4 Day Old Baby Sleeping All Day. Normal?

So normal! My five day old daughter is doing the same thing. She's had a few short periods of being awake, but it's only five minutes at a time. Congrats to you!

I think it is pretty normal for a 4 day old. As long as you can wake him and he does eat. My SIL's baby was doing this at 2 weeks old and it was difficult to wake her and she didn't want to eat more than an ounce and was back to sleep. Apparently she was so congested that breathing and eating just took too much out of her. They suctioned her nose out at the ER and then she was wide awake.

During the day, get him into the sunshine for a while. It'll help wake him up and make sure billirubin is being produced.

You should also keep a journal of when he's actually sleeping and eating and spending time awake. Keeping a journal and then tallying up the times can help you keep much better track of what's actually happening versus "what things seem like."

Babies this age do sleep a lot. Being jaundiced means he's probably sleeping bit more than typical, but remember that when babies sleep is when they grow the most and produce the most growth hormone.

Since he's waking to eat he should be fine. Just be sure to check the yellowness of his skin and if you see yellow in the whites of his eyes, and if they are then he needs to be brought to urgent care/ER.

Lethargic means you can't really rouse him and he wouldn't wake to eat or when you change his clothes or diaper and likely wouldn't wake when you bathe him.

But you have to listen to your instincts. If you're worried, then don't wait until mid week to call your pediatrician. Your pediatrician should have an answering service and on call hours even during a holiday weekend. If he's not on, there will be someone covering for him. If not, your baby is still only 4 days old so you can call the hospital where you delivered him and ask them for advice. They should have a help line for questions like this.

My second son was like that for the first 3 weeks, slept constantly. I had to wake him to nurse him. When the baby wakes up try to do stimulating things that waken him further.
I'm sure some moms are wishing THEY could say this :)

I know having a baby with jaundice is scary and usually a jaundiced baby does sleep more. When I was in the hospital with my little guy the nurses told me to keep an eye on his wet diapers and messy diapers. Keep an eye on his orange skin and if needed they can set you up with a bed to keep him under the lights. You can always call the doctor on call. Jaundice is scary so kisses to you!!

I know, as a nursing mother, it is difficult to judge how much your baby is getting. A baby that is a little jaundice does need to drink more than a baby without. A new born should be eating every two to three hours and nursing for 10 to 15 minutes at a time. If he has trouble latching on or you don't think he is getting enough, then you can always pump between feedings to find out how much you are producing. If you are worried about jaundice, watch the wet and poopy diapers, the baby's color, and during the day wake him up for feedings every three hours or so. At night you can go longer, but I would wake him in four to five hours and do a diaper check and feeding. Another thing that will help is to keep him in the daylight as much as possible. Sunlight does a great job of reducing the jaundice. From experience, and from being a doula, I can say that the coloring of your baby is one of the easiest signs to look for when being concerned about jaundice. My son was pumpkin orange at one point when his number was high. He had to spend sometime in the hospital for a few days for that, but it dropped quickly under the lights. Good luck and be sure to call your doctor if you have any concerns. There should be someone on call to answer questions and the ER is always open.

My son had jaundice when he was born.
Then he came home, and was still jaundiced. I was in the hospital with him for 3 days, before both of us coming home.

At home, he seemed to get more and more yellow, throughout his body and eyes.
My Mommy 'radar' was not comfortable with this, even if they said it is fine.

We took him back to the Doctor.
I was right.
The Doc, who is a Pediatric ER Doctor, gave him a look over and said his blood levels were at an "11" or something and ordered us to take him for blood tests right away. She was right. His bilirubin and Jaundice had gotten worse.
Being in the Sun, is NOT a cure, in all cases. Not in my son's case. Being in the sunlight, did NOTHING.

We had to, that SAME night, have in-home treatment for him, via the blue-lights. He had to be in the blue-lights 24/7. I could only remove him to nurse. He slept a lot. Due to the Jaundice. However, he nursed WELL.... and often and I had ample milk production.

He had to have the in-home blue light treatment for 1 week. And also we had to take him to get his blood tested, like every other day, until his levels were reduced.

Jaundice, can affect the brain etc.
It if is not treated or gets worse.

You can take your baby to the ER.
Call your Pediatrician as well and have him/her paged.

My Husband at first told me "The Hospital said he's fine. The Doc said put him in the sunlight... " BUT... I did not think my son was 'fine.' I knew, the Jaundice, in his case, was not getting better.
My Husband, later told me he is GLAD, I insisted on taking him back to the Doctor to check his Jaundice.
This was only 1-2 days after we had brought him home from the hospital.
One of the Pediatricians at the office we go to, even APOLOGIZED to us, for making light of my son's Jaundice and only suggesting sunlight.

So, that is my experience with this, per my son.
Just letting you know, how he was.

An infant, should be nursing longer.
It takes about 15 minutes to get to the "Hind Milk."
Make SURE he IS latching on properly. If not... a baby will not be getting enough intake.... and dehydration can occur too.
Is he having enough wet diapers????

