2 month old routine

I just want some advice and to know what kind of routine are parents having for a 2 month old. My son is about 9 weeks now and I don't use any books to advice me on getting him to sleep over night but have been using instinct and letting him sleep when he needs to.

My baby sleeps at around 7-8pm after his bottle and then I wake him at about 11pm for another feed. He then sleeps to about 4am screaming to be fed and then sleeps to about 8am.

During the day, he naps for about a couple of hours on the morning (10.30am to 12pm)and about 3 hours in the afternoon (the time varies but is usually about 3-4pm to 6pm).

As you can see, he doesn't really follow a strict routine and I am still contemplating on whether to buy Gina Ford's book but have heard you have to follow a very strict routine. I also have a 5 year old so following a strict routine will probably not be achieved:(

My 5 year old slept overnight from about 6 weeks and I can't for the life of me remember how I made that work!

What kind of routine does your 2 month old follow and does my baby's sleeping hours seem ok for him to eventually sleep overnight?

Hi Happychick -


Gina Ford SOUNDS strict but you can adopt it as necessary. She does emphasize routines and waking up your baby at the same exact time every day regardless of what has happened the night before. (she recommends 7:00 but I had to adjust this and I woke my 2 month old at 7:30 - now that she is 4 months I wake her up at 7:15.) You might have a look at the book - most people I know who use Gina Ford adopt it as necessary following their own instincts.


You are very lucky that your first one slept overnight so early on - I would say that 11:00-4 or 5 Am stretch is pretty good for a 2 month old. At 10 weeks, my second could go from 11:00-7:00 and at 8.5 weeks was slowly starting to stretch her time from her night feed to her morning wakeup.


if you talk to a lot of parents, although many try to put their kids on a routine, daytime naps for young babies is erratic at best. (mine only got hers truly established closer to 3 months.) But at two months, I TRIED to get her to sleep from 9:00-10:00 and 11:30ish-2:30 and then one short mini nap in the late afternoon around 4:00. I just checked my book and Gina says that daytime naps for a baby between 8-12 weeks should be limited to 3.5 hours. Mine was definitely taking more than that at the time. i've only recently (within the last two weeks or so) begun cutting down on the daytime sleep as my daughter was waking up earlier.


It sounds as if you are on the right track. I did find that putting my 2nd daughter on a good routine helped my older one - because I could sort of plan when I was going to be spending time with my older one alone. "When Isabella goes to sleep you and I will do ...." It helped a lot. That way my older one always knew that she was going to get some exclusive time. Now she knows that "baby" sleeps at certain times of the day and doesn't disturb or interrupt those times.

Hi hkchoichoi


It sounds like you are getting into quite a good routine with your girls and that is what I am hoping for in the next month or so. You are right about babies having erractic day time naps. My son would sometimes sleep all afternoon with a bottle inbetween and no amount of noise would wake him! That's why I think it would not be possible to follow Gina Ford's routine but I will definately have a look at the book and use her as a guide line.

Thinking back now, I think it was routine that helped my daughter sleep through the night very early on. Being a new mum at the time, I didn't think about being flexible with her feeding and just did what the doctors me...feed her every 3 hours and that's what I did.

I think it's harder this time round as I'm pretty busy with Charlotte and the house, that I sometimes even forget what time I last fed the baby! lol! madness or what, I think I'm getting old!

With your second baby, you mentioned that she could sleep from 11pm-7am. When would her last nap have been and would she stay awake all evening up until 11pm?

Hi Happychick -


I wasn't clear. Right now my #2 goes to bed at 6:45 and I feed her at 10:30 or 11:00 and she goes back to sleep. At around 2 months, as much as possible she would be awake after 5:00 PM and then off to bed afterwards as close to 7 as possible but not quite. Right now she's in bed at around 6:45 but at two months she would conk out around 6:30ish.

Your second sounds like mine - I would really have to work at rousing my #2 to get her to stay awake and she would still be really drowsy and stuff. It took SO MUCH energy keeping her awake for even 45 minutes. But SUDDENLY, one day she became more alert and I knew that she was ready for more alert time during the day. Wait for tha to happen - it was literally overnight for me.


Good luck! Juggling two ain't easy girl - and you're a champion for doing all that you are doing already!

Managing two isn't easy that's for sure. I've got both of mine in the same room now - that seems to help me a lot. I can walk and wake both of them at the same time in the AM.