Isabella Faythe: 1 Month Update

Just a warning beforehand; these posts will be long and picture heavy.  I can't help it.  I love showing her off!

Age: 1 Month Old.

Birthweight: 6lbs, 9 oz.

Current Weight: 7lbs, 10oz.

Height: 19in. (As of last doctor's visit).

Clothing Size: Newborn (and most are a little big on her).

Diaper Size: Newborn.

Personality

She doesn't have much of a personality yet.  I wish I could say she's a calm, happy baby, but here recently she's been extremely gassy and fusses a lot.  We've been giving her some gas drops and they seem to be helping a little.

Feeding 

She eats about every 2-3 hours, except during the night when she'll go 3-4 hours between each bottle.  We had a lot of problems with getting multiples opinions on what she should be eating.  At the hospital and the pediatrician's, we were told to stop her at 40mL.  We didn't think this was right since she seemed to want more, but every time we asked, that's what we were told.  When we met with her cleft nurse in New Orleans, which handles the feeding area, she told us not to stop her.  The plastic surgeon we met with told us the same things since apparently cleft babies can sometimes have problems putting on weight.  So now we use 4oz bottles and she normally drinks around 2 1/2 to 3 ounces.  We were using the Pigeon nipple which is designed specifically for babies with cleft lips/palates but the nurse, again, gave us a different, longer lasting and cheaper alternative.  So now we are feeding her with preemie nipples and just cutting a large X into the tip.  She's doing great with it, except she takes in a lot of air so we have to burp her after every ounce.  I'm currently having some supply problems so we've been supplementing with formula.  We were giving her regular newborn formula but she's been having a rough time with gas so we've switched to the gentle kind.

Likes/Dislikes

Photo Source: Amazon

She seems to really like lights.  While you're feeding her (if she's not staring right at you), you'll catch her gazing at the ceiling fan/light or during the day she'll stare at the light coming through the window shades.

She has a Nuby Classic Oval pacifier that she really likes.  It fits her mouth shape really well and is easy for her to keep inside of her mouth. I've tried giving her others, even another Nuby, and she still prefers this one.

She absolutely hates having her diaper changed.  She will scream bloody murder until you have her clothes back on right and you've picked her up.  Only then will she calm down.

She likes and dislikes bath time.  Sometimes she calm and seems to be enjoying herself and then sometimes she acts like she's getting her diaper changed, all the way up until she's completely dressed.

Sleeping PatternsShe falls asleep around 10 o'clock at night and wakes up every two or three hours.  If she's awake more during the day, she'll sleep longer.  Oh, and she smiles in her sleep.  And I can't get enough of it.

Check Ups/Doctor VisitsShe's been to the pediatrician's twice so far.  Each time she's been perfectly fine.  When she was first born she was pretty jaundice and was dancing on the line of having to be treated for it.  Thankfully it went away within about a week.  She hasn't had any more shots since we left the hospital, but I believe she's getting them at her next visit.  I could be wrong.  We also met with the plastic surgeon that will possibly be doing her repairs.  As of now, her lip will be fixed around 3 months of age and her palate around 10 months.  We met with our nurse as well (each cleft baby is assigned one for their team) and she showed us a little more about feeding and the bottles/nipples as mentioned above.  She also calls every Wednesday to check Bella's weight so they can keep track of how much she's gaining/losing.

We'll be going back to New Orleans on August 19th to meet with the entire team that will be working with her.

Milestones

She can hold her head up for a pretty long time.  Longer than I thought she would be able to.  She'll hold it up for a long time, look around, then rest it for a second, then do it again.  She's also able to put a lot of weight on her legs when you stand her up on your lap.

Now some treats for you guys.  :)

That's all for now.  :)  I was going to add my postpartum updates to these posts but they're long enough already so I'll just do them separately.

Until next month...