4 Month Checkup

This morning I took Santiago to the pediatrician for his 4 month well-child checkup and vaccinations. All the nurses and the doctor were very amused with him because he kept on making these loud squealing noises as we walked through the office. We were taken into an exam room and I had to undress Santi and take his helmet off so they could weigh and measure him. After he was undressed, we had to go into the hallway where the baby scale was. This is when Santiago began squealing loudly and smiling to people as we walked by. We heard lots of comments like "What a cute baby!" "Oh he's a big boy!" "Aww listen to him!" It was funny to hear everyone's comments. Santiago weighed 17 pounds naked as a jaybird. The nurse at the pedi office measured Santi at 26.5 inches long. When we went to Dr. T's on May 26th, they measured him at 27 inches long. The pedi's office measures using a ruler that is attached to this table that babies are laid on with their head touching one end and then they use this thing that slides to press up against the babies feet to get the measurement. At Dr. T's office, they just lay Santi on the paper on the exam table and mark his head and feet and then use a measuring tape to measure the distance between each mark. I think the pedi's way is more accurate. His head was 42.25 cm for the circumference. She was pleased that Santi's head is still growing at a normal rate for babies since he has had to have surgery and that he is at a very average size. That puts Santiago in the 97% for height, 90% for weight and his head is in the 50%. He will be 4 months old tomorrow.

Santiago's doctor wants him to continue breastfeeding for as long as I want and doesn't recommend starting him on foods until he is 6 months old at the earliest. She thinks he is doing really well on breastmilk and he is getting everything he needs from it. He certainly looks like he is doing just fine! She also said alot of moms start babies on cereal to help them sleep longer periods of time but we don't have a problem with sleeping. Santiago sleeps 10-11 hours at night. He sleeps from around 9 pm until 7 or 8 am. She said we were really lucky that Santiago has been sleeping so well at night since he was 10 weeks old. She said that is not very common.

Santiago recieved three immunizations today - 2 shots and 1 oral. The nurse was so quick with the shots that I thought she had only given him one when Santiago began to cry but she had already done both of them. She said the first one didn't make him cry. He stopped crying as soon as I picked him up and then started smiling at me when I laid him back down to get him dressed. He did so good!

We were asked about developmental milestones also. Santiago has met all them except one. The only thing that he hasn't done yet is turn over. He can coo, squeal, make two-syllable sounds, grasp and bat at toys, laugh, recognize familiar faces, push up on his arms when on his stomach, bear weight on his legs and follow things with his eyes. She said that is was not uncommon for babies to not have flipped over yet at this stage and she said that he has something extra on his head (his helmet) and he is a big boy and these two things may be making him perform this trick a little later. I'm not worried - I feel like he will do it when he is ready and he definitely is on his way. He rocks from side to side really well.

During the exam, the doctor said Santiago looks really good and healthy. I told her about his constant drooling and how everything he grabs goes straight to his mouth and she said that is very typical of a 4 month old baby. She did not feel any budding teeth in his mouth. She looked inside too and said that we would see some swelling on his gums if he was teething. She does not think he is yet but said it could be coming. She said the average is around 6-8 months for the first tooth to come in. She did feel the natural ridges in his gums and said that a tooth will feel different than those. So for now - we have a drooling baby who is learning how to swallow all that extra saliva with no teeth.

All in all we had a good checkup and I am so thankful that the shots do not make Santi fussy after.