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| Proof of the pudding! |
SN: The reason his weight gain is always so exciting for me is because I am the one ensuring his growth with the milk that my body produces. It takes a huge physical commitment to stick with pumping at work...especially when it's busy out on the floor and you don't want to leave the selling effort (or when there are a million and one things to be done and it's all hands on deck!). But I have stuck by my goal of feeding Christian breastmilk for the first six months of his life through pumping at work, and I am damn proud of it! Not to mention, I have a husband who is so supportive.
Ok! So! Next on the docket was Christian's temperature...and guess what?! This is the first time he didn't pitch a fit when she stuck the thermometer under his arm! (Hey, folks! It's the simple things...)
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| Sad face, but NO tears! |
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| The nurse then checked his breathing. Look how relaxed he was! |
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Christian has grown two and a half inches since his last doctor visit! He is officially 24.5 inches long! Grandma was so proud of Christian's growth!       We love our doctor so much! She is a doctor who genuinely cares about her little patients and their needs (along with the millions of concerns the mommies and daddies have...). So, here is a run-down of the things we discussed... -Christian is in the 25th percentile for height and weight. He has remained in his original growth curve and has not jumped up to a much higher percentile as many formula fed babies do. She says that he is growing perfectly and that he is very strong. -I told her that we were still co-sleeping and that I wasn't sure I wanted to give it up. She pointed out the fact that co-sleeping isn't a problem until the parents want their child out of their bed. I found this point interesting, and I will expound on this topic in a later blog. -She encouraged me to start Christian on solids (cereal first, then greens...) as he tried to EAT the tongue depressor...yeah. Not kidding. Look...   I asked her about whether it was a very bad idea to let him try some solids like bananas or yogurt or ice cream. And she said, "yes"...no more bananas or yogurt or ice cream until he develops a taste for green vegetables. Which, she said we could start solids like cereal at any time and then veggies at five months. I talked to my lactation consultant, mother and Ken about starting solids and we decided to start cereal, fed only with a spoon, at five months (People who put cereal in bottles when their baby is three months or less frustrate the daylights out of me! They say things like, "he was always hungry so the doctor said he could have cereal"...Well, guess what?! He's a baby and he's growing...of COURSE he's always hungry! And it's your duty as a parent to feed him every time he's hungry...have you read anything about cluster feeding? Or growth spurts? Yeah, read a book and then talk to me about why your child needs solids at three months. My other favorite argument for feeding a baby cereal is, "he doesn't sleep through the night, so we give him cereal to make him sleep". Well, this may be news to your ears, but a baby isn't going to sleep much longer than 5-6 hours straight until they are anywhere from 6 to 12 months old. And when you signed up for the whole "mommyhood" thing, that included some sleepless nights. Sorry about your luck. This is obviously one topic of which I am overly passionate about.) We then decided to start veggies at 6 months. No need to rush his growth when he's doing just fine. -She noted that he had several bug bites. I asked her what to use to prevent bites since using bug repellant on a baby is not a good idea. She suggested lightly spraying his clothing instead of spraying repellant directly on his skin. -Christian has a pretty significant rash under his chin from spit up and drool (no teeth yet, but they're comin'!) I asked her what we could do for the rash and she offered putting some Desitin on it since it's similar to a diaper rash. (SN: I put a tube of Desitin in Ken's toothbrush drawer and I keep waiting for him to accidentally use it as toothpaste...HAHA! I am such a sweet wife!) -The doctor reiterated the fact that Christian needs vitamin D drops since that is the one vitamin that doesn't translate through breastmilk. Admittedly, we have to be more consistent about doing this. -Christian "talked" to the doctor the entire time we were there...(except when she shushed him to hear his heartbeat)! She said he was "finding his voice". And believe me, he finds his voice all. the. time! It is such a wonder to hear him squeal and scream and chatter for hours on end. He especially loves talking to Remmy or whoever is having a conversation in the room. It's almost as if he has something to contribute to the current discussion. Here's a video of him talking to Grandma... Honestly, we didn't have a whole lot of questions about his development since he has hit every milestone for his age before his time. Dr.Rosenthal just kind of doted on him and squeezed him and loved on him for quite a while. What doctor does that? It's because of her genuine love of babies that I will continue to wait 15-30 minutes extra to see her. She is a Godsend as far as I am concerned! Here is a video of her and him together... After the doctor left, it was time for vaccinations. Yeah, they're not our favorite, but at least Christian got to have one of the edible ones before the shots. You know how much he loves those! The nurse commented (again) on how easy he was about eating the vaccine...she said most babies spit it right back out. I told her that he'll eat just about anything that's put in his mouth...Christian asked if he could get one for the road...  Then, the dreaded shots...   There it is! Poor guy...  I've found that there's almost nothing a breast won't fix...(even though it looks like he's about to punch me) After we got done at the doctor's office, we walked over to the birth care center at Newton General to see Kris, my lactation consultant. She is such an amazing woman and I couldn't imagine doing what she does on a daily basis...especially considering the rate of women who choose not to breastfeed. I would feel so defeated every day. But not Kris...she keeps her chin up! She expressed the need for new lactation consultants as many women her age would be retiring soon with no one to replace them.  It was great to see her and talk about my success in breastfeeding Christian and even discuss the difficulties we faced in the beginning. It was a great outlet and a great opportunity to share with another woman who got it.  By the time we got done visiting, Christian was out! He was exhausted after having "talked" the doctor's ear off and having had shots. He deserved the four hour nap that followed! He was quite the little trooper... We go back for Christian's 6 month checkup in September. I'm not quite ready to wrap my arms around the fact that he will be 6 months old in only a short while. I beg all of my new-mommy friends to savor every second...even the rough ones. Theses young and simple days will be mere grains of sand blown away by the wind, never to return. |
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