Today is Maddy's four-week birthday! It's hard to believe almost a month has passed. We take her in on Wednesday for her one-month well-baby check-up.
We have been home with Maddy for three weeks, and we have bathed her three times so far--roughly once a week. These have all been sponge baths, although I think we will try an immersion bath in a couple weeks. She hasn't really liked the baths so far--lots of crying and screaming, even though we try to keep her as warm as possible and we don't drag out the experience. We hope she will grow to enjoy baths more in the future.
The first time we bathed her here at home, we did not wash her hair, but we have done so the last two times. As expected, when we washed her hair (with a small amount of the same Johnson & Johnson baby shampoo / body wash we were given at the hospital), it curled right up and remained so for a couple of days afterward. We gently brushed her hair out after each bathing, and it eventually returned to its previous condition. We had consulted with some friends of color and with some websites we trust, and they all recommended washing her hair no more than once a week with this type of shampoo and brushing it out. It looks good to us (not dry at all, still silky smooth), but we thought we would ask you for your input about hair at this stage of the process.
Maddy continues to be our pride and joy. She is sleeping and eating well, her poops and pees are regular, and she is (thus far) easily consoled when she becomes fussy or upset. When she is awake, she is SO alert--her eyes are open wide, taking in, it seems, everything around her. Even though she hasn't given us that first social smile yet, she has numerous facial expressions--interest, contentment, weariness, reproach, excitement--all of them adorable beyond belief. She already can lift her head up on her own for short periods during tummy time--quite a feat for a baby only four weeks old! We know we are biased, but she is the cutest, smartest baby ever!
