I hope I’m not overusing instagram photos..I have Nikon DSLR, so I should use that more often, but when we go out now with the baby, it’s so much easier to just use iPhone photo application than carrying the heavy SLR. By the way, the bottom left photo is one of my favorite pictures! My brother captured the moment, and it seems like Kiko is screaming, “YES I did it!”, or she is pretending to box or something:)
Anyway, I can’t believe it’s been a month already. Breastfeeding definitely got better. I’m not in as much pain as I was when I first started nursing. I could not even imagine that it would get better when I was experiencing terrible, terrible engorgement for the first 1-2 weeks. I’m so happy that it did get better! I have a Medela electronic breast pump that I purchased while I was still pregnant, and it has been my savior and the best purchase ever. I don’t use it every day but it is useful when I have to be away from my baby for a couple of hours. It works on batteries too, so I can carry it around with me.
While I was dealing with the engorgement problem, I was waking up the baby in the middle of the night at random time just so that I could nurse her. But since that problem has subsided, I have started to implement a daily schedule for Kiko. It has been challenging, especially the bed time aspect (why do babies resist sleeping when they are obviously sleepy?!), but things got so much easier now that Andy and I know what to expect depending on the time. of day I think Kiko also figured that nights are sleeping time, and days are naps and play time. For the past couple of days, she hasn’t gotten up in the middle of the night, wanting us to entertain her, which is great! She still gets up once or twice at night for feeding, but goes back to sleep right after I nurse her.
For moms out there, did you have certain schedule or routine for your baby? When did you start implementing the schedule? Or do you go with “follow the instinct” method?
I had a month check-up at the doctor the other day. She gained 1.2 kg and is super healthy. The doctor really didn’t have anything to say about her health, which made me really happy!
Now looking back the past month, I already feel a bit of melancholy. I have to admit that I am a bit sad that Kiko is growing up so fast. Although I am happy that she is growing, I also catch myself thinking sometimes, “wait, don’t get so big so fast..”.. I don’t know how to explain this feeling, but I just think I have to enjoy the every moment with her.
Check out this video (baby and elephant) , sorry the quality is pretty subpar, but I just had to share it here.. Kiko was really hungry but I wanted to tease her a bit with her stuffed elephant…Any of you moms get a little guilty pleasure out of teasing your baby? Andy takes great pleasure in being a baby bully and I think his influence rubbed off on me a bit :().
All for now, Kiko is sleeping and I think I should as well
xoxo Chie
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haruna says
good to know nursing is going well, and little kiko is a one happy healthy baby! and you’re one of lucky mamas who is able to get a chunk of sleep at night!
mine was on 2hour schedule(feed, diaper change, sleep), so it was easy for me to get used to the schedule. some babies don’t get into having a rhythm, and I can’t imagine how hard that would be for mama/papa. i think go with the flow with the best, you can’t do much about it anyway…
anyhow, yes, enjoy every moment of your motherhood with a newborn! it goes really really fast!!
(p.s. didn’t know you had a brother too!)
Chie says
wow, two hours schedule sounds like a tough one! its nice its a schedule, but next two hour must have come around so quick!
p.s. yes, i do have a younger brother!
Hana K. says
It does seem to fly by right? I can’t believe May is more than halfway over!
I haven’t implemented a schedule for Luke, we just go by his schedule and it works well with ours. He eats, naps, plays throughout the day and his bedtime is around 8-9pm when he is knocked out. He wakes up 3-4 times a night (nurses and sleeps again right away) and we’re up around 7am.
I’m glad breastfeeding is going better for you! & that instagram picture is awesome, she’s so cute!
Chie says
yes, i cant believe how quickly the past month flew! its crazy. its nice your baby distinguishes nights and days. i think its the most important thing, and the rest of the small schedule can come naturally, i think!
Vicki says
Ah, lovely photos! I remember those first weeks as the nursing was getting evened out with the baby’s hunger… sometimes I would pick up my daughter and feed her if I woke up with too much engorgement and pain. No problem, because then I went back to sleep more comfortable and she went back to sleep full. 🙂 It will eventually even out, but it can sometimes get uncomfortable while it does.
I didn’t put my kids on a “schedule”, so to speak, but we did follow a pretty strict routine: wake up, feed, play then look carefully for signs of being tired and then help the baby to go to sleep (patting, rocking or something). Repeat. The cycle repeated every 3 or 4 hours around the clock, but pretty soon they started to sleep longer at night and less during the day until I suddenly realized that I had my life back! You probably already know that you can’t force them to follow a schedule that is convenient for you (unfortunately); you have to work with their biology , but as you say, this phase of their life is so short that you have to put it in perspective and enjoy the good times and difficult ones too.
