how much do newborns sleep? Is there a "normal"?

[BlingDreaming]

A friend had a baby last week - her first. She doesn't have a lot of family and I live nearby so have been helping out a bit. Is it normal that her baby is literally sleeping constantly. He cries a bit occassionally, then has a snack and goes back to sleep?

Sorry, I'm being paranoid I know but don't have children yet (ttc) and my friend is struggling (she might be on here actually - I told her to come and have a look but she was looking a bit freaked out yesterday! )

yes - along as there are wet and pooey nappies and some alert time then that all sounds like very usual new born behaviour

they are usually fairly sleepy for the first week or so

hwowvber, if he has jaundice then that is a different issue entirely

I think the textbooks say 18 hours in 24 on and off.

Alert and not crying?

It breaks my heart and he's not even mine. I worry about what a wreck I'll be when it is.

First couple of weeks mine all basically slept the whole time. The important thing is pooey nappies and that the baby gains the right sort of amount of weight. She should weigh him at least once a week early on to check.

alert can mean feeding, looking around, crying etc

my dd2 slept pretty much all the time for the first couple of weeks. She'd wake up, feed, burp then go back to sleep.

Tell your friend to cherish the quiet time - it is all too short .

I have heard that they will be awake for around 4 hours in a day - and most of that time is when they are feeding.

My dad commented on how he hadn't ever seen dd2's eyes open until she was about 3 weeks old!

Is she still under MW care - she should have a chat with them (or her HV if she's any good) if she's worried.

Mine both slept constantly too for about 3 weeks, then kind of woke up a bit after that.

Oh, newborns are so easy!

My dd was very much like this to start with. She'd wake up to be fed, look at things for a bit and then doze off again. I was a bit underwhelmed, as I was expecting chaos and no sleep. We sat about watching TV for the week of DH's paternity leave. She made up for it later mind!

Thanks all. She is seeing the MW tomorrow morning. But i've passed on initial positive responses for now! She sounds slightly calmer (obviously, "slightly" being an entirely relative term at this point! )