We just got home from Dean's 4 month check up. Technically he is 4 1/2 months today. Here are his most recent stats:Weight at birth: 8 lbs. 6 oz.
Length at birth: 21 3/4 inches
Weight at 2 mo.: 13 lbs. 10 oz.
Length at 2 mo.: 24 1/2 inches (77%)
Weight at 4 mo.: 15 lbs. 14 oz. (65%)
Length at 4 mo.: 27 in. (actually, just slightly under 27) (90%)
Head circumference: 16.5 in. (36%)
So, overall things are looking quite good in terms of his growth. She said his head is a little flat on the right side since he favors it. She told us that last time so we tried to increase the time on his tummy, in his bumbo, and use positioners when napping, but apparently it wasn't enough to overcome it completely. I barely notice it's a little flatter than the other side, and I think I mainly notice since more hair has been rubbed off there. She said she'll talk to us about using a helmet if it's still flat at the 6 mo. mark. I told her we'd probably skip the whole helmet thing since it's purely aesthetic. I don't think it's that noticeable, and who has a perfectly symmetrical head anyway? She said, "Just make sure you have total resolve that you want to do that since after 9 mo. you can't reshape the head."
(He's wearing an old sweat suit of his daddy's in this picture)
Also, she said, "He has bad cradle cap." Can I just tell you that it is probably 1000 times better than it was the last time we went in? We've been washing his hair in selsun blue and I've peeled a lot of the dry skin scale patches off. Unfortunately it took with it some of his hair, so he has an old man comb over look. Now I would say he has a mild case of cradle cap and has some exema on his forehead. We're going to try Cortaid and see if it helps without making him break out in a bad rash. Originally I thought it was dry skin, so I've tried baby lotion, hypoallergenic adult lotion, Vaseline, baby oil, and lanolin, and all have given him a bad raised rash. The adult lotion actually gave him white bumps as well as red.
The other concern was with his first set of blood work (the stuff done in the hospital at birth). Apparently it's taken 4 months for them to get her the results. She said he might have the Alpha Thalassemia trait. She said his second blood test didn't show that, so he might not have it. We may have to do additional blood work. Something I found online said, "In this condition 2 of the 4 alpha globin genes are missing or defective. Patients with this have smaller blood cells and mild anemia, though they experience no symptoms." The only real problem from this would arise when he is married and having children. If his wife also is a carrier, their children have a 25% chance of having Hemoglobin H disease (resulting in an enlarged spleen, fatigue or bone deformities) or 25% chance of Alpha Thalassemia Major (which would require lifelong blood transfusions). So, hopefully he doesn't have it...
In happier news, he is learning to roll around. He hasn't flipped from front to back or visa versa on his own yet, but he's gotten pretty close. He's also become enamored with holding his feet the last few days. His hands are really cute when he interlocks his little fingers. She doesn't think he's really teething. She said he could do all the pre-teething slobber and chewing up to 10 months without a tooth breaking through. What I thought were teeth bumps on his gums she said were "pearls". Honestly I'm a little skeptical of Dr.s I'm not saying I know more than them, I just don't think they know everything, especially if it's not their "specialty". I'm not totally convinced of her knowledge on this, but I'll keep watching.
17 comments:
What a cutie! I love the rolling over stage, it's hilarious to watch. I could just spend hours watching babies trying to figure the world out! I wouldn't give up the teething thing either, some kids teeth as early as two or three months. Janelle got her first tooth at 4 1/2 months and Spencer got his first at 5 months...not exactly fun for nursing moms. But, what can you do?
Wow--he's growing really well! I think that sometimes you just have to wait for them to outgrow stuff like cradle cap. Both my kids had it pretty bad; we put baby oil on it, let it soak in (about 10 minutes or so), and then brushed it off with a soft toothbrush (new of course). But if baby oil makes it worse then I wouldn't try that. Plus our kids were bald so it was easier to brush it off.
Teething really varies. Both my kids starting drooling and chewing at 4 months but didn't get teeth until about 7 or 8 months. But I know other early teethers too.
And pediatricians can be all over the map as far as advice goes, I've learned :)
I love that he's so long. But then, I'm a little partial to long babies myself. :) Garrett seems to have totally skipped the rolling over milestone. Oh, he'll accidentally roll from his front to his back, but he can't seem to do it on purpose and he's never gone from back to front. Either he's afraid of doing it or just content with sticking close to home base, or both, because he's certainly strong enough to do it. He also has a bit of a flat head, at the back. His doctor's not concerned enough about it to talk helmets, which I'm grateful for. Like you, I don't think it's that noticeable and who's gonna care a few years down the road when hair totally covers it up?
I also agree that, while it's very important to consider your doctor's trained advice, a mother's intuition, knowledge, and love for her child often trumps the doctor's opinion.
