How long is my 6 week old baby suppose to sleep? & am I suppose to be keeping him awake during the day?

Sounds like he has made excellent weight gain, well done to you mummy :-)

Don't be too worried about waking him during the night, if he sleeps through, let him, great practise for when he is older, better to get him in the habit now rather than later when they are older and way too aware of their surroundings. During the day though I would give him 2-4 hourly feeds. Try not to let him go longer than 4 hours during the day. You could even try playing with him after a feed. Reading to him or even just talking to him for a bit and then let him go back to sleep. Change him obviously during the day when he needs changing but honestly, at night, I wouldn't wake him just to change a wet nappy. You'll find a soiled nappy will wake him anyway so you could change him then and put him back to bed at night if he wakes. See how he goes and if he insists on a feed, then certainly feed him and put him straight back to bed. Like I said earlier, sounds like he is doing really, really well considering how early he arrived. Sounds like you have a good little fighter there. With the spitting up, it is normal for babies to spit up whether breast or formula fed, very normal and quite common. The mucus he is bring up though sounds like a bit of congestion on his chest. Definitely use the saline drops up his nose as this will help break down the mucus. The reason he is bringing it back up is because he is swallowing it. It wont hurt him at all but is just a bit yuck for him that's all. You can also use some vicks vapour rub but do not put any on him just the front of his clothing. Just smear a bit on and this will help clear his little passages as well. If you find for any reason that his condition is worse or you feel worried yourself, don't hesitate to take him to the hospital otherwise you can wait for his doctor's appointment, you can always cancel that if need be. All the very best sweetie and I hope this info helps you. xx

Ok hun just calm down, its sounds like you doing fine, its all about learning as you start out.

I know you say your pumping which is fine if it works but if you can breastfeed it might work out better for you and him but if not then thats fine.

Babies at that age should only be awake for about an hour at a time during the day and that sounds like what it happening with your little one, if he needs the sleep then let him sleep, if he needs to be fed then let him feed. If he is sleeping 4-5 hrs then that is fine also, my rule is "never wake a sleeping baby" he obvisously needs the sleep if he is going that long. You dont need to change his nappy in between just change it when he wakes up. In regards to how much he is eating, he will probably want more at certain times of the day, and they are exactly like us, sometimes we want more at tea time and we eat less for lunch, so just feed him whatever he wants.

The most important thing to remember is forget clocks and time and just feed when he is hungry, remember that when he was in the uterus he was constantly being feed 24/7 and never knew the feeling of being hungry so it is a new feeling for him hence why he crys so he wont be patient when he wakes he will want to be fed straight away. Thats why I find breastfeeding so easy, dont need to heat the bottle.

He might be spitting up because he is full, my daughter used to do that at that age too, it does get better as they get older, or perhaps the nipple in the bottle you are using is too big and he is gulping too quickly. He might be a bit mucousy though, the little noses are a good thing to use. He is too young for any other medicine so dont worry about that. What you can also do is get some breast milk in a syringe and squirt some up his nose because it has antibodies in it it can clear his nose up, but the best thing is the breastmilk.

Dont worry and just go with the flow, you will get there, we all feel like you do.

Just listen to his needs, babies are great little communicators.

Dont listen to the woman below me, your baby is not having a reaction to your breastmilk, dont need formula, your giving you baby thr best thing

I don't think you should try to force your baby to stay awake during the day. Let him sleep when he needs to sleep as it is imperative for his growth right now. It is also important you interact with him while he is awake. It will help him to be more curious and to stay awake more often.

He was a preemie, so he will be sleeping more often than most babies. My daughter was 2 weeks premature and she is now 4 weeks old and is going through the same situation.

She also drinks 2 to 3 ounces of formula. However at night, I really fill up her tummy before she goes to bed. This helps her to only wake up every 3 to 4 hours during the night and allows me to get more rest.

I think its ok that you feed your breast milk from a bottle. It makes it easier to determine how much your child is eating. It doesn't sound like he may have a cold, he might just be reacting the the breast milk. It might be too much for him. It was way too much for my daughter. I changed her from breastmilk to the Enfamil A.R. Lipil. This is a rice based formula for babies that spit up often, are gassy or fussy. It works well for her, she loves in the last 3 weeks only spit up once and that was because i didn't burp her before i fed her more food. So the gas bubble burst causing her to spit up.

If you call your doctor, there should be an on call person or an advice nurse that should tell you what you can do for your child as far as medicine goes and help you better determine if your child needs to be seen. You want to be more careful what you give your child since he was pre-mature. There is also urgent care that you can take him too if even if it isn't an emergency, if you need that peace of mind, then take him there. The worse that can happen is you wait for 2 hours and they say nothing is wrong with him.

the pre conception is sleep of a day = no sleep of a night but thats false. as long as ur baby sleeps of a night 2 then its fine. u should wak him every 3-4 hours of a day dont let him go longer so he is awake for a bit n if he wants go straight bk down let him.

keep the day loud n if he flat out nothing not even a hurricane will wake him n if noise disturbs him he not really that tired but if he doesnt sleep of a night then wake him more in the day but there doesnt seem any need for that.

best of luck xx

Hey, my baby girl is nearly 6wks old. She has 150ml (just over 5oz) every three hours. Does your baby have a small amount due to his early arrival? I personally would have said it wasnt enough he was getting but im sure your health advisor will let you know and if he's putting on weight at a a steady pace then im sure he's fine.

all babies, especially premature babies tend to be a bit mucousy but at 6wks I would have thought it shouldnt be so bad now. I also had a problem getting an appointment for my baby girl this week but as soon as I told them the appointment was for a baby they gave me one straight away - seems a bit stupid but thats how they work I suppose.

My little girl has had a bad sleeping routine from the beginning as I also breastfed but she wanted fed every 2hrs and it seemed she wasnt getting enough from me so I had to give it up. She now gets a bottle but it totally disturbed her pattern. She is sleeping all day and keeping us awake at night so ive had a nurse here today giving me loads of info on how to change all that. Its just a matter of sheer perseverance and determination to try and and change your baby's pattern. Try and keep him awake a little more during the day and start a ridgid routine of early evening bath, then feed and then to bed with soft baby music. Keep eye contact to a minimum and try not to over stimulate.

I have this to do until friday when the nurse will be back to check on progress so im determined to get this right.

In the meantime if you are worried i'd stress to your doc's surgery that you need an appointment this week for your little boy.

Good luck and best wishes.

I'm not a mom and don't have any kids but I'd say that he needs all the sleep that he can get.. My thoughts would be this!!

Cause once he gets older and don't go to sleep that much, you'll be thinking why...*S*

Congrats just the same!

Well, you can try to keep him busy in the day. It will get him tired by the night. Then it'll become a routine

if the baby is gaining weight and healthy I wouldnt worry too much(I know ya gotta worry some). We raised three boys their all different, and its a lot of work growing, it makes them tired and he seems to be growing fast! good luck