“While open-eyed sleeping can be understandably worrisome for parents, it’s perfectly normal and harmless,” Dr. The short answer here is that if you see their baby sleeping with their eyes partially open, it’s nothing to worry about. Ruben Earth/Moment/Getty Images Should I Be Worried About My Baby Sleeping With Their Eyes Open? The sheer amount of time infants are in a deep sleep coupled with the fact that you may be watching your newborn sleep (you know, when you planned to be showering or napping yourself) means there is plenty of opportunity to spot your little one sleeping with their eyes half open. Babies spend more of their sleep time in this deeper state, so there are more chances for babies to experience open-eyed sleeping.”īabies spend up to 50% of their sleep in REM cycles (adults, on the other hand, are closer to 20%) and infants can spend as much as nine hours a day in REM, per the Sleep Foundation. “The medical term for open-eyed sleeping is ‘nocturnal lagophthalmos.’” She adds that it’s not totally understood among the medical community what causes this, but, “we do know that it occurs most often in deep, REM sleep. “It’s very common for babies to sleep with their eyes half open,” Whitney Casares, M.D., M.P.H., tells Romper. Why Do Babies Sleep With Their Eyes Half Open?

It may seem odd, but it’s nothing to be concerned about. Still, you’re probably wondering why your baby sleeps with their eyes half open. It turns out that while it’s definitely startling to see, it’s not all that unusual to notice your baby sleeping with their little peepers partially open. “I guess he doesn’t trust me lol,” she wrote. The other day, my friend texted me a picture of her eight-month-old, asleep in his stroller with one eye half open.

Nocturnal lagophthalmos 9 month old