Oliver: one month old

Here is what Oliver is doing at a month old!

milestone blanket, hat, bunny, banner, and baby all made by me! 

Sleeping:  Somehow this little man has already put himself on something of a schedule.  In the early days home he was waking up 2-3 times a night to eat, but pretty quickly transitioned himself to waking up only once during the night.  At the time of writing this, Oliver is almost six weeks old and the past two nights he has actually slept through the night (9pm to 5 or 6am) which is so crazy to me.  Evenings are a super fussy time where he eats and eats but then is tanked up and usually asleep by 9pm.  He hasn't loved the co-sleeper so most nights he has just slept next to me in bed.  We recently discovered that he sleeps the best in the rock and play, so we have been starting the nights there and when he wakes up, either in the middle of the night or early morning, I just keep him in bed with me until we get up for the day.  He has a short awake period in the morning then sleeps for a few hours, wakes up to eat in the early afternoon, and then snoozes all the way to late afternoon when he wakes up ready to eat (and cry and make sad faces) like a champ until bedtime!

Eating:  This kid has the most unusual eating pattern.  I remember that Arlo would suck down a bottle as fast as he could and this kid is so lazy with it (although you wouldn't think so by looking at him) and will spend an hour or so working on the same feeding, stopping and starting multiple times.  More about this in another post I am working on, but breastfeeding has gone pretty much the same as last time around as I expected it would.  I started exclusively pumping the day was born after feeding at the breast wasn't an option due to latch and pain issues, but again my supply was not where it needed to be to meet his demands.  We started supplementing with formula, and I have since found a milk donor mama who has been helping us out.  The first few weeks he was getting almost entirely my milk, and maybe a couple ounces of formula at most.  Now it's about half donor milk, half formula.  I am really happy to report though that he is tolerating everything really well and growing like a champ!

Weight and length:   At his one month check-up, Oliver weighed in at a whopping 10 lb 3 oz!  He's only in the 60th percentile, but Arlo was so tiny as a newborn that Oliver seems huge to us.  For comparison, Oliver is 3 lbs heavier than Arlo was at a month, and weighs more than his older brother did even at two months.  Oliver measured in at 21.4 inches in length which puts him in the 53rd percentile.  And apparently we make large headed children, because his head circumference is 15.3 inches, 95th percentile just like his big bro always has been.


Wearing:  It shouldn't come as a surprise that with his rapid growth up to 10 lbs, the newborn sized clothes didn't last very long and by two weeks old I found myself already making a pile of clothes he had outgrown.  He is now mostly in 0-3 and 3 month clothes.  We started cloth diapering when Oliver turned a month old and with his bulky fluff butt he's actually wearing some 3-6 month stuff but definitely has some grow room in it.  The dive into cloth diapers came somewhat accidental, I had put one on for his one month photos and decided to just keep going with it.  I might be jinxing myself here but the transition to cloth this time around has been seamless, zero leaks or blowouts or rashes or any of the other stressful problems we had last time.  While I am grateful for the break we had between diapered kids, I am also really happy to have a baby back in cloth again.  I missed that cute and colorful baby bottom and while I don't look forward with glee to washing the diapers, I do look forward to the therapeutic activity of stuffing the clean ones.  Weirdo, I know!

thank you Aunt Megs for photoshopping this to perfection!  :D

Likes and dislikes:  Likes include snoozing on mom and dad's chests, being in the carrier (we splurged on a Beco this time and love it!), his swing, baths, naps, being outside, bouncing on the yoga ball in our arms, ceiling fans, pacifier (sometimes), being swaddled at night, and eating!
Dislikes include the car seat (insert sad face here - Arlo loved the car seat and being in the car with an unhappy baby is no bueno.  Fortunately he's okay when the car is moving but if he is awake and it's stopped for any real length of time, look out.)  He also dislikes evenings when he turns into a sad, unhappy little man.  Fortunately just having the knowledge that this is a normal phase and that it will pass makes it ten times easier to deal with than last time around.


New milestones and developments:   While we have gotten a few small smiles, we are still awaiting our first real social smiles.  I think they are coming soon though!  And just as his big brother did, Oliver also lost all the hair on top of his head around two weeks old and is currently sporting the cute, bald, wrinkled old man look.  His neck is getting stronger but he's still quite the bobblehead.  He does well if he's in an upright position but to lift his head for any real length of time during tummy time is still something he's working on.  That being said, I did prop him up on the boppy last week and he stayed up on his arms for a good 20 seconds or so!

Happy one month sweet little Oliver!