Week 9

Days 57 to 63 · 8 weeks 0 days to 8 weeks 6 days old · about 2 months This week many babies measure about 58 cm (23 in) and weigh roughly 5.3 kg (11.7 lb). Babies vary widely, and what matters is that your baby follows their own curve on the growth chart. At about 2 months your baby follows moving objects with their eyes, smiles readily and coos in reply when you talk. For many families the crying is starting to ease, which can feel like coming up for air. For you, two months in, routines may be forming and your relationship is finding a new shape. This week brings the first vaccines in many places, along with watching and play, crying on the wane, feeding and growth at two months, and looking after your relationship.

Day 57 · 8 weeks 0 days old

Your baby's eyes can follow you across the room

At birth your baby could focus only on things close to their face. Now their eyes are working together better, and they can follow a slowly moving face or toy from one side of their head to the other, across the middle. They may turn their head to keep you in view as you walk past.

Colour vision is improving too. Newborns see strong contrasts best, and over the first months they become able to tell apart reds, greens and then other colours. Bright, bold toys become more interesting, though faces remain the favourite.

You do not need special equipment to play with this new skill. A rattle, a brightly coloured sock or a black-and-white card held about 30 cm (12 in) away and moved slowly from side to side is plenty. Stop when your baby looks away, yawns or fusses. Short bursts are best at this age.

Occasionally crossed or wandering eyes are common in young babies and usually settle by about 4 months.

Call your baby's doctor if your baby does not seem to follow faces or objects by about 3 months, one eye turns in or out all the time, the eyes flicker or jerk constantly, or you notice a white or cloudy reflection in the pupil, including in a flash photo.

Try this: Lay your baby on their back and slowly move a bright toy in an arc above them, from one side to the other, while you talk about it.

Day 58 · 8 weeks 1 day old

The hardest crying weeks are passing

For most babies, crying peaks somewhere around 6 to 8 weeks. So if the evenings have felt endless lately, there is good news: from here, crying usually starts to tail off. By about 3 to 4 months, most babies cry noticeably less, and the long unexplained evening bouts become shorter and rarer. The change is gradual. You may have a calmer few days and then a harder one, especially around a growth spurt, after vaccines or during a cold. Looking back over a week tends to show the trend better than looking at a single evening.

As the crying eases, many parents find they can read their baby better, helped by smiles and coos. You have also learned a great deal. The techniques that settle your baby and the signs that they are winding up are knowledge you have built over weeks of practice.

If the crying is not easing, or is getting worse after 2 months, it is worth having your baby checked. Sometimes there is a medical reason, such as reflux or a cow's milk protein allergy, that can be treated.

Call your baby's doctor if the crying seems to be increasing rather than easing, your baby is feeding poorly or not gaining weight, or you are finding it hard to cope.

Try this: Think back to your hardest evening in the past month and write down one thing you now know about settling your baby that you did not know then.

Day 59 · 8 weeks 2 days old

The first vaccines are coming up

In many places the first routine vaccines are given at about 2 months. They protect against serious infections that are most dangerous to the very young, such as whooping cough (pertussis), which can stop a baby breathing, and bacterial meningitis.

Schedules differ between countries, but at this first visit babies are commonly offered protection against diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio and Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b), often combined into one injection, sometimes with hepatitis B. Many places also give a pneumococcal vaccine, a rotavirus vaccine taken as drops by mouth and, in some areas, a meningococcal vaccine. That can mean two to four injections in one visit, usually into the thigh. Follow your local schedule, and ask your baby's doctor or nurse what is planned.

Giving several vaccines together is safe and means fewer visits and fewer needles over time. A baby's immune system meets countless germs every day, and vaccines add very little to that load. Delaying vaccines does not make them safer. It only leaves your baby unprotected for longer. If your baby was born early, they still get their vaccines by actual age, as you read on day 56.

Bring your baby's health record so the vaccines can be written in, and wear a top that makes feeding easy.

Try this: Check your local vaccine schedule today and book the 2-month appointment if it is not already in your calendar.

Day 60 · 8 weeks 3 days old

How feeding and growth look at two months

If you are breastfeeding, your breasts may feel softer and leak less than in the early weeks. This is a sign that your supply has adjusted to your baby's needs, not that it has dropped. Feeds may also get quicker as your baby becomes more efficient.

