Now that you and your baby have hit the 2-month milestone, you’re starting to figure each other out a bit more. From first smiles (swoon!) to a slightly more predictable daily routine, we hope that life is starting to ease a bit. (More nighttime sleep is in your future, too!) Here’s what you can expect regarding 2-month-old baby weight and growth, plus tips for care, sleep and feeding.
Your little one will let you know when they’re hungry, for the most part. Known as the responsive feeding method, following your baby’s hunger cues is still optimal in these early days. Though your 8-week-old baby’s feeding schedule might be getting a bit more organized, as in, you can better predict when they might be getting hungry, don’t aim to set any strict schedules just yet.
According to The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and La Leche League, at 2 months old, babies should be consuming the following amounts at the suggested times below, but remember to respond to your baby’s hunger cues.
Breast milk: 4 to 5 ounces every 3 to 4 hours
Formula: 4 to 5 ounces every 4 hours
On average, 8-week-old babies may take 5 to 10 minutes to breastfeed on each side during feedings. The key here is “average”—because several factors can contribute to how long it takes for a baby to breastfeed, including your baby’s feeding style, the speed at which breast milk lets down, how frequently they feed and more.
Related: 8-week-old baby feeding schedule & amounts
Spit up is a common occurrence in the first year, and while it might seem alarming, know that a little spit up here and there rarely bothers babies. If you’re worried about how much milk they’re ejecting, know that a teaspoon of spilled milk tends to appear much larger in volume than it actually is (phew!). But also know that frequent or excessive spit up can be a sign of other conditions, like reflux.
Be sure to talk to your child’s pediatrician if you’re concerned about how much your child is spitting up after feeding, but here are a few ways to try to prevent spit-up.
Always contact your pediatrician if your baby vomits forcefully after most feedings or if you notice blood in your baby’s vomit. (Blood in vomit may appear bright red, or it may be dark brown and grainy, like coffee grounds.)
Related: How to choose an organic baby formula
For babies up to 2 years of age, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend using the World Health Organization (WHO) weight and length charts.
The WHO growth charts for babies 0 to 2 years are based on what is standard for a predominantly breastfed infant. According to the organization, the WHO charts reflect growth patterns among children who were predominantly breastfed for at least 4 months and were still breastfeeding at 12 months. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends continuing to breastfeed for at least two years, as long as it benefits both mother and baby.
This month, your baby may gain an average of 5 to 7 ounces per week.
According to the WHO:
Keep in mind that there are several factors that contribute to how much your baby weighs in month two, including:
Size at birth: The weight of your baby at birth will influence their weight now.
Assigned sex at birth: Males tend to weigh more than females, and tend to gain weight slightly faster.
Gestational age: Babies born preterm or early full term may weigh less than babies born full or late term.
How they’re fed: According to AAP, breastfed babies may gain weight slightly faster than formula-fed babies in the first 6 months of life.
Related: Activities for a 2-month-old: Fostering baby’s development
Between birth and 6 months, babies grow an average of 0.5 to 1 inch each month.
According to the WHO:
There are several factors that contribute to your baby’s length in month two. The height of a baby’s parents and other family members strongly influences their future height, as does adequate nutrition during pregnancy and after birth. Finally, boys tend to be slightly longer than girls.
Related: A parent’s guide to car seat safety: Tips, rules & product picks
Your child’s pediatrician will plot their weight, length and head circumference on a growth chart at every visit. Growth charts show how a baby’s weight or length may be compared to the weight or length of other babies of the same age.
For example, if a baby’s weight is in the 40th percentile, it means that 60% of babies of the same age and sex weigh more, and 40% of babies weigh less. But overall, your pediatrician is looking for steady and sustained growth, checking the curve, or growth pattern for trends.
It’s important to remember that growth charts are just one tool used to track a child’s development (along with developmental milestones and feeding and sleep habits), and aren’t meant to be used alone.
