At the beginning of the second month of life, a healthy child usually already knows how to keep the head in a vertical position for a short time and, lying on his stomach, to focus the look on the face of an adult, a bright toy; smile in response to your smile, more expressive is facial expressions, some kids begin to walk. By the beginning of the second month, the child adds 500-700 grams in weight, by the end - another 600-800 grams (of course, if the baby adds a little less or more, it also corresponds to the norm).

In connection with the intensive growth, the child's need for food increases and amounts to 750-850 grams of breast milk per day by the end of the month. Many mothers, despite the implementation of all the advice of a doctor and measures to stimulate lactation, the amount of milk is still clearly insufficient for feeding the baby. Therefore, it is necessary to resort to supplementary feeding (mixed feeding) or even completely to feed the infant with a formula (artificial feeding). Currently, many adaptations are being produced, i.e. approximate in composition to human milk, mixtures based on cow milk for both healthy and weakened babies.  There are also special mixtures for children with cow milk allergy (based on soy protein), with intolerance to carbohydrates, etc. What kind of mixture is given to the child, the doctor decides. At the milk-distributing points, only the sour-milk mixes are given free of charge to parents (children from 4 months old - also whole milk, kefir, cottage cheese), and fresh, adapted mixtures parents should buy themselves. You do not need to strive to purchase many different mixtures, but you need to check the expiration dates indicated on the package, the presence of the barcode and the safety of the package. To dilute dry mixtures, use only boiled (pre-filtered) water.

General rules for the introduction of complementary foods: the mixture, pre-diluted and poured into a bottle, warmed to body temperature, is given to the child after he sucked on the breast. Begin the introduction of any new, foreign product for the baby needs from a small amount - 10-15 ml and increase this amount gradually. If you introduce a sour-milk mixture to a child whose taste is significantly different from that of breast milk, you can first mix it with a small amount of pre-expressed mother's milk. If the child has already been fully switched to artificial feeding with a fresh mixture, and the doctor recommends that you also introduce a sour-milk product, you also add a small amount of the acidophilic mixture into the bottle with the usual baby food. Even about 5 years ago, doctors recommended to introduce natural juices into the baby's nutrition in the second month of life, but in recent years this recommendation has been rejected - juices and fruit purées are introduced now not earlier than 3 months because the contamination of fruits and vegetables with chemicals is high.

 

If a child was born in the fall, winter or early spring, during the second month of life the doctor usually prescribes to him some vitamin D preparation for the purpose of preventing rickets. Both the drug and its dose are selected individually, taking into account the nature of feeding the baby (since most of the adapted mixtures contain vitamin D). Start prevention of rickets can be shifted to an earlier age (premature babies) or later (in the gastrointestinal disorders or if the doctor is too small fontanelle, the insufficient growth of head circumference). In recent years, the irradiation of children with a quartz lamp (UFO) for the prevention of rickets has not been used frequently, since many children irradiate this irradiation. The usual prophylactic dose of the most common ointment 0.0625% solution of vitamin D - 1 drop per day, with artificial feeding - 1 drop every other day; but in the application of vitamin D there should not be any independent activity of parents - the drug should be prescribed by a doctor!

The same applies to the use of multivitamin preparations (Multitabs, Polivit-baby). In the second month of life, walking time increases: in summer the child must walk (in the "lacy shade" of the trees) for at least 4 hours - 2 walks for 2 hours; during the cold season at an air temperature of at least minus 10-12 degrees, you can walk 2 times for 1.5 hours, if the frost is somewhat stronger, but there is no wind, you can go out with a child for a walk for 40 minutes - 1 hour. If the weather is colder and windy, you can arrange a so-called "walk in the room" (on the veranda) - warmly dress the baby and open the transom or Vento. On a walk, the child usually sleeps. In general, the routine of his day in the second month is as follows: sleep, feeding, wakefulness, sleep. If the child is easily excited, hardly falls asleep, it is permissible to give him a pacifier-pacifier, as sucking movements usually soothe. But when the baby is actively awake, a dummy is not needed.

By the end of the second month, the child is usually awake at least 1-1.5 hours after each feeding. At this time, select the 10-15 minutes to work out with him, moved into his field of vision colorful toys, put him in the pen and remove the plastic rings, rattle from left and right of the rattle, talk to him, achieving a long smile. The rest of the waking hours the child himself is entertained: he looks at his hands, hangs toys over him, guzzles.

In the morning, in the middle of one of the periods of wakefulness, with the baby - if no objection to the doctor, you can do this since 3 weeks of age - are engaged in a massage, and then the simplest exercises. General rules for massage and gymnastics: the child during the classes should feel comfortable, be joyful, the initial lessons last 5-7 minutes, the maximum duration of the session is 20 minutes. Stroking movements are directed from the bottom up, the tummy is massaged clockwise, without affecting the right hypochondrium (the liver region). When back massage, the backbone traverses the spine. Massaging limbs, do not touch their internal surfaces.

If the district pediatrician allows, you can do exercises with the baby in the water - swimming - in your home big bath. Early swimming is useful for all children, especially excitable, with increased muscle tone, but the water temperature and the characteristics of the exercises depend on the characteristics of the baby, so you can only do it after receiving specific recommendations from the doctor. Most babies are engaged in the bath with pleasure, but there are children who are excessively excited or frightened in the bath. For such children, the exercises in a large bath are contraindicated; for them, the hardening effect of the usual bathing, massage, gymnastics, walks will suffice.