The Leviners

4 Month Check up

Caroline had her 4 month check up today. She was four months on July 29th and will be 18 weeks on Sunday!

Stats:

Height- 25 1/4 (80th)

Weight- 14 lbs 13 ozs (75th)

Head Circumference- 15 3/4 (25th)

She did very well with her shots- she didn't cry until after they were given and she didn't cry long. I did very well myself- this time!

I discussed lots of things with Dr. Thomas such as:

How many feedings should she be getting each day? 5 or 6 (she'd be fine with 5)

Can we start rice cereal? Yes

How many hours between feedings? 4 (I am still doing 3- we'll get back to this one)

Do we need to remove bumper from crib? Now I've asked another friend this question and she said yes, but just to be extra sure!! The answer was yes, and could be replaced when Caroline's one.

Does she need to continue sleeping in the sleep sack? Yes. I have also started putting long pajama bottoms on her because now she's turning over. I will use the sleep sack in the winter when its colder and also she'll be much better at turning over.

How many ounces in a bottle? 4 or 5

Probiotic? I just had to ask this question because I started taking one last summer "Align" and it really helped me to heal after my bout with C-Diff and I didn't get sick during my pregnancy with anything. Caroline can take one at 6 mos.

Flu Shot? She'll need the regular flu shoot as well as the H1N1 vaccine. By the way she suggested that I take both as well- we'll do!!
Teething- Baby Oragel only lasts 10 minutes so she suggested placeing a wash cloth in the fridge and let her gnaw on it when its cool.

Other things she's doing- she's found a different talking voice and its so cute to listen too. We "talk" together most of the day. She's just so sweet!!

She's also sleeping in her crib! I have finally graduated her from the cradle to the crib. How did this come about? I woke up one morning and she was playing with the bars near her head with her hands and her feet were sticking out of the slats on the side. This made me laugh when I saw her in her disposition so I knew that it was time- really past time. She's been doing really well with it however she doesn't go to sleep as fast as she did in the cradle. When we put her down we can hear her coos and laughs through the monitors- we like to think she likes her nursery!

On to the rice cereal- we gave her rice cereal for the first time today. The whole time we were giving it to her she would laugh and laugh. I don't think she swallowed any of it because when she'd laugh it would all come right back out. We enjoyed watching her! Also, after starting the cereal I did e-mail Denise, our lactation consultant. I asked her what would be a good way to fit this into the nursing schedule. She gave me great advice. She said really babies don't need any solids until they are six months old but if I wanted to give her the rice cereal than I could nurse her and then wait one hour and give it to her but only once a day (we were only going to give it once a day anyways). I tried the cereal again today (Monday- I started this post last Friday) and she did much better. For now I am going to give her the cereal a couple of times a week. When she's five months I will try for more days. Also, Denise says she still needs six feedings a day since she only gained 2 ounces in a week (babies are supposed to gain one ounce a day- however not sure for how long) and that I could give her all the nutrition she needs. Apparently the rice cereal doesn't have much nutritional value. The weight gain this time was the lowest weight gain for Caroline (I take her regularly to have her weighed). But I'm thinking that Caroline is teething and that this is the reason for her not nursing so well.

Caroline trying rice cereal for the first time!



Her new bowls and spoons!



First night in crib- still holding onto that paci!



Happy 18 weeks!


Extra:

Sam made these Adirondack chairs this week!
He's going to paint them red tomorrow! I
can't wait to see the one that he's making
for Caroline!