My newborn niece is 2 weeks old and I have a concern that I'm hoping will be easily explained. I, along with a few others in the family have noticed that the baby doesn't seem to keep her eyes open for long and when she does open them she rolls them and seems to fall back to sleep. None of us have seen her keep her eyes open for more than a minute at a time. She was delivered by c-section (that's a first in our family) so we didn't know if that may have some affect on them. ALso her head/face almost has a downs syndrom look to it but we can't be sure. The test that mom took all came back fine. I've had two children of my own and have been around a lot of babies and I've never seen this before. She doesn't seem to be alert at all. I know she's a newborn but this seems off to me. Those of us that have noticed are very concerned but also think we could be over reacting and don't want to call attention to it as to not upset the parents without just cause. Can anyone give me any advice or share a similar experience and the outcome. Thank you!
My first son almost never opened his eyes the entire first month. He would wake up to eat & then fall right back asleep. He is now 20 months old, sleeps well & is super smart.
I respond to this with my 4 week old, in my lap.
The eye rolling is normal. When they REM sleep, they don't always close their eyes all the way. It looks freaky, but it's nothing to worry about.
Duration of sleep - also normal. Newborns sleep a lot. It's not until later, they will become more alert. It takes a while for them to focus.
Since this isn't your child, and you aren't spending 24/7 with her, it's unfair to said that her sleeping habits are wrong, or that she's not alert enough, etc. Most babies have a backwards schedule, sleep all day, up all night... If you aren't seeing the 4:00am alert time, you can't know.
Would a C-section affect baby's sleeping / eye behavior - Only till the drugs wore off. In other words, within a few hours or days after birth, all effects of the pain meds mom got, would be gone. There aren't long term effects of a c-section on sleep & eye movement (that I know of).
My 1st was a c-section, my 2nd - natural, drug free. Both kiddos eye rolled, and slept a lot during the day.
As for Downs - the only way to know is to test the baby. Genetic screening will tell you. Lots of newborns look weird... they grow out of it. If mom & dad aren't concerned, then I wouldn't worry about it.
When all of my kids were newborn, they often didn't hold their eyelids shut tightly when sleeping and it looked like their eyes were rolled back. None of mine have downs. She sounds like she's sleeping and it isn't unusual for newborns to spend 20 hours a day sleeping.
If the hospital staff and doctor aren't concerned, then I wouldn't mention it to the parents. If there is a problem, more symptoms will start showing themselves.
It is not uncommon for a newborn baby to seem to sleep all the time. One of my daughters seemed unusually sleepy, and I was worred about it, but soon she changed her habits and didn't sleep very much. Babies sleep and wake cycles are messed up and it takes awhile to adjust.
WE may forget just how MUCH newborns sleep! Plus, babies have different personalities--she may just be very laid back.
I think it takes a while for them to get "focus" to their eyes. I'm sure she will be going for frequent well-baby checks and if the peds suspect an issue, they'll most likely address it as soon as possible.
Congratulations, Aunt M.!
My son was born in January with Downs and he didn't have a look at all to him. The only characteristic was that his eyes tilted up slightly. Although he did sleep a lot he never rolled his eyes. All three of mine were born by section and all had different sleep patterns. We were not expecting a baby with any issues but they did notice his muscle tone was low and did the blood test for Downs. I would think someone in the hospital would have noticed if there was a problem.
What did the Pediatrician say? What you are describing doesnt sound normal but each baby is different and what if you have only seen her when she is asleep! as someone said they do sleep 18 hrs a day.
My daughter was born by C-Section and had the same issue with sleeping all the time. Our doctor told us I was not nursing her enough but I could not get her to stay awake to feed her. We used to put a cold washcloth up to her face, she would wake up, cry out and go back to sleep. I did not take any pain medication because I was breast feeding and afraid of the effects on her but I know she was affected by the drugs I was given before I could choose. Anyway, it lasted a few weeks. She was also more alert at night, which is normal for all infants. Now, she is almost 2, very verbal, super active and has reached all her developmental milestones ahead of time thus far. However, she is still a really good sleeper. Sleep is where their brains develop, too, so it is important for them to be good sleepers, even early on.
Both of my kids eyes rolled back when they slept as newborns. My son actually did it more than my daughter. They are both perfectly normal :) Babys sleep A LOT. Even in the 2 years between my kids I forgot how much!
I don't know about the ds.. that is something she'd need to talk to the Doctor about and perhaps get some tests done once the baby would be old enough to determine if there was an issue.
I agree with the previous posters, the eye rolling this is totally normal for a newborn and will disappear in time. It has nothing to do with the c section. As long as the baby is eating and growing well there are no worries at this point. I would not mention thinking that that baby seemed off to the parents yet. It will totally upset them, and new parents do not need anything additional to make them worry about their newborn. I personally would keep it in mind and see how things progress. Im sure your grandbaby is fine.
I'm not sure the eye rolling thing is anything to be worried about. As far as the downs goes the baby would have to be tested for that. Any test that the mother had would be inconclusive. It would have to be the baby that has to be tested.
my daughter was born by c-section, her eyes would roll all the time. We asked the Drs. about it and they said she was fine. She doesn't do it much anymore.
