Newborn "zoning out" -- a bad thing?

amother

Tue, Nov 29 2022, 9:57 am

My baby is a couple of weeks old. I have B"H a bunch of older kids, including teens and younger. I don't think we're a particularly loud family, but we're not quiet either.

I've noticed that every evening or weekend day when the kids are around, the baby spends the whole time "sleeping." But I don't think it's sleeping, more like zoning out. That's true whether I'm holding her, put her down in a bouncy seat or on a playmat, or put her in the crib that's near the rest of us. (She has a bassinet in my room, but it's hard to keep on running to get her from there, so I've been putting her in a more centrally located Pack 'n Play.)

I get that she might be overwhelmed by the noise and movement all around her. I've coached the older kids not to get in her face, to play with her very calmly and gently, but even when they're not playing with her--we're eating dinner and she's on my lap/shoulder/seat, or we're dealing with the other kids and she's on her playmat alone or in the Pack 'n Play--there's plenty of noise all around, and I see her eyes are closed but she's making some movements which makes me think that she's not sleeping.

Is this a problem? I know that newborns do this, but my others only did it if we were at a really busy place -- waiting outside of shul with the other mommies and kids, at a restaurant, etc. This one seems to do it all the time when the other kids are home. It just seems like it wouldn't be healthy for her. We spend most weekday mornings in a calm and quiet house, just me and her (I'm on maternity leave), but it's from 4-8 every night, and pretty much all day on weekends when she's not eating.

Any advice? Or is this normal and fine and she'll grow out of it soon?