Six Month Update

We went for BB's six month needles yesterday. He has gained 13 oz since his last appointment two months ago, and has grown a little over an inch in length--he's now 17 lbs 13 oz and 27.6 inches long. I was fully expecting him to weigh in at 20 lbs! He's so heavy!

He barely whimpered when the first needle was given to him. The second needle was in the same leg and he screamed when that one went in. Then the third one was injected into his right leg. The nurse always warns us that this one will sting the most, and of course the screeching started. I'm getting better at not wanting to cry with him. I knew that he would be fine in a few minutes. Once the nurse left, I offered him my breast in case he wanted to nurse to pacify himself (he doesn't take a pacifier) but he only latched on for a few seconds. He preferred to use his two middle fingers on his left hand for pacification. He was completely finished crying by the time we were back in the waiting room, and fell asleep shortly after the car started moving. I'm happy that he doesn't need to have any more immunizations until he is 12 months!

BB made many friends in the waiting room. While we were waiting approx. 60 minutes to get into the office, an elderly lady from Windsor Court came in with her nurse. The elderly lady was very taken with BB. Her nurse ended up sitting next to DH, and BB was on the floor in front of DH in his carrier. The nurse spent most of the 60 minutes talking with BB and trying to get him to smile. Unfortunately he didn't have many smiles... he only napped for 45 minutes during the morning, so he was pooped by the time we arrived at the office! Luckily he wasn't crying, just stone-faced! She let BB play with her pass-card and key that she wore around her neck. (I was a bit disturbed by this since it was probably dirty. She wouldn't let him put it in his mouth, but I don't think she clued into the fact that his hands end up in his mouth too. Finally I produced his set of links that he loves playing with, in an effort to get her to stop letting him play with her card and key. I try to not freak out when people touch him and stuff. I don't want to raise him to be a germ-o-phobe, but seriously, people, please please please think before you touch someone's baby or give it something to play with!) Most of the people in the waiting room were amused by BB's interaction with the nurse. After the appointment while we were putting our coats on in the waiting room, a little girl who was probably about a year old came over to meet BB. It was so sweet. She didn't try to touch him or anything she was just checking him out, and he was giving her his stone-faced stare. Pretty cute.

Yesterday morning after BB had his sweet potatoes his left cheek turned very pink. When we arrived at the very warm doctor's office it started glowing pink. The same cheek turned pink the last time we were at mom & dad's when mom had made a very large fire. So I'm not sure if it was pink yesterday due to the sweet potatoes or the warmth in the office. By bedtime last night his cheek was fine. I fed him bananas today, and it's still okay. I'm going to try sweet potatoes again tomorrow and see what happens. But of course the red cheek was a cause for concern at the doctor's office... they always seem paranoid about everything. At least the doctor didn't try to give us yet another cortisone cream prescription for BB's cradle cap! So unnecessary!

After we returned home from the appointment yesterday, BB was his normal, happy self. Until bedtime. When I tried putting him in his crib he screamed and cried like he was in pain. It wasn't his, "I don't want to go to bed cry." It was definitely a, "I'm hurting!" cry. He was even trembling from head to toe. So I nursed him again, and he fell asleep. Again, when I put him in his crib he screamed and cried. I tried nursing him again to pacify him, but he refused to latch, he could only scream and tremble. I took him to the living room and rocked him until he calmed down. Once he had relaxed, I nursed him again and he instantly fell asleep. I tried again to put him in his crib and the screaming started. I walked around with him and that seemed to help. When I tried to lay down in bed while holding him he started screaming again. I took him back to the living room and rocked him until he was asleep. I held him for a few minutes and then took him to his crib. As soon as I stopped touching him the screaming started. I left him there for a minute to see if he might go back to sleep while I made a 30 second trip to the washroom. When I returned he was still upset. This time I laid him in the centre of our bed and snuggled up next to him. Within about three minutes he was sound asleep, sucking on his fingers. So he spent the night in between DH and me. Neither of us had a great night sleep, as a result; however, I'm not sure how else I would have been able to get BB to sleep last night. I think his legs were bothering him from his immunizations. The one nice thing about having him in bed with me was that when he woke up at 5am to nurse, I didn't have to get up. I just had to get us both positioned properly and we were both able to fall back asleep. Not that I want to co-sleep like this every night! Our bed is too small for that. He slept until almost 9am this morning. It was obviously as hard on him being up late last night as it was on me! When he woke up this morning he was his usual happy self. I remember he had a rough night after his four-month needles as well. I caved that night and gave him some Tempra (baby acetaminophen)--this was before I read the news article about a study that showed giving acetaminophen to infants greatly increased their risk of developing asthma. Last night I was going to avoid giving him drugs at all costs. It was obvious he didn't have a temperature, so the risk really wasn't worth it.

I don't have oodles of respect for my doctor. During my pregnancy, and now with BB, I'm noticing all sorts of things that indicate to me that he's not quite 'on the ball.' However, it was nice hearing him say, "Just keep doing what you're doing." Any sort of positive feedback is always appreciated. :)