2 month old baby feeding less
Your Baby's Growth: 2 Months (for Parents)
Babies continue to grow quickly in weight and length this month.
How Much Will My Baby Grow?
The first 2 months of life were a period of rapid growth. Your baby will continue to grow at a similar rate, gaining about 1 to 1½ inches (2.5 to 3.8 centimeters) in length and 2 pounds (907 grams) in weight this month. These are just averages — your baby may grow somewhat faster or slower, and is likely to have growth spurts.
Your baby can go through periods of increased hunger and fussiness. This increase in hunger means your baby is going through a period of fast growth (a growth spurt). If you breastfeed, you might find your baby wants to eat more often (sometimes every hour!) during certain times of the day. This is often called "cluster feeding." Formula-fed babies may want to eat more often or will drink more formula than usual during feedings.
You'll learn to see the signs that tell you that your baby is hungry or when your baby is full. You will know your baby is hungry when she seems restless, cries a lot, sticks out her tongue or sucks on her hands and lips. You will know your baby is full when she is no longer interested in feeding or just falls asleep at the end of a feeding session. Remember, babies' tummies are very small and they need to be burped after feedings to release gas that can cause discomfort.
Your doctor will measure your baby's weight, length, and head circumference and track his or her growth on a standardized growth chart (there are different charts for boys and girls). Your baby might be large, small, or medium-sized. As long as this growth pattern stays consistent over time, chances are your baby's progress is just fine.
If your baby is born prematurely, keep in mind that growth and development should not be compared with that of a full-term child. Preemies will need to be followed more closely and may need to be weighed more often during the first months to make sure they are growing properly.
They have some catching up to do!
Should I Be Concerned?
If your baby is not growing at the expected rate, or the growth rate slows, your doctor will want to make sure your baby is getting enough to eat.
The doctor may ask you about:
- How many feedings a day your baby gets. At 2 months old, a breastfed baby may feed about 8 times in a 24-hour period; formula-fed babies usually eat less frequently, about every 4 hours. Now that babies are drinking more at a time they will feed less often and sleep longer at night.
- How much your baby eats at each feeding. A baby generally nurses for at least 10 minutes, should be heard to swallow, and should seem satisfied when done. Bottle-fed babies eat about 5 to 6 ounces (148–177 milliliters) — some more and some less — at each feeding. Breastfeeding mothers may benefit from seeing a lactation consultant to increase comfort and improve technique.
- How many bowel movements your baby has each day, and their volume and consistency.
Most babies will have 1 or more bowel movements daily, but it may be normal to skip 1 or 2 days if consistency is normal. Breastfed babies' stools tend to be soft and slightly runny. The stools of formula-fed babies tend to be a little firmer, but should not be hard or formed.
Most of the time, a baby's growth will simply be tracked over the next few months during routine well-baby visits. But if your doctor is concerned about your baby's growth, he or she will want to see your baby more often.
What's Next?
On average, babies between 3 and 6 months grow in length and weight at a steady but slightly slower rate compared with the first 2 months of life. Sometimes, it may seem like your baby is outgrowing clothes every other day and you can't keep up. Don't worry. Rapid growth will start to slow down in the second half of the first year.
Reviewed by: Cristy A. Wong, MD
Date reviewed: January 2019
Feeding Your 1- to 3-Month-Old (for Parents)
During your baby's first 3 months, breast milk or formula will provide all the nutrition needed.
Doctors recommend waiting until your baby is about 6 months old to start solid foods. Some babies may be ready for solids sooner than 6 months, but wait until your baby is at least 4 months old.
What Changes Should I Expect?
As your infant grows, feeding will change. Babies will start drinking more milk during each feeding, so they won't need to feed as often and will sleep longer at night.
Your baby's appetite will increase during growth spurts. Continue to feed on demand and increase the number of feedings as needed.
Your infant also will become more alert as the weeks go by, cooing and smiling. So there will be more interaction between you and your baby during feedings.
The following are general guidelines, and your baby may be hungrier more or less often than this. That's why it's important to pay attention to your baby's signals of being hungry or full. A baby who is getting enough might slow down, stop, or turn away from the breast or bottle.
Breastfeeding: How Much and How Often?
As babies get older, they will start to breastfeed less often and sleep for longer periods at night.
Your infant probably is eating enough if he or she:
- seems alert, content, and active
- is steadily gaining weight and growing
- feeds six to eight times per day
- is wetting and soiling diapers on a regular basis
Babies might not be eating enough if they:
- don't appear satisfied
- cry constantly
- are irritable, even after feeding
- are not making wet diapers
Call your doctor if you're concerned your baby isn't eating enough.