How often is he nursing? Some babies nurse more than just every 2-3 hours. At at growth-spurts, (which occurs every 3 weeks in an infant) they even "cluster feed" which means they nurse every single hour. Or more often.

For any concerns you have, just page your Pediatrician.
That is what they are there for.
Do not hesitate.

all the best,
Susan

I don't think that is abnormal as long as he's eating.

Did they tell you for the jaundice to put a little cap over his eyes and then put his bassinette in front of a sunny window for a while each day? That's what we were told with our daughter who was just a little jaundiced and it helped.

Congrats! I was wondering after your question the other day. Sounds pretty normal to me. However, if you're worried you can always call your doctor's office, they usually have an answering service. I used to get my daughter naked or give her her bath right before a nursing session and that would wake her up pretty well and allow her to nurse longer.

Again, congratulations :)

Hmm well the thing I'd really watch for would be his output - wet diapers primarily. At this age he should have at least 5-6 wet diapers a day. If he isn't having that many, watch very closely for any dark urine or crystals in his diaper - that means he's dehydrated and needs to be taken to the ER. If he's having regular wet diapers though, then he's probably ok. Also for poops - being jaundiced he should be expelling his bilirubin - bright yellow poops are fabulous because that's the bilirubin coming out...they will start getting darker after the elevated level of bilirubin stabilizes.

If you are still concerned next week, just take him in for a quick weight check.

My daughter was the exact same way. I remember being worried that something was wrong with her (she never cried either). But it just turned out that she was a calm baby (she is 2.5 now and still really easy-going). She was slightly jaundiced too, but it never turned into anything. Obviously check in with your doctor, but he is probably just fine.

It's only normal if he is having 10 wet diapers a day- otherwise he's not getting enough to eat. If he is not, don't wait - call the pediatrician- don't worry about waking him/ her- it's their job. Another option is calling the nurses desk at the hospital where you had him and talking to a nurse.

Best wishes!! =o)

My #2 baby slept and ate for 7 months and that was about all he did. He would wake up ravenishly starved at night and cried his lungs out when I would stop nursing and change him. I would nurse on one side, change the diaper, burp then feed the other side. With him that only lasted a couple of days, a few neighbors asked why I let him cry in the middle of the night. So from then on I just nursed him back to sleep at night.
But to answer your question yes that's normal. Be warned though he's charging his battery once he wakes up you won't be able to catch up with him. He'll be into everything. Enjoy, he's only tiny for a very short time.

My daughter was a little jaundiced as well, slept as much as your new son, and would only nurse a few minutes at a time. Her pediatrician said she was completely within the realm of normalcy.

And you don't need to wait until mid-week if you think he needs to be seen, ER's are open 24/7 and have nurse advice lines for you to call.

Congrats and God bless!

For the slight jaundice, be sure to get baby in the sunshine for a few minutes every day so the sun can get on his skin. It'll help him (obviously don't let him over heat if it's hot where you are!).

As for the sleeping, my newborns do that when they are a few days old. They start waking up more and more. It also can depend on what type of birth you had. If you were on any pain meds that might cause you to be drowsy, etc (if you're nursing). If he's still sleeping literally ALL the time when he's a couple weeks old, that wouldn't be very normal:-)

Jessica gave you very good advice.....if you feel your baby should be seen DO NOT hesitate to go into the ER. Grandma's advice "better safe then sorry".

Blessings....

my dd was jaundice she peaked at 14 br she ate and slept and pooped which is a good thing. hand out in the sun for about 10mins about 3x a day if it is not to hot. let the top of his head and feet get the light sun light is great for jaundice. my pedi had me doing it and it helped alot. it took almost 2 weeks for her be to get below 6 I would sit at the window with the light coming in if it was too warm out. as long as he is eating every 4 or less hrs and is pooping you are going to be fine. it just takes time. gl and congrates

Might be normal, might not be. I would suggest taking him to a lactation consultant (often times lactation clinics are open 7 days a week, so it shouldn't be hard to get an appt). Sometimes babies are going to the breast, but not sucking effectively and therefore, not actually consuming milk. If that's the case, then he might be lethargic from lack of food/fluids. A lactation consultant can give you tips on how to a) get a good latch b) keep him awake for feedings. It also is possible that he's just a sleepy baby. I think, with babies this little and when you're both learning how to breastfeed, it's better to get it checked on. The sooner, the better! Good luck and congratulations on your sweet little boy!

As long as he is waking up to eat, i wouldn't worry too much. I would try to get him to nurse a little longer though. Feed him on breast then do a diaper change to wake him and see if he'll eat on the other side. If he stops pooping or peeing and not waking to eat then i would call the oncall doctor.

I think the jaundice makes them sleepy. My son was slightly jaundice and was a very sleepy baby. He wouldn't even wake up to eat. I had to wake him up every 6 hours to feed him if he didn't wake up on his own. And he often fell asleep while taking his bottle.

The doctor told me it is nothing to worry about. I just had to keep an eye on things and make sure he was still peeing/pooping and that his jaundice was not getting worse. As long as that was all good then there was no reason to worry.