Andrew @ 1 month

Now that I'm finished with Leah's monthly updates, Andrew gets his! Can't believe he's already a month!

Some highlights:

* He weighs in at a whopping 11 pounds! That is in the 80th % for babies his age. There is no doubt that nursing is working for him! (I just looked back & Leah weighed 8 lbs. at her 1 month check-up. I am not used to a baby with this much chunk!)

* He is 21.5 inches long, 1 inch taller than he was at birth.

* He is flying through his clothes & diapers-- he was in newborn size for about two weeks-- we've been in size 1 diapers for 2 weeks & we're almost already to size 2!

* He sleeps very sporadically. He grunts and squirms so much it seems like he's not getting much restful sleep during the day, but I suppose he does... He will go for 2 2 1/2 hour stretches at night typically without the grunting and noises and then maybe another in the early morning, but most of the rest of the day he's doing his noises, even in his sleep. It's so distracting when I'm trying to sleep that he usually ends up sleeping out in the living room in his bouncer seat after his 2nd nighttime feeding! He slept well in that bouncer the first week or so with all the activity going on around him, but now he actually seems to sleep better in a dark, quiet room (maybe it's just because I can't hear him grunting while I'm not in there!).

* He sleeps well in his car seat when we're out & about, although he hates getting buckled into it!


* He likes his paci to help him get to sleep-- a habit I didn't want to start, but we'll try to wean him before he's one or so! He doesn't seem to have a preference to be bundled, like Leah did-- actually he seems to like to have his arms free when he sleeps.

*The past week or so he's been wanting to eat every 2 to 2 1/2 hours, except at night when he can usually go 3 hours. He is much, much better at nursing, and can usually latch on within a minute or so. He still nurses only about 5-10 minutes each feeding, usually on only one side. Occasionally I can change his diaper & burp him and then get him to eat on the other side, but usually he seems content after only 5 minutes or so, which is a huge blessing! I haven't had to do any pumping the past 2 weeks at all. I would love to get his feedings farther apart, but usually the only thing I can do to console him when his grunting gets past just noises & moves to the crying phase is feed him. So right now I'm doing on-demand, but as he gets older, we will move to a more "me"-led schedule.



* He is usually awake for about 30 minutes or so after he eats. He likes to stay awake even at 3am. He seems to like tummy time okay, and he likes to lay on his back on the playmat, just like Leah did.

* He likes to be held, but you can't really lay down with him on your tummy. He prefers to be held sitting upright with your hand pushing his belly. He seems to have really good head control already.


* He is still holding on to his umbilical stump! The dr. said this is okay, some babies have theirs until 3 or 4 months! But it just means no tub baths for him, and it's easy for me to neglect giving him a sponge bath because it seems somewhat pointless.