Breastfed babies at this age may poo less often than before, sometimes only once every few days. That is normal as long as the poo is soft when it comes and your baby is feeding and wetting well. Most babies have about six or more wet diapers a day.

Formula-fed babies at around 2 months often take about 120 to 180 mL (4 to 6 oz) per feed, but appetites vary from feed to feed and day to day. Follow your baby's cues rather than pushing them to finish a bottle.

In the first three months, many babies gain somewhere around 150 to 200 g (5 to 7 oz) a week. Your baby's curve on the growth chart tells you more than any single weighing. If you are breastfeeding, remember the daily vitamin D drops: 400 IU (10 micrograms) a day.

Call your baby's doctor if your baby has fewer wet diapers, seems hungry and unsettled after most feeds, has hard pellet-like poos, or is not gaining weight.

Try this: Look at your baby's growth chart with their doctor or nurse at the next visit, and ask them to show you the curve your baby is following.

Day 61 · 8 weeks 4 days old

Your relationship is changing shape too

Two months in, many couples notice strain. Research consistently finds that relationship satisfaction dips for most couples after a baby arrives. You are both short on sleep, time and patience, and the things you used to do together have mostly vanished. Small irritations, like who got up last night or who left the bottles in the sink, can flare quickly.

None of this means your relationship is failing. It means you are under pressure. Couples who come through this stage well tend to do a few simple things: they assume the best of each other, they say what they need instead of hoping the other notices, and they find small moments of connection, even five minutes over a cup of tea.

Try to keep score less and thank each other more. Arguments are better saved for when you have both slept and the baby is settled. Words like "I feel" go further than "you always".

If you are co-parenting from separate homes, or parenting alone, the same pressures apply in different forms. Support from friends, family or a parent group can fill some of the gaps.

Get help right away if you feel afraid of your partner, or are being hurt, controlled or threatened. Abuse often begins or gets worse after a baby arrives, and confidential support lines can help.

For your partner: Tonight, once the baby is asleep, sit down together for ten minutes with no phones and ask, "What is one thing that would make this week easier for you?"

Day 62 · 8 weeks 5 days old

You can make vaccine day easier for your baby

Your baby is about 2 months old, and in many places this is the week of the first vaccines. It is normal to dread it. The good news is that there are simple, proven ways to make the injections less painful, and you are the most important one.

Breastfeeding during the injections is one of the best comforts: the sucking, the closeness and the milk all reduce pain. Start the feed a minute or two before and keep going. If you are not breastfeeding, hold your baby close, skin to skin if possible, and offer a bottle or a dummy straight afterwards. Some clinics offer a few drops of sugar water, which can also help young babies.

Hold your baby upright on your lap, cuddled against you, rather than lying them flat. Stay as calm as you can, since babies pick up on tension. Speak softly, and once the injections are done, keep cuddling and feeding until they settle. The crying is usually over within a minute or two.

The oral rotavirus vaccine is often given first, before the injections. Clinics may ask you to wait about 15 minutes afterwards, in case of a rare allergic reaction.

Do not give pain relief before the appointment unless your baby's doctor or nurse advises it.

Try this: Ask the nurse if you can breastfeed or hold your baby skin to skin during the injections, and plan to feed straight afterwards.

Day 63 · 8 weeks 6 days old

What to expect after the first vaccines

Many babies are a bit unsettled for a day or two afterwards. Common reactions include redness, swelling or a small hard lump where the needle went in, fussiness, extra sleepiness and a poorer appetite. A mild fever is also common, especially after some meningococcal vaccines. These reactions usually pass within 48 hours.

Offer extra feeds and cuddles. If your baby seems sore or feverish, ask your baby's doctor or pharmacist whether a pain reliever is suitable, and follow the dose for your baby's weight on the package. Never give aspirin to a baby. Under 3 months, though, a fever needs a doctor's check even if you think it is from the vaccines.

Call your baby's doctor if your baby has a temperature of 38.0 °C (100.4 °F) or higher: at this age that needs a doctor the same day, right away. Also call if a reaction at the injection site keeps growing after two days, or if after the rotavirus vaccine your baby has bouts of severe crying with legs pulled up, repeated vomiting or blood in their poo, which can signal a rare bowel problem.

Get help right away if your baby has trouble breathing, swelling of the face or mouth, a seizure, is floppy or hard to wake, or cries inconsolably for three hours or more.

Try this: Keep the evening after vaccine day free of plans, so you can feed, cuddle and rest together.