Fri 23 Mar 2012
Allie and I just got back from the pediatrician. Her doctor was over an hour behind, but she was patient. Good thing I packed a bottle of milk that I’d pumped out at 5:30a this morning. She had that in the waiting room. Here are her stats:
* Weight: 15 lbs 2 oz, but we should be subtracting the 4.5 oz of milk I gave her 5 minutes before they called us in and weighed her. 83%-tile
* Height: 26.5 inches. 99%-tile
* Head circumference: 41 cm. 53%-tile.
The doctor was very impressed with her growth and her two new teeth. He also answered a ton of questions I had. She developed a blister on the tip of her left thumb from sucking. He said just let it pop on its own, nothing to be done. I asked about traveling with her. He said babies tend to have a harder time sleeping in strange environments, but that it also balances out somewhat by the fact that they’re more tired because during the day, they’re going to be overstimulated and off their routines anyway. And when we come home, she’ll take a few days to adjust back to her own routine, but traveling should be safe to do with her at this point. I asked about noise training. He said that her sensitivity to noise right now is a phase, and she’ll start to outgrow it as she gets older, and will adjust to the sounds she hears. He said not only is it recommended against to sort of force sound upon them to noise-train them, but that it likely won’t work. It’s just a young-baby thing. As far as going up to a week between poopies? Since she’s breastfed exclusively, he said, no problem. Totally normal. As she gets older, she’ll be going longer and longer between poopies. (Until solids, presumably.) Do I need to worry about the fact that she’s dropped a feeding on her own and has 5 a day? Nope, she’ll get the quantity out on her own distributed between the 5 feedings. She’s teething, any tips on breastfeeding? He said if she starts biting, unlatch her right away. She will soon get the association that when she bites, she’ll be unlatched. Wake up the baby for a nursing super-early before I go to work? He said it’s solely my preference. There’s no bonding threat at this point, she’s already bonded and won’t forget how to nurse. If I want to have the time with her and wake her up, after a few days of early awakenings, she’ll get used to it. If I want to let her sleep in and be fed her morning bottle by the nanny, no biggie. Just mom’s preference.
Hygiene things I didn’t know: I’m supposed to be bathing her 3 times a week, which is every other day. We’ve been following the old instructions of once a week still. He said no harm done, once a week, 3x/wk, daily, it’s all fine as long as we moisturize if she has dry skin. I’m also supposed to be cleaning her gums twice a day with a wet washcloth. Eh? He said it’s just to get the baby used to mouth cleanings so that when we introduce brushing to her later, she won’t be so resistent.
And then she had her second series of vaccinations after the doctor left. She was laying on the table holding my hands and playing with me, and then suddenly when the prick went in, her eyes grew wide as she looked at me in disbelief. “How could you let this happen to me?!” she seemed to say in her betrayed wail. Two more pricks later and she’s PISSED. I let her scream and cry as I dressed her and put her in her stroller/carrier, altho she was happy and well-behaved the moment we walked out of the room. She immediately yelled and wailed when she got into the car. “What a friendly baby! She’s so CUTE!” said the medical staff as Allie smiled hugely at them. Sure, sure, until you see what happens behind the scenes and know it’s just a public act. 🙂 I figured the wailing is a good thing; she was totally late for her nap so this will tire her out sufficiently. She was so knocked out that when I got her from the car after I got home, she stayed asleep. I spent a few moments looking at her sleeping in her carrier, undecided what to do. I finally took her out and she woke up startled, and kept trying to fall back asleep as I unbuckled her and carried her to her room. She welcomed the crib and instantly went into her second nap of the day. Whew.
first of all, i can’t believe allie is 4 months old already! i still think of her as a 2-month old. second of all, aliie is the exact same height and weight as sienna was at her 6-month check up (http://kyden.better-together.us/blog/2012/01/19/she-finally-gets-it/). by the time they meet, allie will be bigger, for sure 😛
also, i remember you writing something about moving allie to a convertible car seat. we kept kyden in that bucket thingy until he was 11.5 months. he loved it. however, i REALLY missed being able to transfer him in and out of the car while he was sleeping. but we went out a lot. and i mean, a LOT. at that point, he was too heavy for me to be carrying around in that infant carrier anyway.
i am obviously not a doctor, but i am a mom (and i also know a lot of other moms). you absolutely CAN “train” your baby to sleep in different environments, including noise (or in a car seat, or at a sharks game…) if you want to. babies are very adaptable. sure, all babies are different and some will adapt better than others.
re: biting… did your doc tell you HOW to unlatch her? you can’t just pull her off — that’s like pulling your arm out of a shark’s mouth after it has clamped down. this is another one of those things that you’ll have to experiment with to see what works. try slipping a finger into the side of her mouth, pressing her face against your breast (her reaction will be to pull away and ask “wth?”), or pinching her nose (i know that sounds silly, but it totally works. i dunno why i didn’t think to do that with kyden). also, try not to react with an “ouch”. then it becomes a fun game. or, just cross your fingers and hope that she’s not a biter 🙂
By the time Allie and Sienna meet, Allie will probably be taller than her own mother. =P
Oh, that’s right — the older baby carseat doesn’t come out and pop into the stroller. =/ Didn’t think about that. It’s a rare occasion she falls asleep in the carseat anyway, and even more rare that she stays asleep when the car stops.
I also did not think about unlatching being more difficult once she’s got teeth. Wow. Thanks for the tips. I read something about developing a firm mother voice saying, “Don’t bite!” when they bite. I wonder if that’s gonna be like the “ouch” game.