6 week old not getting anywhere near the. 'normal' 16-18 hours sleep per day...

[owl13]

...should I be worried? She sleeps for an approx 6 hr stretch at night and has maybe a total of 4 hrs in naps during the day and that's it ( not through want of trying on our part). Any advice?

If she sleeps for six hours at night you should be the smuggest happiest lady in the land, not worrying! (I speak as the owner of another six week old).

Hard to know what to say but with a baby so young I don't think there is anything 'textbook'. the fact that she's getting 6 hours straight through at night is one positive. Doctors class 'sleeping through' as a five hour stretch.

Speak to your HV and just go with it for now is all I can suggest, babies this age change habits all the time. Good luck.

My DS has NEVER slept the number of hours that are described as 'normal' in the books. I used to totally obsess about it but realised after a while that as long as he was happy when awake he was getting the amount he needed. Btw. I agree with madaboutmadmen if you are getting a six hour stretch from a 6 week old you should be having a party! My one didn't sleep for more than 3 hours at a time till he was about 6 months old!

Fair point. Will try and stop worrying! Problem is dc not all that happy when awake - so I was wondering if she might be overtired...

Have you tried a sling? My DD finds it physically impossible not to go to sleep in a sling...

At that age DS was the 'wild-eyed insomniac baby' as we used to jokingly call him, and never slept for more than 3 or 4 hours at a stretch and never seemed to clock up that magic 14-16 hours newborn sleep either. It all settled down eventually though and by three months he was getting about 12-14 hours sleep in total. I think he was just going through a phase of waking up to the world at 6 weeks and it was all very exciting for him.

I found a sling really helped and also watching carefully for signs of over-tiredness to put him down for a nap before he got too grumpy. DS would make these weird bird-like squawks once he started to get too tired so that was my cue to put him down for a nap or get him into the sling.