8 Week Old Baby: The 2-Month Checkup and First Vaccines

Your Baby at 8 Weeks Old

An 8 week old baby is around 2 months old — the age of the first routine immunisations in Canada. At the 2-month visit, babies are usually offered the 5-in-1 or 6-in-1 vaccine, the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine and the rotavirus vaccine, according to the Canadian Paediatric Society; exact timing varies by province and territory. An 8 week old still feeds on cue and may sleep up to 18 hours a day, for 3 to 4 hours at a time.

Your 8 week old baby reaches a real milestone this week: the 2-month checkup and first vaccines. It can feel like a big moment — the shots protect against serious diseases, and there are simple ways to make them easier for your baby.

This guide covers what to expect this week: the 2-month vaccines and how to ease them, what’s developing now, and how feeding and sleep are shaping up.

Your Life This Week: The Parent Experience

The 2-month vaccine visit can bring a wave of feeling — protective, anxious, and relieved once it’s done. It helps to know your baby may be more unsettled or run a mild fever for a day or two afterward, which is a normal response, and that you can comfort and, if needed, treat this.

Beyond the shots, some fussiness may linger from the normal peak crying period, which the Canadian Paediatric Society places around 3 to 12 weeks. Lean on help, and rest when you can.

The “baby blues” affect up to 80% of new mothers and usually ease within a few weeks, the Canadian Paediatric Society notes. If low mood, anxiety or a sense of disconnection lingers or feels heavier than that, it may be postpartum depression, which affects about 13% of new mothers, and as many as 10% of fathers. It is treatable — please tell your doctor or public health nurse.

Feeding Your 8 Week Old Baby

An 8 week old baby feeds on cue. The Canadian Paediatric Society advises feeding on demand — whenever your baby is hungry — with frequent feeds normal at this age. For formula, follow the feeding chart on your formula’s packaging and let your baby’s cues guide the amount. The CPS signs of feeding well still apply: six or more wet diapers a day, a content baby, and steady weight gain.

Feeding is also one of your best tools at the vaccine visit: the Canadian Paediatric Society recommends nursing your baby during the needle to reduce pain, and feeding often afterward is comforting. Your baby may want to feed a little more for a day or two after the shots, which is fine.

Whether you breastfeed, formula feed or combine the two, your baby’s brain and vision development runs on the right nutrients — DHA, iron and vitamin D among them. If breastfeeding isn’t an option, the Canadian Paediatric Society advises a store-bought, iron-fortified, cow-milk-based infant formula for the first 12 months — fortified to provide these.

A note on formula this week. If you’re formula feeding, a calm bottle right through and after the vaccine appointment is a genuine comfort. MOF’s organic Stage 1 formulas, such as HiPP Dutch Stage 1, are iron-fortified and suitable from birth through 6 months, providing the DHA, iron and vitamin D your baby needs. Formula is a good choice whenever it’s the right one for your family.

Sleep at 8 Weeks: What’s Normal & How to Help

An 8 week old baby may sleep as much as 18 hours a day, for 3 to 4 hours at a time, according to the Canadian Paediatric Society — and waking to feed at night is normal and healthy. Some babies begin to show one longer overnight stretch. In the day or two after vaccines, sleep may be a little more unsettled, which is normal.

This is developmentally on track. The Canadian Paediatric Society notes that sleep habits become more predictable sometime after 3 months, so from here you may gradually see longer stretches emerging.

Keep reinforcing day and night: bright, active days and calm, dim, quiet nights. Put your baby down drowsy but awake when you can, and protect your own rest where possible.

Safe sleep reminder: always place your baby on their back for every sleep, on a firm flat mattress with a tightly fitted sheet and no loose, soft items, in a crib, cradle or bassinet in your room for the first 6 months. The Canadian Paediatric Society advises this lowers the risk of SIDS.