excessively sleepy baby

[lilimama]

hi there

does anyone know if it's normal for an 10 week old to sleep for 12/13 hours straight through at night and then for large chunks during the day - 3-4 hours at a stretch or more, then very little awake time before sleeping again. My friends are concerned about their baby's excessive sleepyness. The baby seems normal and apparently the reflexes are fine, but head is still quite floppy and no smiles or interactive tendencies yet and not much of an interest in life around him. Perhaps just a slow developer?
I said I'd ask around for them. Thanks.

my DD was sleeping 12 hours at this stage, as well as a couple of good naps in the day. Is he feeding well? My sister's DS had a problem with his oesophagus which meant he wasn't taking in enough when he was feeindg, and was very sleepy as a result as they sleep to conserve energy.

Babies usually start smiling around 6 weeks iirc, some earlier, some later, so could just be late developer.

Have they discussed it with their HV or GP?

My friend's ds2 was like this, they thought he was just a placid, easy type of baby as he slept lots and seemed content. However, as time wore on and he didn't start crawling, etc, they had tests done and it was found that he has brain abnormalities. He is now 5yrs old with severe disabilities (can't walk, talk, has a tube, etc). Perhaps your friend's ds does not have these problems but just telling you how it was for my friend's sleepy ds.

Hi there,

My LO is fairly similar in terms of his sleep. He goes to bed around 7pm and gets up at 7pm (I wake him up at 11pm for a dream feed and he gets up at 3:30am for another feed). Then he has two long naps of about 2-3 hours each during the day plus a short nap later on the afternoon. He would sleep more if I let him but I try to keep him awake in the late afternoon by taking him out for a walk and getting some fresh air and that usually works to a certain extent!

He also hasn't smiled much though he laughed yesterday and today a couple of times. When he is awake, he is very aware of his surroundings (likes looking about, especially the mobiles on his swing and bouncer chair) and when I sing and dance about like mad (as you do), he will pay attention! My LO also has quite good head control though. I do worry about his sleepiness but so far, no one seems concerned and everytime we are at the baby clinic, he is wide awake and behaves impeccably, that little monkey! He is 8.5 weeks BTW...

Ax

it sounds unusual, but that doesn't mean he has something wrong with him
would def ask the GP about it just to be on the safe side