Heather turned 4 months old on Tuesday. So let’s see, what’s new in her life these days? She figured out how to use her knees, so now when she’s standing on the bathroom counter, a lot of time is spent dropping down by bending her knees and then pushing herself back up. And she can still roll from belly to back, but she’s still not very consistent about it. Sometimes she just gets annoyed and gives up.
She’s found her feet and they are constantly in the air! She almost never lays her legs down anymore, which makes diaper changes interesting. And those little feet are frequently in her hands where she can keep better track of them. She hasn’t quite figured out how to get them to her mouth yet, but I’m sure she will. Everything goes in her mouth these days.
She just started reaching for our faces a few days ago, which is pretty fun. Except when she’s fussing and stretching out her hands to me, and then it’s just heartbreaking. “Mama…Mama…please…fix it!” It’s so pitiful.
Oh, and she now prefers being in her stroller, forward-facing, to being in her carseat in the stroller. She can see much better, and she seems to enjoy it much more. She’s so small, though, that she looks ridiculous in it. The straps don’t even tighten down enough to really fit her, and her feet just reach the edge of the seat.
Her four-month checkup was on Friday, and Dr. Daley said we should stop swaddling her. That’s an ongoing adjustment. She seems to be doing alright at night, but her naps suck. Of course, her naps suck anyway, so it’s not that big a change there, overall.
A couple weeks ago, she started nursing for much less time (5 minutes on each side instead of 10), so I emailed her pediatrician. (She also started spacing out her feedings, finally, up to 3 hours or so between them.) I’ve read that babies can become more efficient at nursing, allowing them to get it done much quicker, but with the concern about her weight, I wanted to check. Dr. Daley had us go in for a weight check last week, and she was 11 lbs. 8 oz., which put her down in the 12th percentile. The doctor still wasn’t worried, though, so we just carried on as usual, only with more time on our hands.
Well, at her checkup on Friday, she had lost weight, down to 11 lbs. 2.4 oz.! That’s the 5th percentile and not awesome at all. Dr. Daley put her on an iron supplement (apparently, iron deficiency causes poor weight gain because the metabolism has to run high to push the blood around faster to carry enough oxygen) and said to start her on solid foods! Eeep! So we went out and bought a highchair and feeding paraphernalia today. We’ll start the rice cereal tomorrow. We’ll let you know how it goes!
The good news is that whatever is causing the weight issues, it isn’t affecting her development otherwise. She’s totally on top of all the skills for her age, which is a relief.
Also, our tiny apartment is pretty much wall-to-wall baby stuff. Kyle just paced it out, and you can take one step to get from the stroller by the door, to the carseat, to the bouncer, to the glider, to the blanket on the floor, to the high chair, to the playmat. We need more space!
