Owen turned ONE month old on Saturday! It feels like he's been in our lives longer than one month… maybe because we were awake more in this one month than we have ever been any other month ;) Brace yourself… the post today is long because Owen took a nice long nap this morning!
At one month old… I feel like we are finally starting to get on a schedule:
6:30/7:00 am: 1st feeding of the day. Rich is responsible for this feeding. He gets Owen up, changes his diaper and feeds him a bottle of breast milk from the fridge. I am not off the hook though… I have to get up and pump during this time to keep my supply up. Sometimes I will get up and take a quick shower at this time as well before Rich goes off to work. If I'm starving I might grab something to eat really quick (oatmeal, yogurt or a protein bar). Then Owen and I usually go back to sleep to catch up on lost sleep from the middle of the night feeding.
9:00 - 10:00 am: Owen is ready for another feeding around this time. So I feed him and we both get up. If we are going to try to go out that day we try to go out after this feeding. I typically eat lunch after this feeding… even if it's before 11. A lot of times I haven't eaten anything at this point in the day so if I see a window to eat I take it!
12:00 - 1:00 pm: Feeding time. Owen is usually awake before and after this feeding… sometimes he will take a 20 minute power nap.
3:00 - 4:00 pm: Feeding time. Again, Owen is usually awake before and after this feeding. If he is awake after we will try to go for a walk. He doesn't really like walks but momma's got to lose the baby weight.
6:00 - 7:00 pm: This is feeding time again. We've had a meal train 3 days a week up until now (friends have been bringing us dinner and coming by to meet Owen) and this is usually around the time people want to come over to drop of the meal. It's been challenging to try to make sure Owen is fed and happy when visitors come. Sometimes we haven't been so lucky. Rich and I eat dinner after this feeding and Owen is usually still up. We put him in the swing and he cries the entire time we eat. I feel bad for Rich because most of his interaction with his son is this time of day and Owen is usually pretty crabby.
9:00 - 10:00 pm: This is the last feeding before Owen goes to sleep for the night.
2:00ish am: This is around the time Owen likes his middle of the night feeding. Sometimes I have to even wake him up to eat. Our doctor told us we can start letting him sleep until he wakes up on his own to feed, so this time might be changing.
If for any reason Owen doesn't eat at his regular feeding time, I try to pump at that time to keep my supply up. I am also drinking Gatorade, coconut water and beer and eating lactation cookies (I made some this week and they are delicious) to increase my supply. I would like to get to a point where Owen is exclusively fed breast milk from a bottle. I will still be tied to a schedule with the breast pump, but it will be easier to feed Owen in public or leave him with someone else for a little while.
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| Owen in his bear outfit. He hates the hat… think it's too warm for him. |
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| Out for a family walk on Saturday. |
Top Baby Items for Month One
Since Owen is one month old now, I thought I would share my top 5 baby items that have been life-savers for us this month. These aren't necessarily the overall most important things we received/bought from our registry. I'm not including things you have to have like the car seat, stroller, crib etc or things we haven't used because he isn't old enough like play gyms, baby monitor etc. They are things that helped us get through the first month that maybe a lot of people might overlook when registering or buying gifts for parents-to-be.
1. Fisher Price Rock N Play Sleeper
If Owen is not being held…. 99% of the time he is in this sleeper. We didn't buy a bassinet because I was set on Owen sleeping in his crib from night one, but when we came home from the hospital I couldn't bring myself to put him in a different room. So we had him sleeping in the pack n' play in our bedroom. Not only was it taking up a ton of space in our tiny bedroom, but Owen didn't really sleep very well in it. A neighbor suggested we put him in the Rock N Play to sleep. She said her little girl had acid reflex and sleep really well in the Rock N Play because it has an incline and they aren't flat on their back in it. We definitely noticed a different since we started letting him sleep in it… he sleeps about 5-6 hours consecutively at night instead of 2-3. If we had a larger house I would consider getting a 2nd Rock N Play. We are constantly moving ours from room to room because we use it so often. It also folds up so it's easy to bring along to grandparents' houses while visiting.
