How Much Sleep and Food for a 2 Month Bottle Fed Baby- New Mum has stupidly read too much!

[MammaVee]

OK so Gina 'blinkin' Ford says a 2 month olds should be having 5 feeds a day and no more than 4 hours of sleep between 7am and 7pm with about 8 hours sleep at night. But Tracy 'bloomin' Hogg says that two month olds should have 6 feeds a day and have about 7 hours sleep a day and 8 hours at night WTF!! It varies so wildly I am in a bit of a pickle with it. I know every baby is different but surely the guidelines should be the same?? Any practical advice? How much should a 2 month old be sleeping during the day?

try a nap in the morning and nap in the afternoon, and feed when hungry.

happy baby, happy mummy. you'll work your own routine out in time, you don't need someone else's imposed on you.

trust your instincts. or if you've read so much you've killed them stone dead just try a few different things and see what suits you both.

there are no rules!

oh, and if your baby falls asleep and it's not an allocated time, have a cup of tea.

lol I like it! Wine rather than tea I think. I really have gone from a rather chilled out person so so uptight with getting it right that I am terrified I underfeed/overfeed or sleep deprive my DS!

relaxing about it as far as possible will make it all much easier.

just the one vino if you're bf though lol. it used to give ds a rash . but so did thai green curry...

if it helps, i don't think any sort of routine is necessary before 3mos - you're both still getting used to each other. whatever you need to do to stay sane.

don't forget to get outside for a bit each day - fresh air helps blow away random-generated baby stress too.

I will tell you what my mum told me when I was stressing over what the baby should and shouldn't be doing and panicking cos dd was awake when according to the book she should of been asleep!! My mum said the baby hasn't read the book, put down the book and start reading your dd. Best advice I ever had.

At 2 months as long as they are feedine every 3 to 4 hours and have plenty of wet and dirty nappies they are fine. Put down the book and start enjoying the baby (easier said then done though I know!!!)

Thanks Dulra your mum sounds like a sensible lady - Mums always know best...wonder if our kids will say that about us lol

mine slept every 1 1/2 to 2 hours and fed every 3 hours (ish) at that age

2 months is tiny, while some babies may put themselves into a routine so early DS (now 6 months) had other ideas. I'm also a first time mum, and was driving myself crazy with worry about he should or shouldn't be doing, but they change so much week by week anyway, and after 3-4 months I seem to have found my feet and settle into motherhood without any "help" from the parenting "gurus".

What helped me though was:

• establishing a bedtime routine early on, at about 8 weeks (bath, bottle in dim lit bedroom, then bed). Initially it made no difference at all, DS was waking up as usual, but in a couple of weeks he was sleeping his longest stretch (3-4 hours at that age) after his evening feed. And he loves his bath.

• I was still bf'ing at 2 months (unfortunately it only worked for us until about 12 weeks) and I was feeding on demand. However, even when DS went onto bottles, he could only go for 2.5 - 3 hours between feeds. He very rarely has more than 5 oz, and eats little and often, this is just his pattern.

• He still only catnaps during the day, so sleeps little and often. I put him down now about 2 hours after he wakes up, but would probably try about 1 -1.5hours at 2 months. He had all his naps on me until a month ago.

• about nightime sleep... he does sleep from 7pm to about 6am, but still feeds once in the night and lately has been very unsettled. I always take him into bed with me if he doesn't settle, I know what everyone says about bad habits but I'm too tired...

They are all so different, just enjoy him and trust your instincts. I miss the newborn days :)