4 Month Appointment

Cash had his 4 month appointment on the 30th. He is looking really good. He weighs 15 pounds and 2 oz, 26.25 inches long, and had a head circumference of 42.75 cm. To put that in perspective, he is in the 50th percentile for weight, 85th percentile for height, and 60th percentile for his head. He is just growing and growing. Dr. Rogers said that he looked really good and that developmentally was doing great and was on target if not a little ahead. I asked about starting cereal, and Dr. Rogers said if I wasn't in any hurry, then we could wait. The American Association of Pediatrics suggests waiting until 6 months and since Cash is satisfied with milk only, there isn't a rush. He did say if I wanted to start I could since we had no food allergies, and he had good neck support, but to make sure we spoon fed him instead of putting it in a bottle since the purpose of cereal is to teach them how to get food to the back of their mouth since it is a different tongue movement. So, we are going to wait on the cereal. I would like to wait until 6 months, but we may start at 5 months instead. Cash got his second round of shots, which again, he still did not like! He goes back to the doctor in two more months.

As for milestones in Cash's life, a few weeks ago he found his hands and began clasping them together and examining them, he has begun to start rolling over, but sometimes that pesky hand in his mouth won't allow him to roll all the way over, he is improving his hand eye coordination, he reaches out with a purpose now grabbing ahold of things, and he turns his head almost all the way back to both sides and raises and lowers it to follow objects. His new form of entertainment is to put his hands in his mouth and make noises on his hands. He will do this for several minutes.

For the last month I would say, he has begun waking up in the night. Most of the time it is at 4 in the morning, but sometimes he wakes up around 1 as well. I talked to Dr. Rogers about this, and he says it could be a growth spurt, but if I am able to put him back to sleep most nights without feeding him, he probably isn't waking up due to hunger, he is waking up and doesn't know how to fall back to sleep because when I put him down for the night, I always put him down asleep. Ryan and I have tried to not pick him up when he wakes, but that doesn't help. We have patted his chest to comfort him, rubbed his head, etc. but after 30 minutes of crying, I pick him and that is all it takes. A few minutes later he is out or if he continues to cry, he's hungry. I am hoping that we can get through this phase quickly. Dr. Rogers also said it isn't uncommon for babies under 6 months to wake up once a night, so not to worry too much about it right now, but to make sure that when I put him down for the night, he's still awake so he learns how to put himself back asleep if he wakes up or I will have an 18 month old waking up in the middle of the night.

Again, I will have to upload recent pics later.