Lucy at 1 Month

1 month on October 29

I think it's safe to say that we had one fussy baby on our hands during the first month!  The first few weeks, it was a rare moment in our house when Lucy was awake and actually content.  She would last about 5 minutes before she started getting fussy and crying.  After seeing if she was hungry or needing her diaper changed, I typically would either put her in the carrier to calm her down (or get her to fall asleep) or would hold & rock her to calm her down which only works for a few minutes.  Tummy time has been few and far between because again, she's usually fussy when she's awake. This past week though I feel like she made a turning point and is happier during the day when she's awake or maybe I'm just getting better at figuring out what she wants and likes.  We still have trouble sometimes getting her down to sleep at night but I'm hoping next month will go better. There have been some very long and trying days in the past month and this is by far, the hardest thing I've ever done but I think I'm starting to get the hang of this mom thing.

Weight: 9 lbs; 40th percentile (at her 1 month appointment on November 1)

Length: 21.5 inches; 75th percentile (at her 1 month appointment on November 1)

Clothes: Newborn diapers and clothes although we didn't buy a ton of fall/winter newborn clothes so I have had to put her in some 0-3 month long sleeve onesies and pants but they're huge on her still.

Eating: Breastfeeding has been going well and I try to pump in the morning too after her first feeding to start building a stockpile so Todd can give her a bottle if she wakes up while I'm teaching Spin/TRX in the early mornings. During the day, she seems to go anywhere from 1.5-3 hours before getting hungry and at night, she will typically go about 4-6 hours.  We have had a few nights when she has slept for 8 hours straight!  It was wonderful but isn't a regular occurrence yet.

Sleeping: Her naps during the day can be hit or miss.  Sometimes she'll be up for 3-4 hours before taking a nap and other times she'll be back asleep after only being up for an hour.  She's been sleeping in her nursery at night from the first night we brought her home from the hospital.  We put her in her crib the first 1.5 weeks but she had a hard time being put down and staying asleep in her crib so we now have her sleep in the Rock 'n Play. For the first 3 weeks or so, she would get really fussy anywhere between 7:00 PM-11:00 PM and it would take about 2-3 hours to actually get her to fall asleep.  Once she was asleep though, she'd go 4-6 hour stretches, eat, and then would fall back asleep until about 8:00 AM.  We swaddled her in the Halo Sleep Sack/Swaddle for the first couple weeks but she really seemed to fight it and would try to get her arms out.  We started swaddling her again last week and she seems to like it now.  I don't think we were swaddling her tight enough at first but now it's so tight she has no chance of moving her arms.  I will say too that, knock on wood, again this past week has been much better.  She's been asleep every night between 9:15-10:00 PM and then sleeps until about 4:00-5:00 AM, eats, and falls right back asleep until 8:00-8:30 AM.  I think swaddling her again has helped as well as not trying to force her to go to bed around 7:30-8:00 PM.

Likes: Bouncing on the stability ball, napping in the swing, sleeping in the Rock & Play, eating
 
Dislikes: Getting her diaper changed, putting clothes on/off, getting a bath, going to sleep at night

Milestones: Met lots of family & friends in her first month, well visit with pediatrician, first time in stroller, umbilical cord fell off at 8 days old, first bath at home, took her first bottle, first trip to Target, and becoming more alert & aware of her surroundings