A few weeks after birth, breastfed babies tend to have fewer bowel movements (BMs, or poop) than they did before. At around 2 months of age, your baby may not poop after each feeding, or even every day. During growth spurts, you may notice that your little one wants to feed more often. This frequent nursing sends a signal to make more milk. Within a couple of days, supply and demand will get into balance.
Babies who get breast milk only should get vitamin D supplements within the first few days of life.
Other supplements, water, juice, and solid foods aren't usually needed.
Formula Feeding: How Much and How Often?
Babies digest formula more slowly than breast milk, so if you're bottle-feeding, your baby may have fewer feedings than a breastfed infant.
As babies grow, they can eat more at each feeding and may go for longer stretches between feedings. You'll also notice that your baby is starting to sleep longer at night.
During the second month, infants may take about 4 or 5 ounces at each feeding. By the end of 3 months, your baby may need an additional ounce at each feeding.
It's easy to overfeed a baby when using a bottle because it easier to drink from a bottle than from a breast. Make sure that the hole on the bottle's nipple is the right size. The liquid should drip slowly from the hole and not pour out. Also, resist the urge to finish the bottle when your baby shows signs of being full.
Never prop a bottle. Propping a bottle might cause choking and it increases the chances of getting ear infections and tooth decay.
Should I Worry About Spitting Up?
It's normal for infants to "spit up" after eating or during burping. Spitting up a small amount — usually less than 1 ounce (30 ml) — shouldn't be a concern as long as it happens within an hour of feeding and doesn't bother your baby.
You can reduce spitting up in these early months by:
- feeding before your baby gets very hungry
- keeping your baby in a semi-upright position during the feeding and for an hour after
- burping your baby regularly
- avoiding overfeeding
- not jostling or playing vigorously with your baby right after a feeding
If your baby seems to be spitting up large amounts, is spitting up forcefully, is irritable during or after feedings, or seems to be losing weight or is not gaining weight as expected, call your doctor. And if your child has a fever or shows any signs of dehydration (such as not wetting diapers), call the doctor right away.
Call your doctor if you have any questions or concerns about feeding your infant.
Reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD
Date reviewed: November 2021
If the child does not eat well: what to do and what not to do
What to do if the child does not want to eat.
- Malyusik, well, one more spoon - and that's it! Last! I ate only two, let's have a little more, here's the most delicious piece for you! - says the average mother, offering a spoon with one hand, playing the accordion with the other, showing the trick with the disappearance of the handkerchief with the third, turning the cutlets over with the fourth, while doing somersaults on one leg.
Sound familiar?
Every dad has an instinct to bring home food, and mom has to feed the baby food. And if he refuses to eat, a signal is triggered - "I'm a bad mother" or "the child is sick."
In this case, the most important thing for a parent to understand is whether the child DOES NOT WANT or CANNOT eat?
If the baby is running around, having fun and looking good, without showing any signs of illness, then most likely he does not want to eat.
There can be many reasons:
- A breastfeeding child prefers milk and dairy products, intuitively understanding that he needs calcium, and now milk is healthier for him than soup. nine0016
- The child wants a cookie, not vegetables.
- He really wasn't hungry. For example, his metabolism is slow, breakfast has not yet been digested, and lunch is already being offered. Or the child was sitting in front of the TV after breakfast and his appetite had not yet had enough time to play out. Compared to the boy next door who was outside all day.
- If a child is not genetically destined to become Uncle Styopa, then he can eat much less than his peer, who has tall parents. nine0016
- Psychological problems. If earlier you accidentally gave your child a bitter cucumber, then he may refuse any green food. Or you yell at the child during the meal, and for him the food is perceived as a trauma.
If your child is lively, but at the same time he has a "bad appetite", then this is not his problem, but yours - the psychological problem of an unsatisfied instinct.
If a child jumps, jumps, he has healthy nails, hair, etc., think less about what he lacks. Better think about something nice))
An active child = not a hungry child.
Wait for the natural desire and correctly distribute energy costs - walk more often, send the child to the sports section, or simply say: “If you don’t want to, take a walk, dinner is not earlier than seven and no snacks.” That is, if your child simply does not want to eat, normalize feeding - strictly at a certain time and without snacks. The body will get used to secrete gastric juice strictly according to the schedule.
And one more thing. There are no rules about how much a child should eat. He can eat a kilo (and make you very happy) and 9Send 00 grams to the toilet. Or eat 100 g and learn everything.
But it is much more difficult if the child CANNOT eat.
Causes:
- If you are breastfeeding, you may have “tight breasts”, when it is very difficult for the baby to suck milk.
- The child has a runny nose, and when he eats, he begins to choke.
- Food hot, cold, sour, bitter.
- He has sores in his mouth (for example, from toys), and they hurt when food gets on them. nine0016
- Teeth are cut, gums hurt.
