Savannah, you are 1 month old today! You caught us all off guard on April 29th, and you have been rocking our world ever since ;) This month has been an interesting one for all four of us. I’d say it was all about survival. It has been a big adjustment trying to juggle taking care of a newborn plus a toddler (who can both be pretty demanding in different ways!). And Brooklyn is still getting used to the fact that she has to share our attention with a little sister. But, we are getting there! I know it will get easier each month, so we are looking forward to that.
It has been interesting to go back and read my notes on what Brooklyn was like at 1 month old and compare them to Savannah. They are night and day different in a lot of ways!
Here’s what I want to remember about Savannah at 1 month old:
- Eating: Savannah is a nursing champ!! So far (knock on wood), we have not had the same choking/crying/frustration problems that Brooklyn had while nursing early on. My milk supply seems to have leveled out pretty well already, which is much earlier than it happened last time. I think some of that may be due to the fact that I have only pumped once or twice since Savannah was born, whereas with Brooklyn I was pumping a lot more just for comfort (which probably made the problem worse in hindsight). I still have a very strong letdown, but Savannah handles it well most of the time. Even when she gets choked, she rarely lets that bother her too much :) She is eating about every 3-4 hours during the day, although if she gets into a deep sleep during a nap, sometimes she’ll go longer than 4 hours without eating.
- Sleeping: We’ve come a long way in a month! For the first few weeks, Savannah slept the best while we were holding her upright in the recliner. (This meant Mommy and Daddy were sleeping horribly). She also had her days and nights mixed up, so sometimes getting her to even go to sleep at all during the middle of the night was a challenge. Now, she definitely knows what nighttime is and goes to sleep very easily most of the time in between nursing. Her longest stretch at night without eating so far was from 7:15 PM to 1 AM…almost 6 hours! She consistently goes at least 3-4 hour stretches, but has gone 4.5-5 hours a few times also. Yay, Savannah! Lately, she has been sleeping in our bed for the most part, but I did try putting her in her crib last night for the first time, and she slept in it from about 1:30-4 AM. It’s a start! I’m hoping to transition her to her crib full time pretty soon, so I can get some better sleep :) She is still sleeping a lot during the day and seems to be ready for a nap after being awake for about 45 minutes to an hour at a time.
- Reflux: It took a couple of weeks, but we finally figured out for sure that Savannah has issues with reflux. She just does not like to lie flat. She spits up some (not after every feeding, but I’d say more often than not). The biggest thing we’ve noticed recently is the random choking episodes she will have. We try to keep her elevated pretty much all the time (even when she is asleep), but she will sometimes just randomly start choking out of nowhere. Sometimes, the choking episodes are more than an hour after she’s eaten, so I feel like it has to be reflux. I called her pediatrician about it this week, and we got a prescription for Zantac to give her twice a day. We started it two nights ago, so we will see if that helps. We have also elevated her crib on one side using books underneath, so hopefully that will help her want to sleep in it :)
- Cuddling: Savannah is definitely a cuddlebug! I love that she likes to be held, but man. It would be nice to be able to put her down without her crying after a minute or two. For the most part, she hates being in the swing, bouncer, car seat, or Boppy pillow…unless she is already asleep and happens to not wake up when you put her there. However, it is extremely rare that we can ever put her down without her waking up. Argh! So, basically she has been held for her entire life so far (with the exception of her sleeping in between us in our bed at night now). But, we basically have to hold her all day during the day unless we want to listen to her scream at the top of her lungs. I’m lucky that she likes being in the Moby wrap most of the time these days, or else I’d NEVER get anything done but holding her. I’m also ordering a different type of carrier that I’ll be able to use as she gets bigger. I’m hoping this is just a phase, but if I have to “wear” her all day every day, I guess that’s what I’ll have to do :)
- Personality: I’m not sure if it’s because she’s uncomfortable all the time from the reflux or what, but Savannah is generally not a very happy baby unless she’s asleep. (You wouldn’t know it from the picture above though! I was so surprised to catch that smile on camera!). Most of the time, she’s either sleeping or crying. There are not too many moments where she is awake and content (although she did cooperate really well for her pictures this morning!). I’m really hoping that the reflux medicine will help, so we will see. In the past few days, we’ve started trying out the pacifier more, and she has gotten better at sucking on it, although it still falls out after a few minutes (and the crying begins again). Maybe as she gets bigger, she will be able to keep the paci in her mouth better.
- Milestones: Savannah has gotten a lot stronger in her neck muscles over the past week or so. She can lift her head up pretty well for a couple of seconds at a time. She can also bear weight on her legs sometimes when I stand her up. I’ve been surprised about that!
- Looks: Savannah’s eyes are still blue! I can’t believe that we might have a blue-eyed baby; I just assumed that all of our kids would have my dark brown eyes…but who knows. We will see if they change! Savannah’s hair cracks us up! It is pretty much nonexistent on top of her head…it is mostly like a curtain around the sides and the back. Without a headband on, she definitely looks like a little old man! ;) Her hair color looks different depending on the light too. I’d call it very light brown, but it also looks reddish-blonde at times. We might have a strawberry blonde-headed, blue-eyed girl. I can’t wait to see how she changes as she grows! She has gotten some baby acne in the past week, but I’m sure that will go away over the next week or two. I’m loving all of her new fat rolls that she is getting each week. She doesn’t go back to the doctor until she is 2 months old, but I would guess that she is definitely at least 9.5 lbs and probably closer to 10 pounds by now. We ran out of newborn diapers a couple of weeks ago, so she’s been in size 1s for a while now, and they fit well. She has pretty much outgrown newborn size clothes (sad!), and she is wearing mostly 0-3 month and some 3 month size clothes. She is so long that the 3 month size fits in length but is a little big around still.
- Likes: sleeping against your chest, being swaddled, being walked around and bounced to sleep, taking a bath in her bathtub (one of the few times she is awake and happy), and sleeping in the Moby wrap
- Dislikes: being awake (seriously!), getting out of the bath tub and getting lotion put on, getting dressed and undressed, being burped, being rocked, riding in the car (if not already asleep), lying flat, and not being held (I’m hoping this list decreases over the next month…haha!).
Happy 1 month, Savannah! I won’t say you’ve taken it easy on us so far, but I think things are slowly getting better. Here’s to an even better 2nd month of life!! :)
