Miles at 1 Month

Where has the time gone? It's already been a month! But it's only been a month.  We are adjusting to the family of four lifestyle.  Hailey is starting to accept Miles, mainly ignoring him but if he's in his bouncer chair or car seat, she likes to rock/bounce him - somewhat aggressively. 

Miles Wayne at One Month

Likes:

• Eating all the time
• Snuggles
• Being bounced
• Baths - until it's time to come out
• Walks in his car seat/driving in the car

Dislikes:

• Diaper changes
• Taking a bottle most of the time/taking a cold bottle
• Sleeping long stretches
• Being set down

Sleeping: 

Hit or miss - the first stretch is usually the longest, up to 3 hours (except one night we got a 3.5 hour stretch).  He then gives me shorter stretches as the night goes on - ranging from 1-2.5 hours.  Joel slept downstairs most of the month since I was nursing, but now that we have decided to go with bottle feeding, he is back upstairs and helping. It's nice to have at least one of us well rested to be able to keep up with Hailey, but it's also nice to have us in the same room again. Hopefully by the time I go back to work at 14 weeks, Miles will be giving us longer stretches.  The Snoo seems to work well for getting him to go to sleep after he wakes up - I remember that taking forever with Hailey after her feedings and included multiple times going in and putting the pacifier back in her mouth.  Miles isn't super into the pacifier, but seems to like it a bit when he sleeps

His naps have been pretty good actually.  While he prefers to sleep snuggled up on someone, he does really well in the Snoo.  He has taken 2 hour naps in there, which has been nice for me to sneak in a workout or finding me time.

Eating: 

This has been the most stressful part of the past month, but as of this week, we are switching to bottles.  I'm currently pumping a little bit but we have been giving Miles formula too. My left side makes about half the milk that my right makes and it is even visually noticeable.  I had a clogged duct over the weekend that I ended up digging out with a safety pin.. never thought I would say that.

After days of scream crying when he was done eating, I was convinced he had reflux like Hailey did.  I set up an appointment with the pediatrician to get it checked out and get her on medicine.  The day of the appointment, Miles was screaming after eating and I just gave him a bottle of formula.  He chugged 3 ounces and then was in a milk coma and the most content baby.  He just watched the world, didn't cry at all at the pediatrician - he let me undress him to get weighed and got measured and everything and just laid there content and even dozed off in just his diaper - laying flat on his back.  That's when I realized it wasn't reflux.  After talking to his doctor, I decided I am going to bottle feed.  He jumped more weight percentiles, so he was just wanting more food!

He has been drinking between 4-5 ounces every 2-3 hours, so he is chowing!  And seems so much happier, and it's nice that Joel can give him a bottle and I don't have to have a baby eating non stop so that I can spend more time with Hailey too.  He did projectile spit up, but one of the moms at the ECFE babies class showed me how to pace bottle feed and that seemed to help a ton!  He definitely is more burpy than he was when feeding, so I have to remember to burp him and hold him upright a little longer.

Super content baby at the doctor!

Growth: 

Wearing NB, but some of them he has outgrown due to length - the Gerber onesies seem to be short and wide and he is long and thin.  He's still in newborn diapers.

At his weight check appointment 3 days ago, he was 9 pounds, 7.5 ounces (so probably a little bigger now that he is eating even more) and 22.5" long (92nd percentile).

At one-ish months with Hailey (1.3 months to be exact), she was 9 pounds 5 ounces - so he is definitely bigger than his sister was; however, she started over a pound less than him.

Mom:

I have been able to do a few workouts here and there:

• Walking - 19.75 miles
• Peloton - 7 rides, 28.8 miles
• Running (well, run/walking) - 6.7 miles

I'm looking forward to getting back into running and hopefully my old clothes now that we're done having babies!

Mentally, I'm doing a million times better than I was with Hailey at this point.  It was definitely a challenging week or so with all of his crying and wanting to nurse non-stop, but knowing he will grow out of this and having all the help from Joel's parents and family with bouncing him has been amazing.  Also, the last couple days since we switched to bottles has been a new baby! He's so chill and content and only really has cried when he was hungry.  He's learning to take the bottle, so his feedings are a little challenging with it right now since it's a new skill, but he seems to be getting it.  I've also been able to spend more time with Hailey, which is amazing.

We started mama and baby classes, which is nice to get me out of the house into an environment that doesn't mind that Miles is nursing constantly. 

Hanging out on his tummy - turns out he likes to just chill like that

Don't let the smiles fool you, there were lots of tears before and after this picture from more than 1 person