- Bowel problems. The stomach starts to hurt while eating.
- The child simply fell ill (cold, SARS, poisoning, influenza, etc.). If the child is sick, and he is not dystrophic, then you should not force him to eat. The body fights infections better when it's hungry. But be sure to drink.
If a child at first shows appetite and interest in food, but refuses to eat through a spoon or two, then, most likely, the process of eating causes him certain difficulties. nine0003
If the baby CANNOT eat and you can't identify or eliminate the cause, the best thing to do is contact your pediatrician. The doctor will accurately determine the problem and give the necessary recommendations.
Our clinic has a wonderful pediatrician Yuliya Vladimirovna Sinyagina with 17 years of experience! You can sign up to her))
Bon appetit everyone! As well as strength, patience and satisfied instincts!
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What to do if the child does not eat well.
Child needs to eat instinctively from birth . If the child is healthy, he eats as much as his body requires. Over the years, our instincts weaken and eating behavior begins to rely not only on the needs of the body, but also on:
- socio-psychological environment
- experience
- emotional state
It is very important to be able to distinguish between a true decrease in appetite and a false one. If false, there are no problems with food or health, but at the same time, parents are unhappy with the amount of food eaten. nine0003
To diagnose a child's eating behavior, it is necessary, first of all, to clarify the general state of the child's health, his activity, growth and weight indicators and their dynamics, and especially the rhythm of nutrition.
Types of refusal to eat:
- A child older than 1.5–2 years does not eat certain food groups. For example, refuses vegetables, meat or cereals.
- The child bites and eats mainly junk food: sweets, fast food and processed meat (sausages, sausages). nine0016
- A child older than one and a half years old eats only liquid, homogeneous food (for example, milk, formula or puree).
- The child refuses any food and goes on hunger strikes
- The child experiences fear when eating due to some trouble that occurred while eating.
- For diseases of the oral cavity and disorders of the digestive system. The child avoids pain when eating or after eating.
- The child may not eat well when he is not feeling well. This is a normal human reaction to the disease. nine0016
- Increased nervous excitability. An excited child can hardly secrete the required amount of saliva, so it is difficult for him to have dryish food. If you are under a lot of stress, you may have trouble swallowing due to throat spasms.
Consequences of refusal to eat:
- the child does not gain weight for a long time, growth and lags behind in physical development
- chronic eating disorder, deficiency of vitamins and microelements layer is very thin.
There is a decrease in immunity, a tendency to frequent infections and their protracted course; fatigue and general weakness. nine0003 If diseases are ruled out, in most cases the problem of the child's selective appetite can be solved by parents on their own.
What to do?
Lots of recommendations. To normalize the appetite will have to spend a lot of time and effort. Therefore, be patient.
- There is one simple rule that helps to determine the amount of food a child needs: the number of spoons of each meal eaten must be at least the number of full years . You can conclude a kind of contract to comply with this rule. If the child understands the agreements, he can correctly calculate his strength and build expectations . Large plates can scare a child, as can huge portions.
- Think about how a child usually eats. If it is filled with persuasion, quarrels, threats of punishment, then a decrease in appetite is quite natural.
Our psyche is arranged in such a way that the emotional coloring of events occurring at the same time is mixed and attached to each other . If food becomes a cause of conflict with parents, the child experiences unpleasant emotions - resentment, shame, anger, etc. These emotions are superimposed on all meals. Try not to force him to finish his plate, do not threaten punishment. The more you force, the more the child will resist. Make your meal a pleasant event of the day in a warm family circle with a beautiful table setting. - However, the opposite situation also happens: the mother, on the contrary, does not offer food too persistently. There is an opinion: you need to make 8 to 15 unobtrusive attempts, preferably in a playful way, so that the child gets used to unfamiliar food. Use little tricks. Offer new foods to your child to choose from - for example, from 2-3 dishes. This will help him understand that his opinion is taken into account in the family.
Replace products. Try different types of meat - the child will surely choose something for himself, because he needs iron in an easily digestible form, which can only be obtained from meat products. Add mince to vegetables. Use different cooking methods. nine0016 - Selective appetite develops in children of parents who use food as a reward or as blackmail: "If you don't eat soup, you won't go for a walk." Pediatricians emphasize that food is a source of nutrients, fuel for the body, and not a means of manipulation.
- You should not feed a child mechanically when he is engrossed, say, in playing or watching a movie - many children eat well under advertising or on a tablet, not feeling the taste of food at all, which ultimately only reduces their appetite. nine0016
- Children are much more willing to eat what has been cooked with them, so feel free to involve them in the cooking process. Turn cooking into an exciting joint creativity, and you will see how the child gradually changes his attitude to food.
