My baby was born 5 days ago.. all she does is sleep?

Its normal. My baby girl did that too. She would sleep all the time and we had to wake her up to eat. The doctor said that babies sleep a lot and its okay as long as we wake her up to eat every 3 hours or so.

Congratulations on the birth of your new baby. This is a glorious time in your life – and a sleepless time too. Newborns have very different sleep needs than older babies.

During the early months of your baby's life, he sleeps when he is tired, it’s that simple. You can do little to force a new baby to sleep when he doesn’t want to sleep, and conversely, you can do little to wake him up when he is sleeping soundly.

You may believe that babies should start "sleeping through the night" soon after birth. For a new baby, a five-hour stretch is a full night. Many (but not all) babies can sleep uninterrupted from midnight to 5 a.m. (Not that they always do.) This may be a far cry from what you may have thought "sleeping through the night" meant!

What's more, some sleep-through-the-nighters will suddenly begin waking more frequently, and it’s often a full year or even two until your baby will settle into an all-night, every night sleep pattern.

Good luck

I know you have lots of answers already, but I just wanted to let you know that it is not uncommon for a baby to sleep LOTS when they are first born. Some things that may cause them to sleep more than usual is if they are very warm. I would not let her sleep for more than 3-4 hours. Wake her. To do this, undress her, and change her diaper, and take her feet and rub them. This will stimulate her and wake her up! She will not be a happy camper and she will be ready to eat! Do not let her sleep without eating, or she will lose weight, and this will cause problems. Sometimes you can take a cool cloth and wipe the baby down with it as well. Do whatever you have to to wake her up so that she will eat! Talk to your pediatrician about this. That way they can do some blood work on her, and make sure things are going ok, and they can also do weight checks on her. I am sure it is nothing to worry about, but you do want to take the necessary precautions.

Congratulations and Good Luck!

Dee

The question is how long do you let her sleep before you wake her up. Newborns can sleep 4 hours at a crack when they are first born. As for sleeping 20 hours a day my oldest one did for the first few months. She still sleeps 10 hours a day. Don't wake them up to feed them. Enjoy that rest Mom. You need it. You are very blessed indeed. They will wake up for real hunger. Also they loose a little weight the first week or two then plumb back up. That is normal.

But if you are concerned, call you pediatrician and give them specifics. How long is each sleep cycle. How much is she eating. Is she having bowel movements.

They eat, sleep and poop for the first few months. That is about it.

It is normal for a new born to sleep a lot. Although her not waking up to eat is something to keep track of. Not to scare you, but have there been any babies in your family or your husbands family that have had sleep apnea?" crib death"? There were several crib deaths in my family, I had 7 kids, they were all fine till the last one and his not waking up to eat should have been a major indication,but I didn't know it was hereditary! Thank God my baby survived a horrible ordeal. If her sleeping so much concerns you,that is your motherly instincts, follow them it's better to be safe than to be sorry! And never be afraid to "insist" if your not satisfied with what your doctor tells you!

Congrats on having a baby girl!

You are lucky, you got a good baby! Babies have quite a range on how often and how much they eat and sleep. Most newborns sleep this much, believe me she will wake up more often soon enough. If she is breastfeeding, be sure she is voiding and stooling enough diapers and you might want to call the ped to see if you can bring her in for a weight check so you know she's getting enough. If you have formula make sure if you're using the powder you're mixing it correctly in the right ratio. Be sure you are putting her to bed on her back without pillows/blankets around her or anything that could potentially smother her. Use a baby monitor, those audio/video ones are great if you can afford them. Sleepy babies worry their mothers so it's nice to keep an eye on them.

Just beware for signs of infection, fever, listlessness, dry diapers, a lot of vomiting and spitting up, yellow color to the skin (jaundice can make them sleepy). Anything unusual like that warrants an immediate trip to the pediatrician.

Most peds have you visit them within a few days of coming home from the hospital for an initial visit.

A newborn may sleep as much as 16 hours a day (or even more), often in stretches of 3 to 4 hours at a time. And like the sleep all of us experience, babies have different phases of sleep: drowsiness, REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, light sleep, deep sleep, and very deep sleep. As babies grow, their periods of wakefulness increase.

At first, these short stretches of 3 to 4 hours of sleep may be frustrating for you as they interfere with your sleep pattern. Have patience - this will change as your baby grows and begins to adapt to the rhythms of life outside the womb. At first, though, the need to feed will outweigh the need to sleep. Many pediatricians recommend that a parent not let a newborn sleep too long without feeding. In practical terms, that means offering a feeding to your baby every 3 to 4 hours or so, and possibly more often for smaller or premature babies. Breastfed infants may get hungry more frequently than bottle-fed babies and need to nurse every 2 hours in the first few weeks.

babies DO sleep about 20 hours a day. And the rest of the time they eat.

this is normal, I mean just think of what is going on in their bodies, many organs are settling in, functioning for the first time (lungs, digestive system, etc.).

what seems less normal is that you have to wake her up to eat, I mean normally she should cry. What does the doctor say?

Newborns' sleep patterns are nothing like an adult's sleep. They will spend as much as 2/3 of the day asleep. If she's eating and she can be aroused, I would try not to worry too much. Babies just need a lot of sleep and she will not have any kind of pattern before she's 3 months old at the youngest.

Congratulations and just try to relax & enjoy your new baby.

take her in for a bilirubin test she might have jaundice. Is she looking a little yellow? If it turns out to be high its alot easier to treat now than before. with my first daughter she had to wear a bilibelt that was baulky and hooked to a huge machine. My 2nd daughter ( 2 months old now) just had to be in a bilibed, which is kinda like a plastic hamock over the lights and she was in a sleeping bag like thing. But take her in to get tested soon, it can cause liver damage if not treated.

(this is not normal, a baby should wake up when they are hungry. )