My DD is 6 weeks old, though was 4 weeks early so can be considered 2 weeks developmentally. She sleeps pretty well at night in general - she will only sleep on me but generally sleeps around 9pm-9am in 1-3 hour stretches and goes straight back to sleep after a feed. Her feeds can be quite long so this normally works out at about 8 hours overnight.
However, her daytime sleeping is really hit and miss, and as a result she never sleeps the 16 hours in a day that they are supposed to at this stage. It's usually more like 10-12 hours. I read that babies her age are supposed to be awake for an hour maximum, but she can easily go for 4 hours+ and I still really have to work to get her to sleep after that. I try everything - rocking, humming, feeding, sitting her in a vibrating chair. Sometimes one of these will get her to sleep for a few minutes and then she wakes again. The sling or pram are quite reliable but I feel her quality of sleep is not as good then.
She doesn't seem to show signs of distress from over tiredness. She's not a particularly happy little bean in general - she seems to suffer from digestive issues and I am currently eliminating dairy to see if that helps. Sometimes her inability to sleep seems linked to digestive discomfort but mostly when she is wakeful for long periods she is just staring wide eyed around her.
She seems to be meeting some milestones - tracking toys with her eyes / head, lifting her head when on her tummy, starting to reach out for toys. She isn't smiling yet. I'm worried that the lack of sleep will hold back her development though or flood her little brain with stress hormones. Should I just trust that she is getting the sleep she needs and just doesn't need that much, or should I be trying something else?