Kudos on being able to take some personal time and to do some sewing too. I was never that organized! 😉
Chie says
vicki, yes everyone i know seems to have said that the real baby phase is so short, and now i know what they mean! its way too short. i saw cleaning up sophia k’s closet this morning, and i already had to put away her onsies that says NB, because they no longer fit her! i must enjoy the every moment i have with her before she gets too big! :p
Mariana Takagui says
Hi Chie!
I’m glad that breast feeding is flowing better!
Initially is routine but in the measure where the baby goes if developing it starts to know the world by itself…
Everything changes! It’s a bit of instinct and schedule…
I am following his mother’s life …
It is sad to know of the blockade of twitter… Do not want to read my opinions?
But I wish all health and happiness to your little Kiko!!! ^^
Lisa says
Your baby is adorable. So perfect. You and your husband must be so proud. You all look very happy and in love!
Casey says
She is getting so big already! 🙂 I can’t believe it’s already been a month. Glad to hear that things are going a bit better for you and little Kiko. Even though I haven’t been a mother yet, I’m still enjoying reading your posts and learning some things I want to remember for the day I do have children! 🙂
Chie says
i know! i can’t believe it either. im glad you are enjoying the mama series! i want to remember it for myself when i do this all over again…;p
Kimberly says
I found your blog through your tutorial on Grosgrain. So far, love it! Congratulations on your first month with a new baby. My second baby is 9 months and my first born is 4 years. The difference between the two is night and day and while I didn’t have a schedule with my first, this time around I decided to try it and it has been an easier experience. I didn’t worry too much about sleeping the first couple of weeks, but around 6 weeks I think I started nursing every 3 1/2 hours and twice at night. By 3 months he was sleeping through the night and things were going swimmingly. 🙂
Anyway, good luck!
Tiffany says
Very cute pictures! I just found your blog after seeing your lovely scalloped skirt tutorial on Grosgrain’s Free Pattern Month and I love your dresses!
My son turns 1 in a few weeks and it does go really fast! I think it’s great that you already have the perspective to see that and can savor your time with Kiko now. With all the initial sleeplessness, I think it took me a little longer to get there! 😉
As for schedules, we didn’t really have any strict schedule that we set because we weren’t comfortable going that route (and Sebastian wouldn’t have let us anyway!), but similar to others we ended up with a loose schedule because he wanted to eat and sleep at pretty regular intervals. It was more like 6 months when I could really start asserting some influence over his schedule. Consolidating to 2 naps a day is great for that!
Good luck and have fun!
April says
I don’t think I’ve commented before but you and your baby are both beautiful! You’re doing a great job– having a schedule will keep you from getting so tired out. Sometimes it’s tempting to let the baby sleep longer in the day so you can get more done, but then you’ll just be up during the night. Also, about your feeling melancholy, I have 4 kids, and always around when the baby was 4-6 weeks old, I would get somewhat depressed. It’s probably partly hormones. It’s hard to describe. I would kind of feel chained to the baby. And also you have a shift from being pretty independent, to having a person who is totally dependent on you. But it passes. It helps to get out, see friends, do things, etc. But good job at keeping up with the nursing. Being engorged is the worst. If I didn’t have a pump I think I would have lost it.
April from Ohio
Ai says
oh yeah, i hate that kids grow up so fast 🙁 i miz having a small baby with me.
good to know your very well now with breastfeeding. Time flies so fast your Kiko is now a month old. Yehey! Congrats!
yes, i set routine to my children since day 1. Now that they are toddlers they still follow such routine and if one routine is not followed, they complain. heheh! Setting routines and rules especially bed time routines are really important. They tend to be responsible and of course, we could set time for ourselves & with hubby. When they are both sleeping… that’s my ME time & US time with hubby.
take care chie 😀
sophie says
ooooh she’s so cute – my baby is now 4 1/2 years old, I cannot even remember her being that small! It’s great that the feeding issues have calmed down, I had issues with all three of my girls but things seemed pretty sorted out by week 3. I tended to do a bit of instinct and a bit of schedule. I think the key is being flexible and knowing when to change things when they change. Good luck to you all.
xxx
Susan - Knitters Delight says
I found your blog through Grosgrain as well. My baby turned 6 months old today. It really does go by fast. Since I go to bed very late, I used that to my advantage initially. I would give her the last feeding at midnight and then she would only wake up once or twice before morning. She sleeps through the night now and gets an early feeding around 5:00 am.
My Ameda pump has been great. At first she would only take my milk from a bottle, so I had to pump and feed her. We learned how to feed more easily around 1 month. She can breast feed almost completely asleep now.
Chie says
hi susan, thanks for your comment! congrats on your baby’s 6month birthday(?) ! thats great your baby sleeps through the night. my first few weeks breast feeding was hard too, i think i and my baby were both trying to figure out how to do it. but things gotten so much better now!