# how long is normal for a newborn to sleep right after birth?



## jrose_lee (Oct 2, 2005)

we are wondering how long is normal for a newborn to sleep after birth? We want to know if he needs to nurse here soon. He has been zonking out for about 5 hours thus far. He does not seem interested in anything else. He is big (9lbs 15 oz) so maybe he has some backup energy storage! Thanks!


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## Starfish11 (Apr 4, 2008)

I was shocked by how much my baby slept right after she was born. Asked around here and called my ped, too. Seriously, she snoozed A LOT! I long for those days









For the first few weeks I would wake her up to feed if she slept longer than four hours. If I didn't she would not have woken up at all to eat.


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## Astraia (Jan 1, 2009)

My midwife told me not to be concerned if my baby basically slept the full 24 hrs after birth, and had no interest in eating. She said it was common for babies to not feel hungry and not really want to suck, and that hospitals are horribly concerned and often push formula in this case but it's not usually necessary.

As long as they have that first feed soon after birth, then they're not too concerned.

Obviously the more baby nurses the sooner your milk comes in (I think?) but it should be OK...

My baby nursed every couple of hours for the first day, but threw the majority of it back up again.


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## Astraia (Jan 1, 2009)

Unless your baby is older than 1 day... and I just totally misunderstood.

From what I understand, if baby is otherwise eating well, and has enough poops and pees and seems to be gaining, then longer stretches of sleep here and there are OK


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## dearmama22 (Oct 20, 2008)

enjoy it...







My little one is 2 months old and I find myself saying, " Why did we ever worry about him sleeping TOO much?! Now he won't sleep at all!!"


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## gagin37 (May 25, 2008)

ds wasn't much of a sleeper, and still isn't for that matter. he was an unusually alert newborn i think.


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## J2 (Aug 12, 2006)

It is important to make sure baby doesn't sleep too long in the beginning. Baby does need to eat and help bring in the milk. Not eating often enough can affect milk supply, weight gain, and be a risk for jaundice. And then its a cycle because jaundice makes babies sleepy and sleepy babies don't want to wake to nurse but they need to nurse to help the jaundice. Not a good cycle.

It may be a wise idea to wake a sleeping baby to nurse or even just nurse them while they sleep until baby is gaining weight well and has regained their birth weight.


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## Mal85 (Sep 3, 2008)

If you're talking about the day the baby is born, he'll probably sleep most of the day. It was impossible to keep DD awake those first 24 hours.

The first couple of weeks she slept a lot too. I was waking her at night to feed her. Enjoy that time, it doesn't last forever!


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## Delicateflower (Feb 1, 2009)

The best person to call is your midwife. Failing that, your ped can answer your question. Most do phone triage and will be understanding if they haven't seen him yet.

Did you get a sheaf of information papers? We had tons from the hospital that covered exactly this sort of question and saved us calling and feeling silly. Did your midwife give you any?

I do know that they sleep for a long time after that first alert period, but I also know that big babies can have low blood sugar, and I don't know what the symptoms are, but I know that nursing is the fix... so a baby not interested in nursing may be at risk? Really, I'd talk to a midwife or ped with your question.


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## Halfasianmomma (Nov 1, 2007)

This is just my experience, but my skinny little DD (6 lbs) zonked out after the birth for about 5 hours. I sort of slept--not well though because I had my arm drapped over the bassinet for most of the time, and when I woke up, I got scolded by the nurse on staff for letting DD sleep. I honestly couldn't have done it otherwise because she was totally out and so was I, after 20 hours of labor standing on my feet. I don't think it had anything to do with weight, as much as it had to do with us both being pooped after all that hard work.

Her sleep/waking cycles sort of fell into place after the first few days, and then got all messed up again (and again and again) as she grew up.









Good luck!


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## Ayame87 (Nov 6, 2007)

Mine was born at 9.6 pounds and he slept and SLEPT I kept asking should I wake him? I was worried to death because I didn't know much about babies being a first time mom. He must've slept ten hours in a row and I was so worried in the hospital that he hadn't been eating enough. But they said let him be and he was fine









Even when I took him home, the first week or so it was like... 2-4 hours of awake and that was IT


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