Your 1-Month-Old

The first month of having a new baby is full of exhilarating (and terrifying) firsts. While it may feel as if you’re incredibly ill-equipped — like, who allowed you to take home this tiny human — remember both you and your baby are new at this! It’s OK that some days you feel like you can’t even brush your teeth or remember to pee. That’s normal. (But seriously, remember to pee. No one likes bladder infections.)

You’re doing a great job — plus, reading a piece about your baby’s first-month milestones automatically counts as good parenting. We hope this series can provide a general guide about your one-month-old’s development, some ideas on how to interact with them, offer a few tips on how to care for your little one, but most of all, impart some comfort.

Your 1-Month-Old’s Milestones

It may seem as if newborn infants do nothing except eat, sleep, cry, and excrete — but even during this first month of life, your baby has been hard at work. By the end of the first month, they will be much more alert and responsive, gradually smoothing out their body movements and have greater coordination — in particular, putting their hands in their mouths.

Remember that children develop at different rates and there is a wide range of normal. Milestones give an idea of what physical skills and behaviors to expect when your infant is at this stage of life. There is no need to start comparing your child and competing with other babies at this young age (or ever).

Here are some other milestones to look for at 1 month:

• It's no longer a random reflex, it's the real thing. Your baby is social smiling.
• Put your face one foot in front of your baby's face and make silly facial expressions. See if they can imitate you. Endless entertainment.
• Baby's hands start to unfold and extend from those tightly curled little fists.
• Soon, your baby will be able to reach for an object, but for now they mostly swipes aimlessly with their arms.
• See if you notice your baby turn their head if they hear a familiar noise.

Your 1-Month-Old’s Development

For folks who love statistics (or just want to know if you should worry), the average 1-month-old baby weight and height according to the World Health Organization is 9.3 pounds and 21.1 inches for girls, and 9.9 pounds and 21.5 inches for boys.

“They should be able to look from one side, back to the middle and may sometimes seem cross-eyed, which is still normal,” explained pediatrician Dr. Steph Lee. “1-month-old babies should be trying to turn their heads from side to side while on their back and may turn toward your familiar voice.”

Please notify your child’s pediatrician if your baby shows any of the following signs of developmental delay at the second, third, or fourth weeks of life:

• Poor sucking and slow feeding
• When shown a bright light, doesn’t blink
• Doesn’t focus and follow an object close to them that is moving side to side
• Seems stiff or rarely moves limbs
• Seems floppy or excessively loose in the arms and legs
• Even when not crying or excited, their lower jaw constantly trembles
• Doesn’t react or respond to loud sounds
  

  

A General Schedule for Your 1-Month-Old

Honestly, it’s likely unrealistic to get a 1-month-old baby adhering to any sort of schedule. If you do, just count your blessings and don’t tell anyone, because no one likes a braggart. But instead of a strict schedule you follow to the minute (good luck with that), you can try to establish a pattern of behavior.

Some folks like a “sleep, eat, play” routine (which generally works for the first baby but is unlikely for subsequent babies). Others prefer to set a habit of going on morning walks to the park, or perhaps the only energy they can muster is to remember to feed, hold, and change the baby based on their cues. Whatever you have the capacity for, be flexible.

Here is one suggested routine:

• Morning: feed, play, feed, nap
• Afternoon: play, feed, nap, play
• Evening: feed, nap, play, bath (not necessarily daily), story or lullaby
• Night: feed, sleep, feed, sleep, feed, sleep, feed, sleep

Feeding and Eating Guidelines

If it feels like your whole life revolves around feeding your baby this month, well, that's because it does. We know the cycle: It takes 30 minutes to feed, an hour goes by, and there your baby goes rooting and signaling for food again. This feels like a lot of work and like it just can't be right, but it's the natural feeding pattern for a newborn.

Human babies are built to feed frequently. Breast milk is digested quickly and can pass through your baby's tummy in 45 to 90 minutes. Watch for hunger signs like rooting, tongue movements, wiggling, stretching, and making noises.

During the first month, expect your baby to eat 3 to 4 ounces every 3 to 4 hours, getting around 20 to 30 ounces a day. Most babies will have at least one fussy period during the day when they seem to feed continuously (seriously, for hours), also known as cluster feeding. If you're formula feeding, you can keep to the same every 3 to 4 hours schedule, and try not to overfeed the baby — a few ounces at a time should do the trick.

