how long did your newborn spend "quietly awake" during the day?

[tenar]

Another total newbie question:

DD is 2 weeks old tomorrow. I have the impression that she should be sleeping for nearly all of every day. But she doesn't seem to want to.

Just now we've woken up, had a change and a feed, and I've put her back down in the pram bassinet in the living room, where I am doing some chores. She's lying there murmuring to herself. Definitely not sleeping. She doesn't seem unhappy at all, just awake. She seems to be happy to do this for up to a few hours a day.

Do newborns normally do this?

Does it mean I should be with her, playing, or interacting or something? She can hear me, but she can't really see me at the moment, since I am out of her line of sight.

Should I worry that she isn't getting enough sleep? There is no reason I know of why she shouldn't be asleep right now, and she often seems to nod off for a second, or nearly so, but then she wakes up again. The room is quite quiet, not too bright, warm, and as familiar as anything is when you've only been in the world for two weeks.

[beau_9]

i've just posted a thread about sleeping, but i know during the day my 4 wk old bub is exactly the same and has been since he was born. he seems happy to just lay there murmering to himself in between feeds and when he does sleep sometimes he will sleep for hours, other times i'm lucky to get him to sleep a hr between feeds. i was also wondering if he had enough sleep but he seems to be fine...

[kawazuki]

my Dd did this.
she just layed there jabbering on about who knows what, and looking around and trying to figure out if being in this crazy house was a good idea lol.

i think it is perfectly normal, DD only slept maybe 18 hours a day and she did so in big sleeps, so she would go down at 8 at night and wake at 6 the next morning and then have 2 3-4 hour naps during the day, she put ehrself into this routine.

io found she enjoyed being up when we were all up and when her big brother was up and daddy was home. she is the same now.

if they arent upset, they are content and happy just enjoy the time you have with them.

[Emma1979]

try not to worry and just enjoy her, there's lots of things babies should apparently be doing, but often they don't!

mine was highly strung and crying alot of the time and NEVER slept during the day, it used to do my head in trying to get her to do what she 'should' have been doing...

in the end the babies are in charge!!

if she is happy i wouldn't worry, and at two weeks all she needs is lots of warm cuddles and milk...

good luck xx

[tenar]

Thanks everyone, this is reassuring.

Where would I be without the internet to ask questions like this of other mums?! When I was this age, my Mum was stuck alone in a house in the suburbs with no car and nobody to ask for help, not even her mum around. I am so much luckier!

[StephV]

Gee you're lucky. When my little one was that age, it was sleeping, feeding or crying... I would have been lucky to get 10 hours sleep in 24 hours. It increased as she got older.

I did read up on the if they are awake and kind of talking to themselves that its fine to leave them as they are playing by themselves and apparently its important for them to learn to do this.

[Nai]

My next doors neighbours DD2 is like this - very calm and relaxed. Unfortunately I've not experienced a "quiet" baby but it sounds like your baby is just pretty chilled.

[The[cookie]Doctor]

My DS did this, it is how he learnt to self settle so early, even when he would grizzle he would soothe himself back to a murmuring state before he feel asleep.
I think it is all very normal.