Eyes closed?

[MissMandieMitz]

Maxson was born 6 weeks early. He is now 3 weeks old and he still keeps his eyes shut most of the time....even if he IS awake. Usually when we go to the NICU to see him he'll only have his eyes open for about 10 minutes or so before he closes them again. Is that normal?

 

[keldac]

my daughter was born almost 10 weeks ago at 33 weeks -and she's still rarely awake! We still have to give her a bottle in her sleep. Its great make the most of it!

 

[ALI]

hi,

It is not unusual for a premmie to have its eyes shut a lot of the time so soon after being born, it took a while before ours opened hers for any length of time but she did when she was ready. Some do open them from the beginning but some do not , every baby is different.

Premmie's often instinctively keep their eyes shut at first as it helps protect them whilst they are still developing. A babies eyes are not actually fully developed until about 42-44weeks so even now he will not be able to focus very well, and probably just sees blurry shadows, so it's understandable he keeps them shut.

The Doctors/Nurses in the NICU units are brilliant so he is in the best possible place, they
would have told you by now if they thought it was unusual. don't forget they monitor them 24/7.

Hope this helps

 

[elijahsmummy]

My little girl was born 3 weeks early and even she has her eyes closed most of the time. The Health Visitor said it's perfectly normal being that she was early so nothing to worry about xxx

 

[nkbapbt]

My little guy was born at 24 weeks..and even when he was term and still in the NICU he rarely had his eyes open. I think it was the lights more than anything else..I think its normal too.

Funny enough? Now he loves staring at lights..