2 Month Old Baby

2 Month Old Baby


Contents:

Child Development, Your Baby at 2 Months

Your baby is growing fast. Time runs fast and there comes a moment when your baby turns 2 months old. He/she recognizes his/her mother and smiles when he/she sees her. Of course, your baby smiled before. Still, it was a different smile. The smile your baby had before occurred due to a certain reflex.

Now you may start noticing that your baby is smiling when he/she hears you talking or when he/she sees that you’re looking at him/her. In other words, your baby smiles at you and not only because he/she is in a good mood. A smile is the first way of communication between a baby and his/her parents.

Physiology at 2 Month Old Baby

At this age, your baby starts to actively develop physically. By the end of the 2nd month of his/her life, a baby may gain approximately 800g. It amounts to 25 % of his/her weight by the end of the 1st month of his/her life. Your baby becomes 3-4 cm higher. His/her chest circumference increases to approximately 20mm.

Your baby still sleeps approximately 18 hours per day. During the 2nd month of his/her life, the amount of mother’s milk he/she should get equals to approximately ¼ of his/her total weight.

Baby’s Diet

If your baby needs it, you may breastfeed him/her. At the same time, there is no exact schedule according to which you should do it. He/she may latch on up to 4 times in an hour while you may actually breastfeed him/her once in the period from 40 minutes to 2.5 hours. The most important hours to feed your baby during the nighttime is between 3 and 8 hours in the morning. At this age, you need to breastfeed your baby when getting him/her to bed and when he/she wakes up.

Psychology at 2 Month Old Baby

Your baby develops as fast in terms of his/her psychology as he/she does in terms of physiology. At this age, his/her reactions become more conscious. He/she is able to focus attention on something better than when he/she was a newborn. The reflexes common for a newborn baby start to gradually disappear.

They are replaced by a more conscious perception (conscious as much as it is possible at this age). The main way by means of which he/she communicates with people around him/her is still crying. At the same time, there appear other sounds as well. For example, your baby starts to babble more often. He/she shows more interest to the world around him/her.

Eyesight and Hearing at 2 Month Old Baby

2 month old babies

Your baby is now able to better focus his/her eyes on something than during the 1st month of his/her life. He/she is able to focus on either bright or simply new things that he/she sees. He/she is able to focus his/her eyes on a moving object under the condition that the object is not too far away from him/her (up to 1 m). It is the time when your baby becomes able to differentiate between his/her parents and other people. He/she starts to smile due to some reason. For example, your baby may smile when you show your affection with the help of words or when he/she understands that you’re in a good mood.

His/her hearing ability also develops quite actively. At this age, your baby is able to understand where a certain noise comes from. If you shake a rattle somewhere out of his/her eyeshot, you’ll see that your baby becomes still for a moment to analyze what’s going on around him/her. After it, your baby will turn his/her head in the direction of the source of the noise. Apart from being able to react to such like “artificial” sources of noise, your baby starts to react to various voices. Sometimes, he/she is even able to differentiate between them.

At this age, your baby learns to see causal relationship. It is exactly at this age when he/she understands that when he/she bubbles something or cries, someone will come to him/her.

Skills and abilities of your baby at this age:

  • A baby is able to raise his/her head and keep it in the vertical position for several dozens of seconds.
  • A baby is able to raise his/her head and chest a bit when lying on the belly. A baby is able to stay in such a position for several seconds.
  • A baby is able to keep a toy or other object in his/her hands for some time. He/she is able to squeeze it for some time.
  • A baby is able to lie being relaxed and calm with his arms and legs stretched out.
  • A baby jerks significantly less than during the 1st month of his/her life.

Development at 2 Month Old Baby Movements

Your baby turns his/her head in different directions. He/she bends, makes movements with his/her legs and hands, bends the back, stops to clench hands in fists and becomes very much interested in his/her hands. There appears a great desire on his/her part to get hold of everything there is – a blanket, a hand of an adult person, a toy hanging above his/her bed if a baby can reach out to it.

When your baby is lying on the belly, he tries to raise and keep his/her head in the vertical position. He/she also tries to do it when you take him/her in your arms. Once your baby turns 2.5 months old, you’re recommended to put him/her on the belly more often so that your baby can train to keep his/her head. You’re also recommended to let your baby move freely. It implies that you also shouldn’t swaddle him/her or wrap him/her in some clothes. This way your baby will develop better.

How to Play With a 2 Month Old Baby

At this age, your baby is able to not only focus on moving objects for a long period of time, but also to hold his/her glance over the object that’s not moving. You need to hang toys above his/her bed. The toys should be of different sizes and colors. For example, you may hang big, soft balls and small bells. Your baby will touch these toys with his/her hands.

This way he/she will get new experience. This is the time when your baby becomes interested in everything that happens around him/her. You may ring a bell from time to time and change the place of its location. Your baby will turn the head in the direction of the bell.

What You Can Teach Your Baby at this Age

Imitate the sound that your baby pronounces. Repeat the sound and articulate them in an exaggerated way. There will become the time when your baby will start to purse his/her lips just the way you do it. Read aloud fairytales and nursery rhymes to your baby. Choose those fairytales and nursery rhymes that have a distinctive rhythm and the sounds that your baby pronounces. Take different toys-animals and show them to your baby.

Imitate the sounds these animals pronounce. You’ll entertain your baby by imitating the sounds a cow or a cat pronounces. He/she will even stop crying. So this is also a way to calm your baby down. You also may put your baby on a big ball with his/her belly down. You need to carefully rock the ball. Such like an exercise is a great way to develop the muscles of your baby and ease cramps.

Video: 2 Month Old Baby Typical and Atypical Development.

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