Getting newborn to latch on

pb_bride

My LO is 9 days old today.  Every time when I nurse him, it's a major battle to get him latch on.  What I mean is, it is a 2-person job.  DH holds his hands down (otherwise he puts them near his mouth and gets in the way), while I hold his head and get him latch on.  He thrashes his head left and right but never seem to aim for the nipple.  Is this normal for a newborn?  Does it get better?  Sometimes when DH is out or busy, it can take me 5 minutes just to fight with LO to get him latch on.  

FWIW, he has a great latch once he's on the nipple.