If you haven't introduced a bottle yet, go for it! Breastfeeding experts recommend starting with a bottle of pumped breast milk between 2 to 4 weeks. It's a good idea to give a breastfed baby a bottle at least 3 to 4 times a week; you will need to pump during that bottle feeding or it will eventually lead to a drop in supply. If you stop offering a bottle, your baby might lose the practice, forget they liked it, and refuse the bottle down the road. Having the bottle allows someone else to take over a feeding, put the baby to bed, or for you to go elsewhere for more than 2 to 3 hours.

Practical tip: Don't give up on bottle feeding. If your baby refuses, try different nipples, feed in a different chair than the normal breastfeeding one, have the baby face you (instead of the cradle position known for nursing), or walk around the house while trying. Eventually it will happen, but sometimes breastfed babies take many weeks to get the hang of it.

Try a pacifier and see if your baby likes it. Research shows that pacifier use does not confuse babies or interfere with breastfeeding.

Play: Toys, Games and Activities

While you may think 1-month-old babies can’t really play, that’s not entirely true. Mom Kia Chambers shared with Mom.com, “Some of my favorite activities were reading to him, playing him music, talking to him, bonding during breastfeeding, laying baby on my chest for tummy time, and of course kisses from mommy!”

Dr. Steph Lee explained that the brains of newborns are rapidly growing. “Even the simplest activities help their development in the first month,” the spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) told Mom.com. “The more you talk, read, and sing, the more your baby will learn your voice and bond with you. It also helps with hearing and recognizing sounds.”

Look for "quiet alert" times — when your baby has just woken up and isn't starving — to put him on his tummy. If he face-plants, that's fine, just lie down with him and talk to him on your tummy too. The best place for your baby when he's not in your arms is on a flat, safe surface like a play mat (go easy on the bouncers and other devices), where he can move arms and legs.

Baby's vision is still really blurry, so high contrast black and white (or red and green) patterns will catch attention most.

Like touch, a sense of motion (the vestibular sense) develops very early, so babies have a natural love for being bounced and carried. Both physical contact and motion are soothing and "organizing" to a baby's nervous system, and research shows they're good for other parts of brain development too.

Sleep and Nap Guidelines

Depending on the child, babies at 1-month-old need about 14 to 17 hours a day. While that may sound like a lot, their sleep is often broken up into smaller chunks — sometimes as small as 1 to 2 hours at a time. Most babies take about three daytime naps and have one longish stretch of sleep of about 3 to 6 hours around 4 to 6 weeks of age (if your baby was born early, you'll want to factor that in).

A one-month-old's internal clock is still developing, says Heather Turgeon, sleep consultant and coauthor of The Happy Sleeper, and it's being shaped by things like feeding, social activity, and most of all, light.

Practical sleep tip from The Happy Sleeper: Have an eye toward putting your baby down around 7 p.m. By about 8 weeks old, most babies do well with an early bedtime because the internal clock is developing rapidly. The best stretches of sleep will grow from here.

Newborn babies often also experience day/night confusion where babies who normally sleep a lot during the day are wide awake at night. This is thought to happen because in the womb, all your walking and movement during the day rocks them to sleep, but at night, when you’re asleep, they will be wide awake.

Common 1-Month-Old Health Conditions

There aren’t too many 1-month-old specific health conditions. Rather, here are some that are common to babies:

Constipation
Your child should produce at least 5 to 7 wet diapers and 3 to 4 dirty diapers a day. Some signs of constipation are:

• Infrequent stool
• Stool is clay-like and hard in consistency
• Stool has streaks of blood
• Your child strains and cries while attempting a bowel movement
• Refuses to eat
• Their belly is hard

Congestion
Since babies get 10 to 12 colds a year, it’s totally normal for your baby to get runny and stuffy noses. It’s also possible for babies to have allergies or infections — which can contribute to congestion, too. Some congestion remedies include running a humidifier, using a nasal aspirator, and offering a lot of fluids.

Coughing
For 1-month-olds, coughing is often as common as the cold or flu, but cough medicine is not recommended for children under 2 years. Usually coughs aren’t terribly worrisome, but please consult a medical professional if your child exhibits coughs that include:

• Barky or like a seal
• Whooping
• Wheezing
• With a fever
• With vomiting
• Persistent

Special Recommendations

One important thing to note about sleep: Children under 1 years old are at risk for sudden unexpected infant death (SUID) which includes sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), accidental suffocation in sleeping environs, and other deaths from unknown causes. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), each year about 3,600 babies in the U.S. die from SUID. Click here for recommendations by the AAP on how to keep your child safe from SUID. You can also refer to the Safe to Sleep campaign for resources.

Coming Soon: Your 2-Month-Old

Rolling back to side, and laughing!