Well Baby Visit

We took Sprout into the good doctor's today. It was all of Zeke's least favorite things: getting in and out of the baby bucket, geting in and out of his clothes, lying down when he wants to sit up, getting up early, having a stranger poke and prod and him and then stick him with a needle three times. Yeah, Zeke loves his well baby visits. He never smiles at all at the doctor, which makes me wince because I get so nervous about what the pediatrician thinks about us!

But despite my silly worries, the good doctor verified that Zeke was perfect. He is now 19 pounds and 28 inches long. Wow! That is a good 3 1/2 pounds he's gained and 1 inch that he has grown since the last visit. For those that are charting this, that means that he remains around the 50th percentile for weight and around the 75th percentile for height. (That height really gets us -- we got a winter outfit for him last year and now that the weather has turned cool we tried to put it on him, but it is too short. Darn it! We'll still put him in the jacket, though.) His head has also gotten one inch rounder.

The doctor said to start feeding him orange and yellow vegetables (oops, I guess he's not reading the blog) and then to start adding green vegetables in a few weeks. He also said to start a feeding at lunch and drop the cereal at dinner. He also gave the go ahead to let Zeke try teething biscuits, mini bagels and diluted juice. He said he'll recommend Cheerios in two months to practice his pincer grasp (again, not reading the blog).

Zeke also got his next round of shots. The ped didn't ask about giving him a flu shot and I was glad for that. I was feeling very ambivalent about a flu shot for Zeke and a little concerned that I should be researching the safety of vaccinations a little more. (In general, I think families who don't vaccinate benefit from the overwhelming majority of those that do and that generally benefits outweigh risks, but I still get a little antsy when my friends forward me articles about links between autism and vaccinations.) We presume the doctor didn't recommend the shot when we told him that Zeke isn't in daycare.

The doctor said that even though you can see indentations in Zeke's gums, it might still be another five months before we see any teeth come through.

Really, I don't know why going to the pediatrician makes me so antsy! I guess it is the same old compulsion to want to give the right answers, even about my child's development. Also, I want to make sure that we are doing everything to help Zeke develop appropriately. Worries never cease -- that's the saying, right?