First Month Milestones

Monthly Milestones: 1 month old

Congratulations! You’ve made it through your first month as a parent! This is such an incredible, exhilarating, and exhausting time, and I bet you’re wondering what comes next? It may feel like all you’ve done the last month is feed, change diapers, and bounce your baby. But, some exciting things have started to happen when it comes to their development, sleep, and feeding. 

Developmental Milestones

One month old babies can’t see to their full potential yet, but they can recognize faces. They can see the shape and movement of their caregivers’ faces, and react to them. Interacting with them up close helps them see you better since they are naturally farsighted. Babies see best from 18 to 20 inches away. 

At this age, a baby’s hearing is fully developed. They may even turn toward or react to familiar sounds, such as their mother’s voice. 

Your baby will have clenched fists, be able to move their head from side to side while laying on their stomach, and have jerky type movements. One month olds still need head support. Practicing frequent short tummy time activities will help with strengthening their neck muscles. 

The best part of having a one month old is the upcoming smiles! Some babies start smiling as early as 4 weeks old, so keep an eye out for those gummy grins!

Sleep

Sleeping patterns for babies in this stage are still fairly unpredictable in most cases. Newborns less than 8 weeks old can tolerate about 40 to 60 minutes awake before needing to sleep. Naps may be short at times, and be hours long at other times. Parents may try to recreate circumstances that led their baby to do a long stretch of sleep at night, to no avail. One month old’s still require a lot of help to fall asleep, especially once they reach two weeks old. Babies enjoy the feeling of being swaddled, rocked, bounced, and shushed to sleep, which many researchers believe to be due to an immature neurological system. 

A very interesting fact about your baby’s sleep at this time is that they are not producing their own melatonin, the hormone that makes us sleepy at night. In fact, they have a maternal supply of melatonin circulating in their bloodstream, until they start to produce their own at around 3 to 4 months old. This coincides with the development of circadian rhythm. More on this in future blogs!

Feeding

By one month old, a baby will have fairly predictable feeding patterns as long as there aren’t any major feeding challenges. A baby who is well-fed should be gaining 20-30 grams per day, and having 6 to 8 wet diapers a day. For breastfed babies, the mother’s milk supply is becoming more established, and the parent may notice that the child can feed more efficiently. It is normal for babies at this age to continue to wake multiple times a night to feed, but in many cases, it is not necessary to wake them if they are feeding at least 8 times in the day and gaining weight well. 

If your baby is struggling to gain weight, and there are concerns with meeting milestones, it is important to work with a skilled professional to assess and treat concerns at the root cause to ensure that your baby is well fed. Issues that may present themselves early on include infant oral restrictions, low milk supply, oversupply, and infections. If you are unsure if your baby has an oral restriction, check out my free resource here. 

The first month of your baby’s life may have flown by in a blur of sleeplessness, love and many diapers. You should know that there are many wonderful and exciting things to come as the months go on. 

Follow me for upcoming blog posts, as well as more Monthly Milestones entries!