What Causes Daytime Sleepiness?

Posted on Tue, 17 May 2016

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Tue, 17 May 2016 Answered on

Fri, 24 Jun 2016 Last reviewed on

Question : Hi Doctor, our baby was born on 11May. Till date, he is always sleepy almost whole day...may be for 15 mins or so, he opens his eyes. Doctor mother's milk every two hours but he doesn't take sufficient milk. At an average, he takes milk every 3-4 hours for about 15 mins. concern is that he sleeps off while taking milk. doesn't wake up even when trying to wake him up. The skin color and eyes are slight yellow but doctor yesterday said that it's normal and that it will subside. are the above symptoms normal for a new born or should we be concerned about anything. Discharge summary is attached.

Answered by Dr. Prof. Kunal Saha (34 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Need not get concerned.

Detailed Answer:
Thanks for asking on HealthcareMagic.

Congrats on having a baby. Let me assure you that it is normal for a newborn baby to sleep 20 hours a day. As time passes, the amount of sleep will come down. Mother's milk is the best milk for a baby and I would insist you to continue the same. The adequacy of the feeds can be determined by the number of times the baby is passing urine. If the frequency is equal to or more than 6 times in 24 hours, you can rest assured that the child is getting enough feeds. Else, the number of feeds has to be increased.

The fetus before birth has to extract oxygen from mother's blood and therefore has more amount of hemoglobin. This extra hemoglobin gradually breaks down after birth and that is responsible for the yellowish discoloration. Unless the yellowish discoloration is above a particular level, nothing needs to be done. However, keeping the baby in the morning sun usually helps in quicker resolution of this.

Hope that helps.

Regards

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar