I second reading her book..everything will make a lot more sense to you. The main thing is getting your DD on a structured routine..you will probably see that she does not hate all those things you mentioned..she's just overtired now and they are overstimulating and exacerbating the situation. My DD will hang out in her swing for 30 minutes on her own now that she is rested in the day but she would scream after 5 minutes before we started EASY.
Are you breastfeeding? Do you let your DD fall asleep on your breast? That was where I was going wrong. We were so desperate to have her sleep that I would let her sleep on me all the time and if she was crying I would resort to the breast since its the only thing that consoled her..though now I know she was tired not hungry. Then when I would try and put her down she would wake up wide eyed. Now I know, the wide eyes did not mean she was ready to be awake but at the time it seemed like she had enough sleep..was never really that fussy until later in the evening. Anyways, here's what I did accoring to the EASY plan. (EAT/Activity/Sleep/You time)
Day starts at 7:00 (plus or minus depending when she wakes up). Feed her and then follow with awake/activity time. At 6 weeks this would be 45 -60 minutes from start of feed. So if my LO fed for 20 minutes, I would follow up with another 25-40 minutes of "A " time (change diaper, get dressed, walk around and talk to her, swing etc...) At this point I would observe closely and at the first yawn or cry I would get her into her swaddle and start winding her down for her nap. Before the plan I did this wherever we were, watching TV etc. But I found going to the same place each time (her nursery), in quiet, made a big difference and she responded beautifully and immediately with falling asleep. I also started putting her down in her crib each time instead of the swing, the playpen, our bed..wherever etc. She would typically sleep for 30-45 minutes and then jolt herself awake so I would stay nearby and go in and sshh/pat her while she was in her crib until she fell asleep again. In the end she, would sleep for 1 1/2 hrs. The EASY plan calls for consistent feeding every 3 hrs at that age. If she woke up before 3 hrs had passed , I give her a little more activity time until her feed is due. Then we feed and the whole routine starts all over again. So the day looks like this.
7:00 EAT(7:20/30 -8:00 activity time)
8:00 wind down for sleep
8:15-10:00 sleep
10:00 EAT (then activity as above)
11:00 wind down for sleep
11:15-1:00 sleep
1:00 EAT (then activity)
2:00 wind down for sleep
2:15-4:00 sleep
4:00 EAT (then activity)
At 6 wks, tracy recommends cluster feeds and dream feeds to help get more calories in your baby and help to increase sleeping for longer periods at night. So the plan would continue as follows:
5:15-6:00 catnap
6:00 feed
6:30 bath, wind down
7:00pm asleep for the night.
10:00/10:30 dream feed
One thing I learned from these boards which helped a lot was thinking of your baby's day as a twelve hour day. So if she wakes at 7 she should be in bed by 7pm. Otherwise, you will definitively be causing your baby to become more overtired.(which is what we were doing since she never seemed to settle down before 10pm ).
We're still working on improving nighttime sleep so I can't speak to that but as for better napping, better tempermant , and better sanity for all, the EASY plan has ben so helpful. Hope this was helpful to you and good luck.