4 month check-up

NB's 4 month check-up with Dr H was today.  I nearly passed our when we put him on the scale.  Everyone we meet talks about what a big boy he is.  I don't notice it so much until I see babies that are 2 months older than him and look smaller.  Two weeks ago I snuck him on the scales at my office and he weighed a bit over 15 lbs.  That was actually reassuring because I was expecting him to be over 16 at that point.  Babies should double their birth weight by 4 months, so I wanted him to be just shy of 16 lbs at 4months, not over 16 at three months.  So I held my breath a little as they collected his stats this morning.  His length was 26 1/2 inches (80th percentile) and his weight first came up as 18 lbs 10 oz.  I started trying to do the math...how could he gain three pounds in two weeks? Then the nurse asked me to weight him again.  She wasn't sure the scale had zeroed.  Phew!  15 lbs 13 oz was the real weight.  Thank goodness!  That puts him at the 60th percentile, and just one ounce less than I would have predicted based on his birth weight.  That makes mamma happy. His brother was smaller, but grew similarly.  He was on a higher percentile for length, and about 40th for weight at this age.  Now, I think they've switched.  I doubt either of them are destined to be taller than average, so NB will probably come down on the curve soon too.

This baby boy has had more diagnoses in his first 4 months than the rest of us in the house combined have had in 4 years.  Truly. None of them have been very big deals, thank goodness, but it would be nice to have a visit without any extra issues.  The good news is that his torticollis (wry neck) is so much better our doctor didn't even mention it this visit.  Yeah for no more exercises! (Though we really didn't do them that long!)  This visit, NB's extra issue was a little skin rash.  He has had cradle cap for a while and in the last week he developed a rash on his forehead that I think is related to that.  Our doctor noticed the forehead first, and thought it was something different than me.  "Is mommy putting fixing that for you?" she asked.  "Nope" I replied.  "Aw put some steroids in that, it looks like it itches!"  she responded.  "Really?  I usually just tell people to leave it alone and it goes away."  The she saw his scalp and realized we were talking about different rashes.  "Do what you want," she said, "but the steroids would help."  Of course she didn't prescribe any.  I guess she figures if we want some, we know how to get them.  She also recommended a slew of other over-the-counter remedies.  I generally think of those as just giving parents something to do until the rash goes away on its own.  I don't really need anything else to do, but I'm willing to give them a try.  So...I went to Target and bought every thing she mentioned except the prescription steroid. (I don't like steroids on baby faces if they don't have to be there.) Feeling guilty over neglecting your baby's face will make you over-spend like that.  I guess we effectively traded in neck stretches for greasy heads and foreheads.  Hmmm, maybe next visit we can just be well!  Everything else checked out great today, and he did so well getting his "ouchies."  He didn't cry with the needle pokes, and cried just a little when they pushed the one vaccine that burns going in.  Now we hopefully have two more months before we have to go back.