Emma's 4 Month Check-Up

Well, my baby girl is officially 4 months old (17 weeks, 4 days). I want to say that time flies, but it doesn’t… it crawls along slowly with each day feeling like three. Lol.

Emma’s 4 month check-up was yesterday (her official 4 month birthday). I took off the entire day, and it was a wonderful day for all of us. Well, until Em got her shots anyway… poor baby.

Here is how her check-up went.

-          Nurses measured and weighed Emma first thing. She’s 18lbs. 2oz. (98%), 26.5” (99%) and HC 41.2cm (75%).

-          Dr. Murphy is who we saw, and he loves Emma’s numbers. He says “she’s a tank” and that if she gets sick she should handle it well because of it. I feel much better knowing that she’s perfectly proportioned (height + weight).

-          We talked a lot about food. He was shocked to hear that Em only eats 5oz at a time. He thought she’d be around 7 or 8. He asked if she sleeps through the night, which she does, so he said that we shouldn’t change it if it’s working for her. But, he did suggest starting solids (rice cereal – no oats or barley) and veggies.

-          He thinks we comfort her too much. She started getting vocal in the office (not crying though, just fussing) and we started shushing her and playing with her right away. He said that when this happens at home to set her down with a toy and walk away. That what we are doing now will only teach her that she can get loud to get what she wants.

-          He asked a lot of developmental questions. All was good except the fact that she quit rolling. He said that she basically said “wow, I can do that, but I don’t really need to, so I wont.” So, his suggestion was for us to lay her on the floor, either on belly or back, and put her favorite toys farther away from her on the sides so she’d have to roll to get to them.

-          He got into a lot of detail about vaccinations and why they are good. I love how he explains every little thing in detail because let’s face it, I want to know and I can talk this baby stuff all day long. Her 2 month shots are all “real” shots (he said that better), and her 4 month and 6 month shots are all booster shots. It’s basically the “good stuff” that keeps the “real” shots activated in her system. Babies seem to have an immune system that doesn’t hold vaccinations well so the booster shots keep it going. However, 15% of babies will not keep it even with the boosters. So, 15% of those who are vaccinated could really not be immune to the disease. That scared me, especially when I asked if there was any way to tell and he replied “no.” But, he did say that as long as all parents get their kids vaccinated it would never be a problem. But, then he followed up by saying that since the parents have an option, it will never be the case, and if 10% of parents choose not to vaccinate, and 15% of the vaccinated ones aren’t really immune, then we have enough to start the disease back up (like whooping cough right now). He was much better at explaining that – I hope it made sense.

-          He asked if Gene and I have been vaccinated, and if we got our flu shots this year. We NEVER get flu shots. I don’t like to feel sick (even if it’s just mimicking the flu symptoms), so we just never get them. The doc didn’t like this. He told us that we need to get our shots (as well as anyone who watches her) because the flu kills 20,000+ people a year and 90% of those are under 2yo and over 56yo. I really don’t like the thought of getting that shot. L

-          The last thing he told us is to check out the book “Baby and Childcare” by Dr. Spock.

-     Then Emma got her shots. Well, the first one was a drink. She was fine with that as it tastes sweet (so I'm told). Then she got her first one in the thigh. She was fine at first. Then after the bandaid was put on and the nurse was getting ready to do the second one her bottom lip jetted out and you could see the look of distress on her face. She was genuinely upset. I couldn't help but laugh though because that bottom lip sticking out is so darn cute! After the fourth shot I gobbled her up and held her so tight. After about 20 seconds she was done crying and back to smiles. Side note - those spots bled a lot afterwards!

Here is what we’ve done since:

-          We tried cereal last night. We figured once we had the green light we’d try right away. I thought it would be fun. Instead, it was difficult. Em is not interested in the least. We had the bottle sitting right next to us (because we were using the formula to thin it as needed) and she just kept pushing the food out of her mouth and staring at her bottle. We’d give her the bottle to drink for a bit thinking she was too hungry for patience, and then we’d try the cereal again and no such luck. After 40 minutes we completely gave up and said we’d try again tonight. I’ve decided that if it doesn’t work tonight we will wait until next week and try again. If she’s not interested, then I see no need to start it.

-          I tried the whole “lay her down and let her roll to toys” thing. Well, all I can say is that it didn’t work and caused a ruckus. After 10 minutes of her crying (no real tears) I finally picked her up. After she calmed down I decided to try again on her belly, and that made it even worse. She tired herself out from screaming, and the 30 seconds of tummy time made her face sopping wet from real tears. I don’t think I’m doing it right.

Last night was the first night in a long time that Em had us up multiple times. Twice from what we call “bad dreams” (12:30am and 1:30am). Something makes her upset and she starts crying hard in her sleep or half asleep. I jump up quickly and rush in there to give her Bink and she falls right back to sleep in seconds (even drops Bink right away because she’s passed out). The other 2 times (3am and 5am) she ate a few ounces and fell asleep again. I’m hoping that this sleep pattern was simply because of the eventful day we had (shots, doctor, shopping, cereal, etc.).

All-in-all Emma’s 4 month birthday was a good one, and she has grown to become such a precious little girl. I couldn’t be more in love.

Jenni