2. Itz Been Pocket Nanny
I thought pregnancy brain was bad… but it gets even worse after you actually have the baby. It's so hard to remember how long it's been since you last fed the baby, especially before you are on a consistent schedule. This timer was a godsend! Every time I start a feeding I just press the feeding button and it keeps track for me! No writing it down and keeping track of notebooks etc. You can even set it to alarm you when so much time has past. It also keeps track of diaper changes, sleeping time and there is a misc button (I use it to keep track of pumping sessions). Some people have told me you can download apps on your phone similar to this, but I prefer to have a separate timer because it's easy to share the device with others (husbands, grandparents, babysitters) so the burden of keeping track isn't all on me.
3. Gripe Water/ Gas Relief Drops / Medicine Dispenser
A lot of times when Owen is fussy I can tell it is because he is gassy. It's hard to try to let it pass and do nothing when you know your baby is uncomfortable! That's why I try to give him things to help his tummy settle. Gripe water is all natural and I really do think it works. One time he had the hiccups and they disappeared right after I gave him the gripe water! Since he gets a whole teaspoon, I give it to him in the pacifer medicine dispenser, which he likes because he thinks he's eating. Sometimes instead of gripe water I try the Little Remedies Gas Relief drops which are berry flavored. Owen really likes the flavor. If he is crying when I give them to him he stops crying for a few minutes to lick his lips and savor the taste.
4. Aden and Anais Swaddle Blankets
We have 11 swaddle blankets (that's right 11) and we use every one of them! The Aden and Anais blankets are so light weight and larger than your average swaddle blanket. We have a few of the bamboo blankets (pictured) which are super soft and some of the muslin blankets. The fabric is breathable and light weight, so I don't worry about Owen overheating in them. We use them for everything. A blanket for the car seat/stroller on days where it isn't cold enough for a heavy blanket, nursing cover, floor blanket for tummy time etc. I always keep one in the diaper bag and use it to cover the entire car seat when we are out in public. At first I thought we had too many of these… but then when I saw how much we used them I realized you can never have enough of these!
5. An Additional Set of Breast Pump Parts (for pumping mommas)
Before I started pumping…. it never would have even crossed my mind that it would be nice to have an extra set of parts. Every time you pump you have to wash and sanitize everything that touches the breast milk. It's really annoying… especially if you are pumping in the middle of the night or early in the morning (the last thing you want to do is get out of your warm cozy bed to clean everything). This set has a complete 2nd set of breast pump parts so you only have to clean every other time you pump. Additionally, it comes with 4 additional storage bottles (which I've learned I need more of as most of my 4 oz bottles are currently in the refrigerator already storing milk) and quick clean bags which are used to sterilize the parts after cleaning them. This set of extra parts will be especially helpful when I go back to work. If I only pump twice a day while I'm at work I can just bring both sets of parts with me to work and then clean them at night when I go home. If I only had one set I would have to wash the parts in the break room and use the break room microwave to sterilize them before I could pump again… I think that would be kind of awkward.
Owen's Milestones Week 5:
- We visited Dr. Weiss for your one month check-up. You weighed 10.3 pounds and measured 22 inches long, which are both around the 50th percentile for babies your age.
- Doctor Weiss said you should start smiling at us before your 2 month check up… I am so excited!
- You still like to be held all the time when you aren't sleeping.
- The peeling on your face is finally starting to go away. You still are experiencing cradle cap though :( Doctor Weiss gave us a whole box of lotion samples for your head to hopefully make it heal faster!
-You went to Nana and Papa's house for the first time.
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| Owen visiting Nana and Papa's house for the first time. |
My sister and her family are coming to town (from England) on Friday! We are so excited. I'm sure I will have lots of pictures for the blog from their visit since we will probably be out doing more interesting things than we have been. I can't wait to see them and for them to meet little Owen!
Until Next Time…
Tressa
