One Month

EAT, SLEEP, POOP! That is pretty much what this baby does all day long. He does have several awake times now, but he is an expert at eating, sleeping and pooping. This little man is a very good baby. He has a very mild temperament and is definitely happy and easy going like his brother. He has his fussy time in the evening, but definitely no colic or screaming for hours on end.

EAT
This kid can eat. He eats every three hours during the day and twice in the night. We follow Babywise for our scheduling. I wake him up every three hours and feed him. Yes, I break the cardinal rule of "don't wake a sleeping baby". Sometimes I don't want to, but I know that one of the reasons he is such a good baby is because he gets a full feeding every three hours. I really do believe that feeding him every three hours has helped keep my milk supply good, keeps his tummy full and happy and helps regulate his metabolism and digestion. Sometimes we will go a little longer (or shorter). Especially when he was a little newborn he would sometimes only go 2.5 hours. He very naturally fell into the three hour routine and it works for all of us. His feedings usually last about 30 minutes (including a diaper change in the middle). That is an improvement from the 45 minutes it took to feed Luke! Don't get me wrong if my baby is crying and seems hungry I definitely feed him, but 99% of the time he is going 3 hours. He was not spitting up at all the first several weeks, but during the fourth week he has started to spit up occasionally.

SLEEP
We try to do eat, awake sleep with our babies. The first couple weeks they pretty much just eat and sleep, but after the first two weeks Jimmy started having a short awake time after each feeding and now at one month he is usually awake 1-1.5 hours (including feeding time) and then goes back to sleep until the next feeding. We use The Happiest Baby on the Block to calm and soothe our babies. They use the 5 S's: swaddle, side, sway, shoosh and suck. So, when he starts to fuss and act tired I swaddle him up put his in his bouncy chair, turn on the white noise and bounce him for a few minutes and he is usually asleep withing 5 minutes. I used to worry with Luke that he would get "addicted" to the bouncy chair but with this kid I just think whatever makes him sleep just do it!! At night time he always sleeps in his crib, but he always has a sound soother on. (We all sleep with white noise in this house!) Our babies are not allowed in our room. I just can't sleep with all the little noises they make so I sleep with the monitor next to me and I find it much easier to not hear all those little noises during the night. Jimmy usually goes to sleep around 8/9 pm for the night and then I "dream feed" him at 10/10:30 before I go to bed and then he usually wakes up around 2/3 am and then 5/6 am for more milk. It is not easy getting up twice in the night and I feel somewhat zombieish during the day, but I am not complaining because all I have to do is nurse him and change his diaper and he usually goes right back to sleep.


POOP
This kid can poop! He seems to be a bit more gassy than Luke and we have used some gas drops with him especially at night time. He seems to be improving and I bought a probiotic for him, but have yet to use it because that takes time and effort and I have not made time for it yet! I am seriously amazed at how many diapers we go through in a day. I would say it is at least 12! It's craziness. Not too many blow outs...yet.

 This is a typical schedule for little Jimmy:
8:00 AM Eat and awake for the day
9:30 AM Sleep
11:00 AM Eat and awake
12:30 PM Sleep
2:00 PM Eat and awake
3:00 PM Sleep
5:00 PM Eat and awake
6:00 PM Sleep
7:30 PM Eat, bath and awake
8:00 PM Asleep for the night
10:00 PM Dream feed and back to bed
3:00 AM (time varies) Eat and right back to bed
5:00/6:00 AM Eat and right back to bed
The times definitely vary each day by about 30-60 minutes, but he is eating every 3 hours and then I feed him after two hours in the evening and then the dream feed right before I go to bed. He has even done a few nights of only waking up once, so hopefully we will be transitioning to that soon! I definitely miss uninterrupted sleep but I can not complain about a newborn who only wakes up twice a night and then goes right back to sleep.


When he is awake he loves to be in the bathroom when I shower and get ready. I put him in his bouncy chair and I think he likes the sound of the water and hair dryer. He is always very happy in the bathroom. He also likes to sit next to the window and look outside. He loves laying on our bed and looking at the celing fan. Luke likes to get right up in his face and say things like, "ooohhhh, he's so cute!", "oh, hi baby jimmy jim. you so cute.". Yes, he hears me saying things like that all day long. Luke is very good to Jimmy and we have really had no issues with jealousy. I try to take time to play with Luke for 30-60 minutes every afternoon while Jimmy sleeps. It also helps that Luke is going to preschool 3 times a week!

He has been fairly health except for the lovely cold Luke shared with all of us when Jimmy was 2 weeks old. We were all sick with colds and Jimmy and Lukey both had small fevers. It was not a great time, but we all seem to be over it now and we are washing hands, taking vitamins and using essential oils to keep those evil viruses away!! I don't like having sick kids.


It's so amazing to watch him grow and change so quickly. He has already grown so much and is becoming so alert and aware. I really can't wait for the smiles and giggles to start. That's when it gets really good!