My 6 week old baby has been sleeping the whole day , only wakes up for feeding. Should I wake her up in the day so that she can sleep at night?

Having spent the last nine months of his/her existence in a dark environment, a newborn does not know the difference between day and night when he/she is first exposed to the world. That being said, a baby will be able to grasp the concept within the first few weeks. A parent can help a baby make the connection of associating sleep when it is dark and being awake when it is light through the following: - spend time outside (in the light) when the baby is awake to help set the baby’s internal clock to adapt to responding to light - differentiate between daytime naps and nighttime sleep. Make the environment for naps less dark and not as quiet (e.g., let her nap in a room with the curtains open and allowing daytime ambient noise to continue around him/her) - at night, establish a bedtime routine as early as possible, keep the room as dark and quiet as possible after the night bath and night feed. It is still expected that the baby will wake frequently throughout the night for feeding as he/she is simply responding to his/her body’s cues for food. Hence, keep the interaction with the baby at night as short and as quiet as possible. The baby will pick up the patterns and learn to recognize between night and day. For more information and tips on how to teach a baby the difference between day and night, you can refer to this article: https://www.tesco-baby.com/epc/how-can-i-teach-my-baby-the-difference-between-day-and-night/

Generally, younger babies tend to sleep all day and stay awake all night. Eventually, this pattern will switch naturally but if you want to help this switch to happen sooner, you can try the eat-wake-sleep method. According to my mommy friends, this method works well and also help baby adjust to longer night sleep faster. Try the eat-wake-sleep cycle approximately every 2.5-3 hours during the day (baby will just eat and sleep at night). So you'll feed baby, have baby stay awake for a bit, then she'll go down for a nap and repeat. This way baby will not be sleeping and eating all the day long and risk not sleeping at night. This method will also help baby get used to a structure in his or her daily baby routine :)

Babies at this age sleep in 2-to 4-hour intervals, waking up to eat. Hence it is normal for your baby to sleep the whole day, only wakes up for feeding. There is no need to wake baby in the day so that she can sleep better at night. You can refer to this link for more information on baby sleep chart by age. http://www.babycentre.co.uk/a7645/how-much-sleep-does-your-baby-need

This may happen for few weeks. I noticed same behavior with my daughter around 6 weeks as well. pediatrician suggested me that you should feed baby after every 3-4 hours and to wake her up if she refuse to feed then gently move finger on her feet here

At that stage, their body is rapidly developing and they need sleep and rest for that. As long as she is asking for feed regularly its okay.