Your baby, 1 months Pregnant Woman
During the second month of life, your baby may be settling into a routine. You have both had time to recover from the birth and are getting to know each other well. You might still feel overwhelmed and stressed at times, and that is normal.
Your baby’s movements are becoming smoother and less jerky. Although he can hold his head up briefly, he still needs your support. While on her tummy, your baby can probably hold her head up slightly. Continue to lay her on her belly for tummy time throughout the day. Babies like to look at different patterns, colors and textures as their eyesight is improving. Because your baby may be rolling over in one direction, it is imperative that you do not ever leave your little one unattended. Even if she has not rolled over yet, one day she will surprise you!
You will be rewarded for all of your dedication this month with smiles of appreciation. Your baby is beginning to smile socially and likes when you smile back at him. Your baby likes to see you excited and the more you interact with him, the more fun he will be for you. Praise your baby for learning a new skill and show him he makes you proud! Some babies begin to coo-make the same sounds back to him. Play cooing games with your baby to help him develop language skills.
Babies have a strong desire to suck and sometimes feeding does not meet their need. Encourage your baby to suck on a fist, hand or pacifier to learn to soothe themselves. Many babies suck on their thumbs or hands before they are even born. Often times, babies enjoy sucking on pacifiers. Be careful not to overuse them and never tie them aorund the baby’s neck.
While crying is totally normal, some babies will develop colic. Colic occurs when a baby continuously cries and can not be comforted. Continue to comfort your baby the best you can and ask for suggestions from the doctor. Medication may be necessary. Accept help from others and take the time for yourself that you deserve and need. While it can be challenging and tiresome, colic usually settles down around 3-4 months. Babies need caregivers to be patient, gentle and attentive.
Babies hands have unclenched and will remain open most of the time now. Encourage your baby to reach for objects and grasp ahold of them. Let your baby experience different sizes, colors and textures to optimize learning.
Your baby will be getting his first series of shots at this time. It is very important that you have your child immunized against serious diseases. Not only is it important for your child’s health, it is critical for the well-being of the community. Giving your baby tylenol before he receives his shots will decrease the pain. Vaccines do have some risks and side effects, but are much less severe than the actual disease.
Your baby may be going a bit longer in between feedings. Most breastfed babies can go about 3 hours in between each feeding and bottlefed babies are feeding closer to every 4 hours. You may have been told that if you add solids or cereal to baby’s bottle, they will sleep better. This may be tempting, but it should not be done. Breastmilk or formula should be the only source of nutrition at this time. Babies at this age are still to young to start on solids.
Continue to play with your baby and teach her about the world around her. Set her on your lap facing outwards so that she can see more. Talk to your baby, sing to your baby and tell her all about what you are doing. Babies love to listen and this is how they learn. During playtime, sit her so that she is facing you. Stick your tongue out and see what she does. Babble back and forth. Make sure that you read to your baby. Babies do not necessarily care what you read to them, they just like hearing your voice and seeing the brightly colored pictures.
October 15th, 2009 at 3:44 am
stublit, only problem is, as Mom’s we can’t just come home and go to bed. When hubby was laid off, I still came home from work and did everything. He would get up in the night and take care of Ayden, only bringing him to me to nurse, which I did in my sleep.
Now that we are both working, I am the one to do it all after putting in a full day.
October 15th, 2009 at 3:44 am
Dee - that is so typical! We cant expect them to be like us though.. only room for 1 superhero per household ..
October 15th, 2009 at 3:45 am
LOL, I was going to take the baby and go to my parent’s house last night, leaving the hubby home to deal with our older son.
I swear, last night was my late night to work so I didn’t get home until nine-ish. Ayden was still up, hadn’t had dinner AND had had a poopy accident on himself that had been soaked into his pants, stained his underwear and caked itstelf onto his poor little bottom. I was not thrilled, even though hubby was in the middle of installing the second toiled, it could have waited until AFTER the kids were in bed! THEN, Zach had a blow out and I got stuck with that one, while hubby was sitting on his tuckis. HELLO, HELP PLEASE!!! Last night was not a good night in my house, not nice things were said and there was lots of crying involved. I then woke up with a migraine this morning. 
October 15th, 2009 at 3:45 am
dancingtoast, i get jealous sometimes that i don’t get to leave the house to go to work. bc i want to work 8 hrs, come home, and go to sleep! it’s not fair that i have to work 24 hrs!!!
