5 Surprising Reasons For Your Baby Sleeping With Eyes Open

This post is about a baby sleeping with eyes open.

I thought I was failing as a mom when my daughter, Rachel, was two months old because I couldn’t get her to stay asleep during her naps. She would only nap on us, and she fell asleep easily. But then, I would look down and see she’s awake and staring right at me. I tried everything, but she kept waking up!

Then, one weekend, my husband came out of her room after she had napped on him. He smiles and asks, “Isn’t it so cute when Rachel sleeps with her eyes open?”

My jaw dropped because I instantly realized she had just been sleeping with her eyes wide open for weeks. I truly thought I was failing because my husband had no problem keeping her asleep, and then I struggled every day. It never occurred to me that that’s what was happening!

In hindsight, it was so obvious. She wasn’t making any facial expressions, moving around, or making noises. Instead, she was just lying there, with her eyes open. But I thought she was awake and looking at me. I blame the lack of sleep parents get during the newborn stage.

You’re probably reading this because you also have a baby who is sleeping with their eyes open. Hopefully, you realized it much faster than I did. This post will explain the reasons for a baby sleeping with eyes open and what you can do about it.

** Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional, and the information provided in this post should not be taken as medical advice. The information presented here is based on my personal experiences as a parent, and all opinions expressed are my own. If you are concerned about your baby sleeping with eyes open, I recommend seeing a pediatrician.

Baby Sleeping With Eyes Open: How Common Is This?

I asked our pediatrician about Rachel sleeping with her eyes open, and she told us that it’s normal and pretty common in newborns. Some babies sleep with their eyes cracked open, while others have their eyes wide open. Our pediatrician explained that it’s rarely a cause for concern if a baby is sleeping with their eyes open.

Lagophthalmos is the medical term for sleeping with your eyes open. This is so common that it affects about 20% of people. Medical professionals call this condition Physiological Lagophthalmos when they observe it in infants. They use the term “Physiological” for infants because it reflects a normal part of their growth and development.

It can look unsettling, or even creepy at times, to see a baby sleeping with their eyes open. But the good news is that it’s harmless.

If your baby sleeps with their eyes open, chances are they’ll eventually outgrow it. Most babies stop doing this between the ages of 12 months and 18 months.

5 Reasons For Baby Sleeping With Eyes Open

Now that you know it’s normal and harmless for babies to sleep with their eyes open, you’re probably still wondering why this happens. After all, not all babies do this. My firstborn never had his eyes open when he was asleep, which probably also added to my lack of realization that this is what Rachel was doing.

Researchers don’t have a specific reason for babies to sleep with their eyes open, but they have identified a few possible causes.

1. Genetics/Family Traits

You’re probably already aware that our children inherit physical family traits from us. Maybe your child has your eyes and your spouse’s smile. Sometimes you can look at a child and think they’re an identical, miniature version of one of their parents. These are physical traits.

Surprisingly, parents can also pass on behavioral family traits to their children. This means that a parent can naturally and likely unconsciously pass on a behavior to their child.

Sleeping with your eyes open is one of those traits that you can so generously pass on to your baby.

Take a peek at your sleeping significant other to see if they sleep with their eyes open. Or ask them if they’ve noticed you doing the same. Your baby may be doing this if one of you does this in your sleep, too.

2. REM Sleep

REM stands for Rapid Eye Movements. This is a specific stage of sleep that everyone experiences. During REM sleep, your eyes are rapidly moving back and forth.

We usually experience this stage of sleep when we dream. Most of our memorable dreams occur during REM sleep because we have more brain activity during this stage of sleep. The extra brain activity is important for forming the connections in our brain that process information, memories, and emotions.

Infants spend more time in REM sleep than adults because their brains are developing so much. There’s so much eye movement happening during this sleep stage that it can cause the eyelid to stay open a little bit.

3. Underdeveloped Eyelid Muscles

Every baby is different in terms of their development when they are born. For example, some babies are born with weak necks while others have strong necks that they can hold up right out of the womb.

The same goes for the development of their eyelid muscles. Your eyelid has tiny muscles that you use to control opening and closing the eyelid.

Some babies are born with eyelid muscles that haven’t fully developed yet. This can make it difficult for the baby to keep their eyelids closed while sleeping until the muscle develops more.

4. Immature Nervous System

There can also be differences in the level of development of the nervous system when a baby is born.

If a baby has an immature nervous system, it means that it’s still being developed. This is usually not a cause for concern, and it will continue to develop normally.

The nervous system includes the brain, the spinal cord, and nerves. It sends messages between your brain and the rest of your body.

A baby with an immature nervous system may not yet have the signals established that allow its brain to tell the eyelids to close during sleep. As the nervous system continues to develop on its own, the baby will establish this signal and will begin to sleep with eyes closed.

5. Overstimulated Baby

Babies become overstimulated when their nervous systems are overwhelmed with sounds, seeing too many people or other sights, playing too much, or if there’s too much activity around them.

Overstimulated babies often have a difficult time falling asleep and can also have a hard time keeping their eyelids closed once they are asleep.

Signs of an overstimulated baby include crying or fussiness, being clingy, refusing to eat, often moving around more than usual, and struggling to fall asleep. Try to calm an overstimulated baby by moving them to a quieter environment, rocking them, soothing them as much as possible, and offering a contact nap.

What To Do About Baby Sleeping With Eyes Open

Remember, it’s common and usually harmless if your baby sleeps with their eyes open. It might be unsettling and surprising to see. You don’t need to do anything about it. If you prefer, you can gently close their eyelids. But again, sleeping with eyes open isn’t a problem, so it’s not necessary to close their eyelids if you don’t want to risk waking them up.

There are a few rare medical issues that can cause eyelids to remain open during sleep. The key here is RARE. Please speak with your pediatrician if you are still concerned about your baby sleeping with eyes closed if it will ease your mind to rule everything else out.

While sleeping with eyes open is usually harmless, it’s still good to keep a few issues in mind. You may want to speak to a pediatrician if you start to notice your baby constantly has dry or red eyes. Another sign to look for is if your baby seems to struggle closing their eyes while they are awake.

Final Thoughts

I stopped worrying about Rachel sleeping with her eyes open after I learned how common it is and that it’s usually harmless. I’m hoping this article is also helping to ease your mind about your own baby. It is reassuring to know that there are many reasons for babies to do this that aren’t medically related.

Remember, most babies outgrow sleeping with eyes open between 12 months to 18 months, so this likely won’t last forever.