A growth spurt might slightly change the growth pattern on your child’s growth chart; jumping your little one to a different weight or length percentile. That means their percentile may vary slightly between well-checks, but it’s the drastic increases or decreases that doctors are especially attuned to.
In the second month of life, baby growth spurts tend to happen around weeks 5 or 6, and may last up to a week. You might notice more cluster feeding or night wakings, or that they’ve suddenly outgrown the onesies they wore last week. They may also need to size up in diapers, which are based on weight rather than age.
If it’s time to move up in diaper size, know that you can find a home for your unused diapers by offering them to a friend with kids in a similar age, donating them to a diaper bank or seeing if the company you purchased them from will accept returns of unused diapers or unopened boxes.
Related: 21 fanny packs that might make you ditch the diaper bag
In month two, your baby’s pediatrician will be plotting their growth along a curve, and will definitely let you know if they’re worried your child isn’t thriving. Otherwise, try not to stress too much: many factors play a role in your child’s development, including weight, length, head circumference and developmental milestones.
If your baby has been growing steadily and suddenly stops growing, or if your 2-month-old isn’t gaining around an ounce a day, your doctor may point to these as signs of slow growth and will take appropriate next steps.
Your 2-month-old is still considered a newborn, and that means they’ll still be sleeping most of the day. But wake windows might be stretching out just a bit, and night sleep may be consolidating slightly, too. Note that your 2-month-old’s sleep shouldn’t follow a true schedule quite yet. Pay attention to their wake windows (more on those below), which will help prevent them from getting overtired.
Your 2-month-old baby should still be aiming for 12 to 16 hours of sleep per 24 hours, according to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
What baby sleep looks like at 2 months:
Read more: How much sleep does an 8-week-old baby need?
A wake window is the period of time an infant can stay awake in between naps without getting overtired. Newborns are unable to self-regulate their sleep patterns, so instead of simply just falling asleep, they can easily become overtired. Your 2-month-old’s wake windows are stretching out a bit now, which means more minutes for tummy time, reading and playing.
Paying attention to wake windows can be the key to a little more sleep for everyone in your family, as skipping daytime naps can sometimes wreak havoc on nighttime sleep. Look for sleepy cues (rubbing eyes, yawning, a glazed-over look) around 45 to 90 minutes after their last nap.
Related: 14 science-backed ways to reduce SIDS risk in babies
You might not have thought that caring for a newborn would involve quite so much poop talk, and yet here we are. Examining their stool frequency can provide bigger clues to their health and growth.
Whereas your 1-month-old was likely going through 3 to 9 diapers each day, your 2-month-old’s poop frequency may start to slow down a bit. In a breastfed baby, you can likely expect anywhere from 1 to 5 poops per day, on average. Formula-fed babies may poop at least once per day. But it’s also normal for a breastfed or formula-fed infant to skip a day or two, provided that their stool consistency is still normal (soft, seedy and liquidy for breastfed, paste-like for formula-fed). If your baby has hard, formed or pellet-like stools, call your pediatrician, as it may be a sign of constipation.
The red, angry rash that forms in your baby’s diaper area is known officially as diaper dermatitis, and is often a fact of life in these early stages, thanks to all those wet diapers. A diaper rash cream used after diaper changes can help, as can airing out your baby’s bum by going diaper-free for short periods. One small study found that even applying breast milk to baby’s bum can be as effective as topical hydrocortisone 1% cream for relieving diaper rash. If you have any questions, reach out to your child’s pediatrician.
By month two, you’ve gotten a few firsts out of the way already—first bath, first pediatrician appointment, but there are still plenty of firsts in your future, including baby’s first round of childhood vaccines, a batch of which is scheduled for their 2-month checkup.
Your baby will likely receive the following vaccines at their 2-month checkup:
Related: Pfizer’s RSV vaccine for pregnancy could be available soon
The list might seem long, but know that even at 2 months, your little one’s body can handle it—vaccines do not overwhelm their immune system. Rather, vaccines support your child’s immune system by helping it fight off deadly yet preventable diseases that might otherwise overwhelm them. Vaccines use tiny amounts of antigens to help your baby’s body recognize and fend off serious disease. If you have other questions or concerns, be sure to speak with your child’s pediatrician.
