Jacob's 4 month well-baby visit

I still can't believe 4 months have flown by! Jacob weighed in at 18lbs 6.5oz and measured 25 3/4 inches long. He had shots today and only cried for less than a minute after each shot and napped the whole way home in the car; he seems cranky...when we got home I fed him and he is napping in his swing. His Dr. said that he is doing great and we will discuss solids at his 6 month appt; we are not doing cereal (rice or oatmeal) because he does not need the empty calories. I had a TON of questions and I'm sure some of you have similar questions so I figured I'd let you know what our pedi said.

1.) Sunscreen: He said there are two major concerns in using sunscreen on infants; a.) SPF 50 on a baby does not work the same as it does on an adult and babies can get a burn even while wearing sunblock; the concern here is that parents will allow too much sun exposure thinking their baby is protected when he/she is not. b.) Babies' skin is very sensitive and they can have a serious reaction to the ingredients in sunblock. That being said, he said that we can use sunblock if he is going to be exposed to the sun but that keeping him in the shade is a better option. He also said if we do choose to use sunblock to avoid going the cheap route and suggested we get something specifically for babies with sensitive skin and test it in a small spot on his body first to make sure he doesn't have a reaction.

2.) Sleep/separation issues (I'm lumping these two together because they seem to coincide in our case): First off, Dr. Reynold's said that between 4-6 months babies should only be waking a maximum of two times during the night to eat. After six months they technically should be sleeping through the night but he said many EBF babies still need a feeding once a night. I'll try to condense the rest of his answer to my question: basically he thinks Jacob's "separation" issues are compounded by him being way over tired, since he is fine with others during the day. I explained that he seems to get tired around 7 but refuses to sleep; I'm going to put a disclaimer here (though I know we're all supportive on this board) that I am not a proponent of major CIO but Jacob's pediatrician recommended the following: since it is apparent that he is really ready to sleep that early in the evening start his bed time routine at 7 and have him in bed by 7:45. The bedtime routine should be to eat, and then read a few stories and then go to bed. He said feeding him before bed is teaching him to associate food with sleep and that the several times per night that he is waking up to "eat" are really to go back to sleep. He acknowledged that this will be a very difficult couple of weeks since Jacob is clearly fighting going to sleep, but the way I look at it is he's fussy from 7pm on anyway so it doesn't really make a difference. He said a bunch of other stuff that really just reinforced what we've been doing, which made me feel good. Now we just need to push bedtime to when he really needs to be in bed. He also said that what we choose to do is really dependent on parenting style and it sounded like we were already doing most of what he recommended, just not at the right time of evening. I trust him as a friend and as a professional so I'm choosing to follow his advice and may need some support from you ladies in the next few weeks. He also said that the separation thing is most definitely a phase but if we don't do what's necessary to nip it in the bud now (i.e. leaving him with people even though he cries) it will get worse.

3.) Rolling over: Not concerned that he isn't rolling over consistently yet and agreed that it is primarily a 5/6 month milestone.

4.) Jumping/jumperoo: I told him that we have an exersaucer and Jacob is constantly jumping in it, and constantly jumping when we're holding him in a standing position. He said that continuing to use the exersaucer is fine because it is building upper body strength (since he's holding himself upright in it), and that a small amount of jumping is ok but he recommends against using a jumperoo because it promotes jumping and puts too much pressure on babies' legs.

5.) Teething tablets: I saw that a couple ladies on here use them for their LO's and I just wanted to know his opinion because I didn't feel like Tylenol was doing anything. He does not endorse or recommend them because he doesn't know what is in them and said that Tylenol and Baby Orajel should be fine.

Happy he is doing fairly well after his shots... and thank you so much for recapping your docs answers! Very informative.

Such a big boy! Glad he's doing great

Thanks for the info too.. I have been trying the Hyland's teething tablets and I cannot for the life of me get them to melt under her tongue like it says. It always ends up on top of her tongue!

he's perfect! Such a BIG boy!

jamiemarie wrote:He said feeding him before bed is teaching him to associate food with sleep and that the several times per night that he is waking up to "eat" are really to go back to sleep.

That sounds like a no brainer- but honestly, I never really thought of it that way and always feed her befor a nap or bedtime. duh! lol thanks for taking the time to type that all out!
Maisie is 25 1/2" now and 15 lbs she should be up to Jacobs weight based on how she was gaining before... dumb colds!

Jacob sounds like he is doing great!

18lbs BOY thats a BIG boy! glad he took his shots well

Thanks for sharing!!!

I've been arguing with dh over Carter's rainforrest jumper... He loves it, but I'm so scared it's doing harm to him! He seriously jumps like crazy in it and continues "jumping" even when he's out of it.

What a BIG boy!!!

I honestly wouldn't worry about the jumperoo though. We used it with Lauren, she absolutely LOVED it and she is perfect now.

Jess- Maisie sounds perfect? I don't think 15lbs sounds bad? James is 15.8lbs now. If James continued to gain like he did the first month, I would have a mammoth baby! lol! Our Dr. said that past 3-4 months, 1 pound per month is the typical gain, especially if you are BFing. The weight gain slows down. My friend had two BIG babies in the beginning and at about 5-6 months their weight gain slowed down and now they are actually on the thin side.

Great information! Jacob is such a big guy!

laurensmommy wrote:What a BIG boy!!!

I honestly wouldn't worry about the jumperoo though. We used it with Lauren, she absolutely LOVED it and she is perfect now.

Jess- Maisie sounds perfect? I don't think 15lbs sounds bad? James is 15.8lbs now. If James continued to gain like he did the first month, I would have a mammoth baby! lol! Our Dr. said that past 3-4 months, 1 pound per month is the typical gain, especially if you are BFing. The weight gain slows down. My friend had two BIG babies in the beginning and at about 5-6 months their weight gain slowed down and now they are actually on the thin side.

I don't want to be a thread jacker... lol but here I go... (sorry)
Mary, thanks so much for that. The doc was acting concerned about how she has fallen in the percentiles. She was like 95% and now she's 75% I guess. But really her percents are all matching up- she's a good 75 across the board.

Sounds like he's is doing great Thanks for all the info to. I know i tend to nurse Emma to put her to sleep at night (or pretty much anytime she cries for no reason lol) maybe thats why she'll wake up at night and not go back to sleep unless i nurse her lol.