October 15th, 2009 at 3:46 am
Anyone else having husband issues? Last night I barely slept when I ask him to help he says ‘I work all day you’re home you get more rest than me.’ I tried to explain to him that his job lasts 8 hours mine is 24/7 and he works with people who don’t cry to get their point across! The first few weeks my husband was great when it came to helping with the baby now I guess our son isn’t so brand new anymore so he stopped helping as much
October 15th, 2009 at 3:46 am
i understand what u are going thru with the sleep thing cuddlebunnymeg. i kinda laughed when i read your comment on how your baby cries when sleeping alone then stops immediately when u pick her up. that is the same exact thing my 1 month 1 day old son does and it is crazy to me. lol. i think i spoiled him because i let him sleep with me during the nite and sometimes when we nap during the day. at nite when he is in his bed i have to give him his pacifier back to back because he spit it out then yell for it, it’s a constant thing. i have learned now to try to keep my son on a routine with his feedings and it works for me, it really does. his last bottle before bed is usually 11:00 p.m. so if he is asleep between 10 and 11 i keep him woke so he can get extra tired. before the bottle i give him a warm bath and then i put the johnson and johnson lavender baby oil on him then give him a warm bottle. the sleep time is 5 hours after all of this and that is with him in his own bed. after he wakes up for his next feeding i mite let him sleep in the bed with me, but if he can keep quiet in his bed, i leave him there. just little tidbits that may work for you, GOOD LUCK!
October 15th, 2009 at 3:47 am
cuddlebunnymeg - I hear you! With both of my baby girls my husband and I take turns sleeping with them on our chests on the couch until they are between 8 - 12 weeks old. My babies do not like to sleep alone. Some women get lucky and have great little sleepers. But from what I’ve read, if you don’t, then you can’t really train them into a sleep pattern until they are at least 8 weeks old. And then if they don’t seem quite ready they say to try again at 12 weeks. When we trained Gracie we started a bedtime routine of bathtime, pjs, and a bottle in her bedroom. Then put her to bed. When she cried we’d let her go for 15 mins and then go in and soothe her without picking her up. Then leave. If she continues to cry off and on for an hour then go in and change diaper, give a bottle, etc but without saying a word to her. Put her back in the crib and start over with the method of 15 mins of crying and then sootheing without picking them up. Anyway, this worked really well for Gracie but not until about 12 weeks. Sorry this is so long!
October 15th, 2009 at 3:47 am
to all you mommas who are living through sleepless nights with me (i have a one year old who wakes up with night terrors and a one month old who i dont have to explain to you all) There is a reason why we all have our pregnancy brains. we will forget all about these sleeples nights and all our troubles by the time they turn 6 months old. seriously, our brains are programmed to forget most of these issues we have now. and thats mother natures way of making sure mankind continues to make babies.
love and prayers coming your way.
October 15th, 2009 at 3:48 am
Cuddle-maybe try a boppy pillow? Yout LO can sleep in it and a few time i have had my Little girl up on the bed with me and she sleeps comfortably knowing im not that far from her. And i did that a few night and then moved the pillow into her crib and she slept fine in there with the pillow and now she doesnt need the pillow. And sleeps thru anything! I took her to her 1st boston bruins game saturday night and slept the garden roaring thru 5 goals and dint flinch jump nothing. Best of luck with everything!
October 15th, 2009 at 3:48 am
Tarrynsplanet, it won’t hurt baby to give both formula and breast milk, but it doesn’t always work the way we want it to. Normally, the only reason why babies sleep longer with the formula is because it takes longer to digest the ’stuff’ they put in it. That ’stuff’ is also why bub had a sore tummy afterward. Nothing is really going to make baby sleep longer except for time. All babies are different when it comes to sleeping through the night, some sleep all the way through (6hrs) and some are up every hour. Nothing we can really do about it.
October 15th, 2009 at 3:49 am
Hello guys. Hope youre all well, considering how much sleep we are’nt getting. I have a question. Have any of you started using formula only at night to try to get baby to sleep longer at night? Raiden is 5 weeks old tomorow and I tried it last night. It did’nt really make a difference, but he did seem to have a sore tummy the next day. Is this a bad thing to do, combining breastfeeding and fomula once a day? Have any of your little one’s slept ‘through’ the night (about 5 hours)? I need some advice please.
October 15th, 2009 at 3:49 am
aussiemamma2- my baby farts so loud it sounds like a grown man, all day and all night long! and he burps great after he eats. so i don’t think it’s from swollowed air. i hear ya about back in the day! i didn’t know anything about babies, and everyone told me don’t worry about it. i should learn everything at the hospital… huh. yeah right. they locked me and my fiance in the room with the baby and didn’t tell us anything. i was calling my mom asking her questions! one night he screamed so bad for hours and no one came in to help, even after i called for a nurse. the nurse came about an hour after i finally got him to calm down!!! it was a horrible experience.
October 15th, 2009 at 3:50 am
Oh poor little thing! Katelyn does the lip pout too… makes you want to take a picture because it’s so cute, but definitely sad at the same time! Oh what these little ones do to us!! Anyway, I will definitely let you know how they work in the next few days!!