To help make your little one more comfortable during vaccinations, aim to start breastfeeding or bottle feeding just before the shot happens and during the shot administration. The suckling action is soothing and can provide some pain relief for babies, as can the sweetness of breastmilk or formula.
Related: Want tear-free shots? The Shotblocker and Buzzy Bee can help
Is your little one enjoying bath time a bit more these days? Now that their wake windows are slightly longer, there’s more time to fit in a quick soak. Aim to make bathtime fun and engaging by singing songs or playing soft music. Remember that you don’t need to bathe them daily—as a rule of thumb, AAP recommends a bath three times a week for babies younger than 12 months. Also know that for babies under 6 months, no soap is necessary. Clean, warm water is all you need until they start crawling around.
Related: How often should I bathe my child?
One you reach the 2-month mark, you might see more dry skin or eczema pop up, as well as more colds and illnesses as you start to venture out more with your little one.
Redness, rashes, flaking and small bumps can be par for the course when it comes to newborn skin, as hormone levels balance out and they get used to their new environment (outside the womb, that is). Stay away from strong lotions or creams, but gentle calendula oil or jojoba oil can be safe and soothing, as can a bit of breast milk rubbed in (just more proof breast milk is basically magic). Talk to your baby’s doctor if that rash or dryness isn’t going away or is spreading, as it could be a sign of eczema (more below) or another skin condition.
Is it dry skin or eczema? Upwards of 25% of babies have eczema, according to the American Academy of Dermatology Association, which can develop as a result of babies’ more sensitive skin barrier. While dry skin is relatively harmless and painless, eczema is known as the itch that rashes, and it can be super itchy, red and weepy, and generally much more uncomfortable for babies. It often appears on the face, elbows and knees.
Ways to reduce eczema in babies
Related: How to treat your child’s eczema
If you have a child under 2 years old, it’s important that we talk about RSV. Though respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) typically presents as a mild upper respiratory cold, in kids under 2 years, it can be more serious. It can also be more severe for those born prematurely or with chronic health conditions or otherwise weakened immune systems. In severe cases, RSV can progress to a lower respiratory illness, such as bronchiolitis or pneumonia, which may require hospitalization.
Symptoms may often start out as mild, with just a clear runny nose and reduced appetite for a couple of days, and then progress to cough and wheezing. Here’s what to look for.
Common RSV symptoms in babies and kids:
In very young babies, the only symptoms may be decreased activity, reduced appetite, irritability and some difficulty breathing. RSV may sometimes present with a fever, but not always. Most kids are over the illness in about two weeks, but it can have serious health implications for some infants, especially those who are premature or have other health conditions.
If you notice your baby’s skin and chest are pulling in with every breath they take, you should seek medical attention right away. Short, shallow or rapid breathing, coughing, lethargy and not eating as they usually do are also red flags.
If RSV progresses, the second stage may be marked by more serious symptoms.
Be sure to head to the nearest hospital if your child is having trouble breathing or experiencing severe symptoms.
The magical part of month two is that you’re starting to really learn baby’s cues and cries—which can be so helpful in terms of communication. And those sweet baby smiles can somehow make all your other worries melt away (at least for a bit!). But if you’re not communicating your own needs, mama, no one else will. Ask for more help when you need it—there are people who want to support you. And if you’re feeling like you’re struggling, reach out to a mental health expert and get to know the signs of postpartum depression (PPD), which can set in anytime in the first year. Help is out there, and within reach.
If you’re experiencing any postpartum mood symptoms, no matter how mild, know that help is available. Reach out to your healthcare provider about next steps and potential treatment options, such as more support at home, therapy or medication. If you’re in crisis, reach out to a crisis hotline or dial 988 or 911 for immediate support.
The phone numbers listed below are available 24/7 to help you with suicidal thoughts or other mental health crises.
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