What a 6-week-old baby does
Around six weeks the first true social smile usually arrives — a smile aimed at you, in response to you. Babies at this stage hold their head up longer during tummy time, and gaps between dirty nappies often stretch out, which is expected rather than a problem.
What is my baby doing at 6 weeks?
- Your baby may be smiling back when you talk — the real social smile.Source: AAP · When Do Babies First Smile?
- Your baby may be learning to follow moving things with their eyes.Source: AAP · Infant Vision Development
- Your baby may be settling the newborn eye-wander as both eyes team up.Source: AAP · Infant Vision Development
- Your baby may be building toward 15–30 minutes of tummy time a day.Source: AAP · Back to Sleep, Tummy to Play
What does a baby need at this stage?
Long gaps between poos become normal now
After about 6 weeks a breastfed baby can go several days without one. That alone is not constipation.
What to do: Watch how your baby is feeding and growing rather than counting the days.
Source: NHS · How to change your baby's nappyTummy time is now 15 to 30 minutes a day
Spread over short sessions, always awake and watched.
What to do: Get down at their eye level — your face is still the favourite thing to look at.
Source: AAP · Back to Sleep, Tummy to PlayFormula climbs to roughly 90–120 ml a feed
About every 3 to 4 hours by the end of the first month. Most babies stay under about 960 ml in 24 hours.
What to do: Follow fullness cues and never push the last of a bottle.
Source: AAP · Amount and Schedule of Baby Formula FeedingsBurp through the feed, not just at the end
With a bottle, pausing about every 60–90 ml works better than one burp at the end; when nursing, switching sides is the natural moment.
What to do: Rotate the three holds: on your shoulder, sitting on your lap, or face-down across your lap with the head above the chest.
Source: AAP · Baby Burping, Hiccups & Spit-UpThings worth knowing at 6 weeks
- That smile is real: a baby's first social smile usually appears by the end of the second month.Source: AAP · When Do Babies First Smile?
- Around 2–3 months the newborn eye-wander settles — your baby's eyes are learning to work as a team.Source: AAP · Infant Vision Development
- By 3 months your baby can follow a moving object with their eyes — try a slow toy sweep.Source: AAP · Infant Vision Development
- Tummy time can build toward 15–30 minutes a day around 7 weeks — short sessions still count.Source: AAP · Back to Sleep, Tummy to Play
- Your voice alone can now raise a smile — babies this age smile when you talk to them.Source: AAP · Social Development: Birth to 3 Months
- A few calm minutes of solo play builds self-soothing — the skill that later helps with settling to sleep.Source: AAP · Social Development: Birth to 3 Months
When should I call a doctor?
Some signs mean call the same day whatever the stage — a rectal temperature of 38.0 °C (100.4 °F) or higher under three months, fewer wet nappies with a dry mouth, or a baby who is unusually hard to wake. The full list, with thresholds and sources.
Before this: 2-Week-Old Baby: What to Expect. Next: 3-Month-Old Baby: What to Expect.
This is general information, not a substitute for your own doctor, midwife or health visitor — they know your baby, and this page does not.
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