Max is officially four months old today! In celebration, we took a trip to the doctor yesterday. I dreaded it for days - I hated the thought of my little man getting shots again. He was so pitiful last time. Actually, he barely even cried, but I still hated it!
We learned several things about how Max's growth is progressing and about his health in general:
1. He has eczema. Lots of it, all over his poor little body. The doctor said that every baby he had seen this week has it and that it's due to the weather - cool temps and humidity (I can't recall what exactly about the humidity - low or high) - anyway. Treatment: "Grease him up like a little pig before bed at night". No problem - I LOVE lotion, and I want to pass that love along to Max. Might as well get him started early. (Chris is cringing just reading this - he does not share my love of lotion).
2. We can start feeding him solid foods whenever we feel like it's time, starting with rice cereal and then moving up to one-ingredient fruits and veggies. I'm undecided about this. Since he is still happy on just milk, it seems like adding additional work for no real reason to try to get him to eat something from a spoon. At the same time, I'm interested to see how he likes it. We're going to mull this over for a few days...unless we get a wild hair and just decide to go for it. Luckily, thanks to Julie, I have a can of rice cereal just sitting in the pantry waiting for a taste test!
3. Max has good muscle tone, and should be sitting soon unassisted. But for now, he's sitting just fine in his Bumbo, so that's not really such a big deal. I mean, doesn't this look like a boy who is ready to sit unassisted??
4. We didn't need anyone to tell us that Max is a happy boy - but the Doctor confirmed that he seems to be. He also said that you'll never meet happier people than four month old babies. They've figured out how to smile and laugh but they haven't quite become anxious of strangers yet, so no matter where they are or who they're with, they're pretty much just happy to be there. He compared 4 month olds to golden retrievers, and I think that's an apt comparison, although I would also compare him to a seagull. (see below)
5. Max's stats are as follows:
Weight: 15 lb 15.4 ounces, which is 73rd% for his age. That sounds high, but I believe that breastfed babies are actually supposed to be measured on a different graph than formula fed babies, and he wasn't. The doctor did say that the "goal" that they look for is for a baby to double his birth weight by 4 months, and since Max was 8 lb 1 oz he just about hit that. (I never had any doubts that a child of mine would meet any weight-gaining goals!)
Length: 26", which is 85th% for his age. Oh, the joy it brings me to have an offspring of greater than average height. Of course, Julie loves to remind me that her sweet (but not tall) Sam was also at the top of the range at this age, so these numbers don't necessarily predict future height with the greatest of accuracy, but for now I will live under the assumption that I have a tall kid, thank you very much.
Head circumference: 41 cm, which is 36% for his age. He had a small head from the get-go, but if you ask me, that head looks pretty much perfect.
All in all, I think he put up some good numbers, and I'm pretty proud of my boy :)
6. Max's doctor loves to talk about baby sleep. He seriously talked to us about Max's sleep "issues" for half an hour or longer, which I really appreciated. First step in Max's sleep training: move out of our room and into his own room. I agree with this in theory, but the thought of not having my little guy right by my side every night makes me kind of sad. But, I realize that it is time to go ahead and cut the cord at this point, so after one last night of having him in our room, I think we'll move him upstairs tomorrow night. I just need a night to get my head around it...
In conclusion, all is well with Max and, as the Doctor said, we haven't broken him yet! Yay us! It was our first trip to the new location of Max's pediatrician's office, which is about a mile away from our neighborhood. I had decided to try it out since it was so closeby, but if I didn't like the doctor I had planned to go back to the other location for future visits. Luckily, we were very happy with the doctor, and it's kind of neat anyway, since this doctor was actually the very first one to check Max out on the day he was born.
(Oh, and he did fine with his vaccines - Chris held his hands while he got them - one big stick in each leg and one oral vaccine, which he loved. He cried when he got poked, but was fine as soon as I held him afterwards. He didn't seem to have any ill effects throughout the rest of the day, and even slept through the night! Wonder if he did that in an attempt to convince me to leave him in our room longer??) Also, he has as of this second been put in his crib for his nap...he cried for 20 minutes and now he's sleeping like an angel. Yay!
So, that's all for now. Next up: finish Christmas shopping BEFORE Christmas Eve!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment