Do we continue doing the 4 s's in the middle of the night too? Or do we just do usual soothing such as rocking, light swinging till they sleep or do shush/pat? This is right after they wake up to feed or need a diaper change.
No. In the middle of the night you can put baby right back down to sleep as soon as you have finished the feed or nappy change - if LO will agree that is. If not then you do as needed to help sooth, just as you describe. Shush/pat in cot if possible, if not possible then lift up into arms to help sooth and putting down as soon as possible to continue shush/pat in the cot. Then reduce reduce.
The idea of shush pat 20-40 mins each time she wakes, especially in the middle of the night seems difficult, but we'll try anything. Can we just either shush or just pat after she falls asleep or would you recommend doing both still? We sometimes stop patting when she nods off and just shush her.
Ideally you reduce both whenever you can however in the early days it does help LO if you continue into the deep sleep phase, this is to prevent that jolt awake at say 5 mins like you were seeing. It is fine to reduce/stop one or the other but if you get that jolting awake again you will know it is not really working.
If you like you can also consider introducing white noise (or pink noise or brown noise...there are various "noises" available to buy or download) which replaces teh shush and reduces you job. White noise is not considered a prop as it can be left on all night/nap and does not require parental input beyond turning it on. if you are interested in this look for sounds which last longer than 45 mins (you don't want it to stop at the transition) or play on repeat.
Also, I realise spending so much time in the night doesn't fill you with joy! Ask yourself what the alternatives are, if it is co-sleeping or sleeping in arms how long can you continue to do that for? It's so easy to hold a 6wk old in arms for a sleep but yk when they are 8 months, 12 months...they are heavy and the constant sitting holding throughout naps in the same position for several hours per day can cause back pain or RSI in the arms etc. It's something that kind of creeps up on you.
Your LO is still very young and will need help with sleep, if you find yourself slipping into a bit of rocking in the middle of the night don't beat yourself up about it, you can find a balance between getting the best amount/quality of rest for yourselves and gentle sleep training.
In regards to 1 hr 15 mins of wake time before trying to get her to nap, should we out her on a schedule and if so, is it too early at 6 weeks to do?
Schedulers tend to be set times and forcing baby to fit into those. Here we tend to use the word "routine" rather than "schedule" as the routine is flexible and allows for LOs individual needs. Every baby is different and although we have guidance times and such we do not expect every baby to fit into a one size fits all "schedule" as some other parenting methods do.
6 wks is not too early to begin a gentle routine. My own DS I began with very gentle sleep training from day 1 with a wind down song (always the same song - for several years!), a lovey (muslin square by his face every time he was held and feed and cuddle and during the wind down to build comfort association), and attempting to put down for almost every nap (we did not manage every nap but as I say it was slow and gentle). At 4-5 wks I discovered BW and over that week gently moved towards the EASY routine. At around 8 weeks my DS was falling to sleep independently for most of his sleeps. Yes over the last 6 years we have had plenty of times he has needed additional help and sometimes he's been up half the night (reflux pain, teething, illness, developmental leaps) but at the end of these difficulties his ability to self sooth is still there.
So, no, 6wks is not too early, but throughout all of this you will be responding to your LO, you will not leave her alone to cry, you will be supporting her.
If she is a short napper, continually waking, how do we account for that? It would seemingly yield a lot of naps.
There are a few reasons for short naps. The main ones at this point are either that LO has not learned to self sooth and to transition from one sleep cycle to the next (gentle sleep training will help this) or that she is OT (over tired) or UT (under tried), or some sort of pain (gas).
Yes there will be a lot of naps - LOs sleep more than they are awake at this point.
Typical Amounts of Day and Night SleepIf you find the number of naps is too restrictive because you'd like to get out and about to visit people, get to the shops, go to a baby group etc then you can decide to have a certain number of naps at home in the cot sleep training and a certain number of naps out and about in the pram/sling/car seat. My suggestion would be to keep the routine as consistent as possible as babies build habits and the more consistent you are then more she will be and you will all find it easier to get into a suitable routine. For instance, if you choose to always do nap 1 of the day at home then really do try to preserve this every day rather than chopping and changing. You might decide for instance nap 1 at home, nap 2 on the way to a baby group or the shops (so in car/pram) and nap 3 on the way home, then nap 4 at home in the cot.
There are some sample routines here if you'd like to see what others have done:
Sample EASY Routines from 0 - 13mths+