awake time...

[happychild]

A few questions...

1) How long should a 2 month old be awake for usually during the day?? Mine is only awake long enough for the feed...is that normal??

2) During awake time...what order do you do things with your bubs?? Do you play with baby BEFORE feed or AFTER feed?

3) My baby keeps falling asleep on my breast. Does that mean he's full???

4) How long/how many cycles should a 2 month old be sleeping during the day???

5) I know it's best to have a routine for "sleep time" at the end of the day. Books recommend bath then feed then sleep. Unfortunately, I'm not strong enough to bath my baby so i have to wait for my hubby to come home. Unfortnately, he comes home late 3 nightsof the week. So is it ok NOT to bath him some nights? or will he get confused?

Thanks!

[amymay]

Hi, i have a 3.5 mths old and ill share a bit of our story which may help you. Klay is bottlefed.

1) How long should a 2 month old be awake for usually during the day?? Mine is only awake long enough for the feed...is that normal?? Klay was awake at this age for about 1 hour, he only stays awake max now for 2 hrs. i started a routine at 8 weeks so i was trying to follow feed, play sleep with in reason. some days it got thrown out the window.

2) During awake time...what order do you do things with your bubs?? Do you play with baby BEFORE feed or AFTER feed?feed, play sleep but if he woke earlier than expected play before feed if he wasnt due.

3) My baby keeps falling asleep on my breast. Does that mean he's full??? i found klay fell a sleep alot on bottle at this age and younger so had to keep him awake so he drank.otherwise he would be snack feed

4) How long/how many cycles should a 2 month old be sleeping during the day???Klay naps and still does, he has 3-4 naps a day for approx 1 hour, depends what time he wakes in morning to if its 3 or 4 sleeps. i think at 8 weeks it was about 4-5.

5) I know it's best to have a routine for "sleep time" at the end of the day. Books recommend bath then feed then sleep. Unfortunately, I'm not strong enough to bath my baby so i have to wait for my hubby to come home. Unfortnately, he comes home late 3 nightsof the week. So is it ok NOT to bath him some nights? or will he get confused?
we follow a strict night routine like books suggest, we bath, feed, bed everynight. bath when you can and maybe give him a wipe over with warm flannel/water the night you on your own so its still like a wash, just do what you can and bubs will get into routine. i found from about 10-12 weeks they change alot and are more alert so i was glad i started klay on routine at 8 weeks. i think for us it was a good age and the first few weeks i think it is point less. it was for us anyway as klay was sick with milk allergy and they are just born into the world and working it all out.

i am no expert but i hope my info about klay may help you with your bubs!!!:)

[LittleBug'sMum]

I am no expert, but my DS is about 2.5 months, and this is what I have found/ read:
1) My DS until the last couple of weeks was only awake for about 45 mins - 1 hour at a time (all of a sudden he has now become really alert and now stays awake for a couple of hours at a time).
2) I do feed, play, sleep usually. My DS usually wakes up hungry, so no choice really, but if he wakes early and isn't hungry we might do play, feed, play, sleep.
3) My DS will occasionally get sleepy at the breast, but continue sucking, doesn't actually fall asleep, and then usually wakes up again when I change him. I find it difficult to know exactly when he is finished, it seems like if I continue to offer the breast he will continue to take it and we could be there all day, so if he comes off, has been sucking for a while and looks content I usually leave it at that.
4) I saw a MCHN nurse when DS was about 2 months and she suggested he should be having around 7 feeds per 24hrs, but he is a huge feeder and was having more like 8 or 9. He was feeding about every 2 hours during the day and then 3 or 4 hourly at night (exhausting for me!).
5) I don't bath DS in the evening as I just find I don't have the time and he is already quite sleepy in the evening. I also don't bath him everyday, just give him a sponge bath type of wash on the days he doesn't have a bath. My DH has taken him in the shower with him a couple of times and he quite enjoys that. I also find my DS relaxes while in the bath or shower, but then gets quite upset when he gets out (maybe because it is cold:confused:), so for me it doesn't really settle him to have a bath.

I would be a little worried if bub was falling asleep on the breast all the time, is his weight increasing, and having enough wet nappies etc? I think feeding is quite tiring for them, but I think at 2 months they should be able to have some awake time.

Hope that helps :)

[kar]

I know this sounds like wishy washy rubbish, but at 2 months I wouldn't worry too much about how many cycles per day, but I would expect a bub to have some awake play/cuddle/talk time. I think my DS probably had about 4 sleeps a day at this stage.

At 8 wks I think my DS was happily awake for around 1hr - 1.15hrs max. He has always been a terrible day sleeper so he would actually be awake way longer but this but not in a good way.

I think falling asleep on the boob is very normal. Does he keep sucking? Maybe try waking him for a little play time and then giving him another crack? We never have had any choice about what order we do things - DS generally wakes screaming for milk :rolleyes:. If he doesn't have a big feed when he wakes I will generally do some play time then try another feed. I think feed play sleep is good though. But maybe with an extra feed after play if needed.

We have always done the bath/boob/bed triple and it has been the only sleep DS happily goes down for with no fuss, but, if you can't do it every day I wouldn't worry and like Amymay said just work a wash into the same bed time routine when your partner is not around.

[wocket]

we made our own routine. 2 months is very young and sleep is still easy to come by, so enjoy it while it lasts. Don't worry about routines, you'll find one together. We always wake, change, play, feed sleep. i know it's contrary to what the clinical health nurses will tell you to do but why do you want to mess with a powerful natural process? Sleep and happy hormones are released when your baby feeds, these no need to wake them up. After 3 months they will become much more wakeful and less likely to want to sleep at all.

[happychild]

Thank you girls!!! it's good to know that most of the stuff my baby is doing is normal....he's not losing wieght so i think he's having enough...(he's actually quite big for his age)...

i will prob try to play after feed now and see whether that means he falls asleep less at the boob. He stops sucking when he falls asleep and when i burp him...he usually doesnt wake up.