I read on the Mayo Clinic site that you should only use the oil if you wash it off right after you brush it. I think our weather here has really contributed to it too, so hopefully once this dry winter passes it will start to clear up some.
My Ben had the plagio Cephaly (or flat head) on his left side. We went to a pediatric neurologist at Phoenix Childrens Hospital when he was 6 months old and he said that only in extreme cases did he reccoment the helmet. He showed us some neck excersizes, and also how to roll baby blankets to create a barrier to keep him sleeping on the other side. I was concerned at first that we didn't make the right decision in not getting him a helmet, but his head evened out and now you can't even tell!
Oh yeah, I kind of skipped that step. After soaking in oil and brushing the gunk off, then we'd give baby a bath and scrub with shampoo :)
Laura, I have to agree with you that this is a very fun stage.
I just got off the phone with Matt and he doesn't want to rule out the helmet thing right away. I'll have to tell him what you said though Em.
Oh, so many little things to think and worry about as a mommy, huh? We definately can attest to "preteething" that lasted for 8 solid months--he started all the drooling and such at two months and it lasted until the teeth started coming in around ten months. The advantage was that his teeth ALL came in within just three or four months of that. Get it over with all at once!
As far as the plagiocephaly...I'm totally paranoid and would probably look into correcting it, but that's just me. One idea might be to look for a different pediatrician that your parenting philosophies line up with better...it seems like you differ a lot with this one and it's no fun to feel like you aren't on the same team. At the very least you could get a second opinion while checking out a new doctor.
Good luck with the decisions, and have fun with this phase of babyhood--they are totally fun when they start to develop such personalities and abilities that they seem to change every single day!
na, honestly I'm skeptical of all dr.s. I was kinda raised to think they weren't the know all end all since two of my siblings nearly died and/or were in severe pain with no help from conventional dr.s.
it's so fun to see that they are growing well since it gives you a feeling of making progress or something. he is so cute. by the way, most of my kids have had cradle cap, and boy is it a bother. they all have had pretty thick hair too, and it made it look very awkward. oh well, one of those things that you just about forget when they get older.
i gotta say, i think you're brave to consider just skipping the helmet. i am always paranoid that my kids will grow up and hate me for not trying to fix their defects. honestly, what's the down side? just that it looks kind of funny for a few months? i know someone who has a slightly pigeon toed foot that his mom opted to not fix since it wasn't too severe, and he has never forgiven her. he is the only one who can even tell, but he is still mad that his mom made the decision differently than he would have made it if he could have done it for himself.
Elizabeth had bad cradle cap too. Our Dr. suggested T-gel shampoo by nutrageia (sp?). Anyway, it worked after about a week. Her's was pretty bad too. I kept waiting for her to out grow it, but she has always had so much hair that it just wasn't clearing up.
For her dry skin my friend introduced me to a moisture stick. You can get it at babys-R-us and I think Walmart. It looks like a large stick of chapstick. That cleared her skin up quick. I would put it on at night so that she wouldn't rub it off.
I have had 2 friends that had to do the helmet. One of them caught it early enough and so he only had to wear it for about 4 months, as apposed to the other who has had his on for 5 months and has to have it on for quite a bit longer. Also, with the boy who has to have it on longer they have to keep doing fittings and making new helmets because his head is growing. So that is an extra cost. I'd say get a second opionion.
I guess I feel it's just extreme measures for something that neither Matt nor I noticed before the doc pointed it out. I can't imagine the helmets are all that comfy. Sure, they say babies get used to them fairly quickly, but I can't imagine having to wear one 23 hours/day for 4 months!
But like I said, Matt's leaning toward helmet (for reasons you stated C&A) if it doesn't work it's way out, so I may have to rethink my decision.
Also, since it's not extreme and it's purely cosmetic, I don't know if our insurance would pay for it.
A nurse called and said his second blood work was normal, so we don't have to go back and do more blood work. He probably doesn't have that trait thing, but we'll be positive at his 9 mo. check up when they do routine blood work.
He's so cute! It's crazy to think that he's already in the rolling over stage. I always love reading all the commentary on your blog too--lots of comments! Our doctor was really concerned about Ellee's head for a while too. She even had us do X-rays to see if bones had sealed up that weren't supposed to yet. We were a little nervous for a few days thinking she may have to have her head cracked open to allow room for her brain to grow. But, luckily the results came back normal--she just had a deformed head for a while and her right ear was her "floppy" ear. She loved to sleep on that side and would bend her ear over while sleeping. I was so worried for a while that she'd be deformed with a floppy ear--but, so far--she's turned out pretty normal! :) I think once they get better about rolling over, it seems to help with certain things.
I'm with you on the whole dr.'s thing Celia! A mom knows her baby the best, and if he seems fantastic to you, then he probalby is fantastic. . .and he doesn't look too shabby to the rest of us! :) What a cute kid!
Thanks for all of the great comments guys! I love hearing from all of you!
Post a Comment