my arm. I made sure to wear nothing with straps or excess fabric. I wore a form fitting sweatshirt, and only kept the blankets to my hip. I also made sure the pillow was far away from his face. Thankfully my husband sleeps in one position all night, so he stayed on his side of the bed. At 6 weeks we learned how to breastfeed in bed which was a lifesaver! Now I hardly even wake up to feed him, he just latches on and we both go back to sleep. He sleeps from 8pm-8:30-9am waking up 2-4x to eat. He is 11 weeks now.

I was nervous at first too, but honestly, I wake up whenever he moves or makes a noise. When I researched it I found that moms and baby's heart rhythm becomes in sync to each others when sleeping together as do their sleep patterns. their bodies mechanically enter the same sleep stages at the same time. So when baby is entering light stage to eat, often mom is already waking as well. I have noticed this is SO true of us! It's amazing how in tune with him I am.

Cosleeping has saved my life. At four weeks I had several emotional breakdowns and at one point struggled with depression from sleep deprivation. It's been the best decision we've made so far, for sanity's sake. Now even my husband has come to LOVE sleeping with our son. When I mentioned the other day that I'm thinking of working him back into his bed (which is still next to ours), DH got sad and said he'll miss him - too cute!

DS now takes naps during the day on his own in our bed. I lie next to him, nurse him and he falls asleep, he will sleep on our bed for 2-2.5 hours, but nap in his bed for only 5-30 minutes, like your baby. Even at night, I put him down between 7:30-8:30pm and he sleeps just fine on his own until I come to bed. I jokingly told my husband we need to get our baby his own queen bed to sleep on

I hope you find something that works for you! the first few weeks can be scary, but it gets better.

Oh, and our sheets tend to bunch up and since suffocation is the biggest hazard I put down a water proof mattress pad and it's worked great, he sleeps on that and is perfectly safe.

http://www.hellobee.com/2012/01/31/co-sleeping-with-two/