How much should a 6 week old sleep......

[SleepyCaz]

My DD is 6.2 weeks old and some nights she sleeps a lot, some nights hardly any. Same with the daytimes. Some days she cries all day, others she is happy and quiet when awake. She has nasty colicin the evenings, but has Coleif and Infacol for this.

Problem is, i was told that if they are getting enough to eat in the day, by 6 weeks they should be sleeping pretty well at night. Is this right? Does it mean that on the nights she is up a lot, i've starved her in the day?

Confused .

it depends on whic 6 week old
anything goes at this age

and in my opinion the food thing is a red herring

no at 6 weeks most babys are not sleeping through the night at all quite the reverse. Every baby needs a different amount of sleep. Crying all day doesn't sounds right though - is she drinking well?

She is getting through lots of milk most days. She has maybe 2 days a week where she cries nearly all day. HV has said its wind, so am constantly winding her. I take her out in the buggy and she goes straight off to sleep for ages though. It makes me think if she was ill or in pain this wouldn't happen. Maybe im wrong.

Sleepycaz who on earth told you that? Hardly any 6 week olds sleep well at night. All babies are different - DS1 barely slept at 6 weeks, DS2 barely woke up...both worried me. Just try to get through the days and nights, that is all that can be expected of you and your baby at this age.

I reckon they are on a 2-3 hrly loop at this age. Eat, google about a bit, chunter, sleep. Some will need help getting off to sleep which is where the cycle can break down. They are qouted as sleeping 18-22 hours a day, like cats.
In my experience the less they sleep the less able they are to sleep. Unlike their knackered parents!

Bugger the days and nights and weeks approach, and never mind the time. Get into her 'loop groove' and you will soon be so in swing with each other you will know what time it is by looking at her.

As in I second the ProvincialLady in getting though here and now not looking for a long term pattern- not bugger her advice! Must preview. must preview. must preview.

at 6 weeks old, her tummy is still very small, and needs filling little and often, she has not really started to learn about day or night, and if she is hungry, she needs feeding

few 6 weeks old sleep through, and those that do, won;t do it that consistently as they have frequent growth spurts

try carrying her in a sling if she seems windy and unsettled

the more she cries, the harder for her to feed wthout getting too tired to feed properly and that also might amke her windier and omre unsetteld

I'm with ProvincialLady as well, my first one slept like a log and would sleep 12 hours straight through the night from 3 weeks old.

My second one would cry from 4pm to 11pm have a rest and cry again from 2.30am to 8am have a rest and start crying again the amount of colic stuff I poured down that child's throat! he didn't stop crying until he was 4 months old.

My third has gone through patches of sleeping through the night for a few weeks and then waking up at 3/4/5am she's 5 months now and still getting into the swing of things.

it's just bonkers isn't it. It must be so much easier in cultures where there are no clocks.......

Apparently bf rates are highest there too. But that's totally off topic, sorry.

Very few 6 week old babies will 'routine' - it just goes against their programming.

They are hardwired to stay safe and eat often. As far as they are concerned, you might be feeding 4, so they need to get a look in on the milk stakes. The dark and the quiet is fundamentally threatening as tigers etc hunt at night and they may be in danger, or have been forgotten in a cave. The smell and motion of mummy [or other care giver] is a reassurance they are where they need to be and safe. Hence the pushchair tips her to sleep.

It sounds crazy but we as humans evolved over many millenium and when you look at human babies from the mammal who wants to survive pov, it all begins to make sense.

Totally knackering though.

Ditto PPs, ignore anyone who tells you a newborn (which I count as up to 4mths, IME) should be doing anything where the basics (eating, sleeping) are concerned.

Very much second the sling thing though - those babes who don't come with going-to-sleep skills (ie most of them) enjoy a good bit of slingage.

With the day/night thing - and don't get me wrong I'm absolutely not a routine person - but sometimes just taking an objective look at environment, and making sure the day-time one is different to the nighttime one, and consistently so, can help them to start to sus what's expected at different times. Co-sleeping can help, but I know doesn't work (or appeal) to everyone.