I'm curious to know how much a two month old is supposed to sleep and play. Mine sleeps all day and night and is up for about an hour or two in the morning and then around late afternoon for 1-3 hours. It varies. She gets up every 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours to eat and sleeps again. Is this normal? How much are they supposed to play and sleep? Also how much are you supposed to cuddle the infant? Do they have to sleep in your arms too? Mine falls asleep in my arms after feedings that last 5 minutes, but I put her down in her bed about 5-10 minutes after her feedings.

My 2 month old sleeps alot too. He's up for 2-3hrs in the morning then he wakes every hour or so for food. He stays up for 3-4hrs again in midafternoon. By 7 he's tired again. I try to keep him up for as long as I can but he gets really cranky when he wants to sleep. I hold him and talk to him all of the time its really good for language development. I also put him on a play mat that can hang toys at the top. He loves kicking around under there for a little while everyday. I think every baby is different. There aren't really any standards. My mom said when I was 2 wks old I slept all night and stayed up all day. All babies are different, but I am interested to hear what other moms say.

I recall that our baby slept a lot like you are describing in the earlier days. I don't recall exactly when she started staying awake more in the day, but it seems it was somewhere between 2 and 3 months old for us. Also, at 2 months old, our baby was very colicky, so when she was awake, she was screaming. So we didn't have much play time. I held her a lot to constantly try to soothe her.

About 3 months old, the colic stopped, and I'm guessing around 3½ months old, the naps stopped completely, and now at 4½ months, she doesn't nap at all...not even cat-napping anymore. We have a lot more play & interaction time now that she's alert & aware of her surroundings.

As for falling asleep in your arms...I loved that!...naps and bedtime...and I miss it! In hindsight, letting her fall asleep in my arms at bedtime was something I should have put a stop to earlier than 4 months old...and let her learn to go to sleep on her own. I'm talking about bedtime here.

If I could do it over again, I would have started putting her to bed while she was still awake & aware at around the 3 month point (when the colic stopped) so she could have learned to put herself to sleep sooner. At 4½ months old (actually, closer to 5 months now), we have come a long way with bedtime...letting her CIO, but still have struggles with getting her to go to sleep without wanting to be rocked to sleep. I'm just hoping she learns to put herself to sleep before she learns to say "Mommy". It would kill me to have to hear her screaming "Mommy" from her crib.

DD was still sleeping a lot at that age. Mostly waking up to eat and interact a little bit. Up for an hour, sleep for 1-2 hours. Up for 45 minutes, back to sleep 1-2 hours. Like that all day long. Unfortunately she liked to party in the middle of the night.

I say at 2 months, cuddle away. They are small for such a shot time. Enjoy it. I also think that at that age it is fine for them to fall asleep in your arms. They are comforted and happy that way.

When do you start putting the baby to sleep on its own? I still sleep with DS because he wakes during the night to eat. Everyone is telling me I shouldn't be doing that because he won't sleep alone in his crib. As well, I usually put him to sleep by feeding him then he falls asleep when he's done. He doesn't fall asleep on his own. Normal? When do you change this?