Ask Me Help Desk - My baby is 2 months old

Quote:

Originally Posted by ReMmI

So my son is 2 1/2 months old and I just realized that he has a flat spot on the back of his head. I think it is because of putting him in the bouncer......I am worried about that and also his eating habits. He eats every 3 to 4 hours during the day about 4 onces sometimes he will eat 2 ounces and then eat another 2 in two hours. At night he only sleeps for about 5 hours I put a tablespoon of rice cereal in his 4 ounce bottle but Im not sure it helps him sleep longer. When he wakes up at 4 or 5 am I feed him another 4 ounces and he will only sleep for like another 2 hours!! then he eats another 2 ounces. He is not overweight he is in the 50th % in everything head weight length and all so i dunno if Im doing something wrong or I need some good tips how to possible change this pattern....Please give me all the advice you got....THANKZ!!

We are seeing more and more flat heads due to babies being on their backs so much more these days (which is a good thing in regard to preventing SIDS), but it can help to be sure and have some tummy time while he's awake each day and try to avoid having him lie in one position too long (other than when he is sleeping). It will usually sort itself out and rarely requires any intervention.
His eating is right where it would be expected. You may want to reconsider the rice cereal in the bottle. I know it is tempting to try and get baby to sleep longer by filling them up more, but cereal at this point it nothing more than a filler. His digestive system is not mature enough to break it down as easily as he should and he won't be absorbing nutrients well yet either. Young babies are designed to need to be fed fairly often to ensure that they get the proper amount of nutrients, calories, and fats as they should... his milk is all he needs for sometime yet. It is also thought that by feeding more often it works as a safety mechanism so that he is not in a deep sleep for extended periods, another possible help in preventing SIDS.
Five hours of sleep at night is considered sleeping through the night for most babies his age... congrats!. :) The more frequent feeds during the day are allowing him to need less at night. I know it is not easy, but it will get better and he will start to take in more and extend his times between feeds a bit over the next several weeks.
Expect eating and sleeping patterns to change every now and then in the first year... it is perfectly normal as they go through different stages of development and their needs change.