[knightgoddess2000]

My son will be 3 weeks old tomorrow. He only wakes up three times a night, but he sleeps all day long. Waking every four hours to eat and sometimes I have to wake him to eat. I only ask because I have a thyroid disorder and wonder if I may have passed it down. So is it normal for a newborn to sleep all the time? When he is awake he stays awake 1 to 2 1/2 hours.

[crdnlfn]

Most babies that age will sleep 18-20 hours a day. They sleep a lot. It will gradually get less and less until they sleep about 12 hours a day and they do that for a really long time. My two year old still sleeps 12 hrs a day and my two month old sleeps at least 18 hrs a day.

[Tiffany D]

A newborn may sleep as much as 16 hours a day (or even more), often in stretches of 3 to 4 hours at a time. And like the sleep all of us experience, babies have different phases of sleep: drowsiness, REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, light sleep, deep sleep, and very deep sleep. As babies grow, their periods of wakefulness increase.

They say newborns sleep an average of 18 hours a day. My daughter was the exact opposite, and was constantly awake. She still is, actually. Count yourself lucky, and use the time wisely...ie, eating, showering, and sleeping.

This is totally normal. Within about a week or so he'll be awake longer. Enjoy it while you can.