5 week old not napping

[nello]

My LO is now 5 weeks old, and apart from the first couple of weeks when she was all fresh out of the womb and sleepy she doesn't like napping in the day. She will only sleep in the day if it is on me or in the pushchair or sling. I am worried as she does get overtired and I am also not managing to catch up on my sleep in the daytime like everyone suggests by napping when she naps.

Is this normal at this age? I read that babies should have about 3 naps per day, and I am worried that she is not getting enough sleep. Should I start trying to put her into a routine to nap, or is she too little for this? At the moment when I notice that she needs to sleep I am having to take her out for a walk as it is the only way, and then she can sleep for hours!

Any advice would be most welcome!

Nello

It doesn't help that the other mums I know all seem to have babies that autmatically 'drift off' every couple of hours!

Many babies of that age will only sleep on a person/in a sling/in their pushchair. She is far too small for a routine. Can't you cosleep and have a nap at the same time as her?

Thank you! I am relieved that you say she is too small and that this is normal - what I wanted to hear realy as I don't think a routine would work for her at all at the moment. Yes, I'm trying to nap with her, but so far hasn't worked, she just smells my milk and wants to keep feeding. will keep trying.

Maybe she's hungry? :o My DS would feed for about 45 mins at a time when he was that age. Was a bit of a pain but once he'd stuffed his face, he conked out.

So you think ok to nap as soon as fed...people have told me how I should try and keep her up for a bit after feeding before napping....something about bad habits, but if i'm honest sounds crazy to me right now!

Honestly, people who talk about bad habits in a 5 week old need their head examining. If she wants to play/look around, she will. She's probably tired if she hasn't been napping properly so she may take a while to catch up and then she will want to do things between eating and sleeping. I don't think babies get habits at that age - they really don't know what the hell is going on most of the time - it's all about the primal urges. Eat, sleep, cuddle :)

ok, so i'll just go with it for the time being!! fingers crossed :)