Judgment criteria for neonatal sleepiness 1. Sleep duration Neonatal sleepiness means that the baby is asleep most of the time. Not all babies are sleepy. Typically, babies need 14-18 hours of sleep in the first few weeks of life, with multiple sleep breaks per day. If a baby sleeps more than 6 hours during the day and more than 8 hours at night, the baby is likely to be sleepy. However, this standard does not apply in all cases, as each baby\’s sleep needs are different, some babies need more sleep time, and some babies need less sleep