Lily's 4 month check up

Today was Lily's 4 month check up and shots. She is growing like a weed! She now weighs 14 pounds, 13 ounces (75th percentile). Her height is 24.25 inches (50th percentile). And her head is 16.75 (75-90th percentile).

In regards to nighttime feedings, she said that Lily should be able to go at least 8 hours with no food, no question. So she is waking up now in the middle of the night just because that is what she has gotten use to. So we have some retraining to do. Dr. Gagen recommended that we wake her around 11:00 before we go to bed to feed her so she will last until morning. If she does wake, we know then we don't need to feed her. Then we can gradually work backwards from the 11:00 feed time until we are able to eliminate it.

She also said that starting some rice cereal (solids) might also help her at night since she would hopefully be getting more caloric intake during the day. We are supposed to use a bowl and spoon though - NOT in the bottle. She said that it's best to not confuse solids and liquids. So technically we could wait until 6 months to start but Dr. Gagen recommended we start sooner with Lily. So I guess we'll be doing that sometime in the next couple of weeks as well. By 6 months she would like to see her on a 3 meal a day schedule (breakfast lunch and dinner) and then an extra feeding if she needs it.

In regards to sleep schedule - naps, bedtime, etc. We definitely need to start putting her down awake in her crib now before both naps and bedtime. She said that she IS going to cry since she's use to being rocked, etc. to go to sleep. We obviously knew that. She said that most people have success with this in just 3-4 days. So we'll just have to go through that agony for only a few days hopefully. In regards to the pacifier, she said that's completely up to us. If we don't want that hassle and have to get up numerous times in the night to give it to her, then we can go ahead and cut that out too. Naptime - most of you know what a finnicky napper she is. The dr. said that is really up to us. As long as she is getting the sleep she needs during the day then she is fine. If we want to try to work towards longer consolidated naps, then we can just leave her be if she wakes up after the half hour nap and try to get her to go back to sleep. I think we're just going to concentrate on the nighttime thing first before I work on daytime naps.

Her taggie blanket is fine for her to use as a comfort object at naps and nighttime. She said either a blanket or a stuffed toy is fine for her now at her age. Developmentally she is doing great - ahead of where she needs to be. The lumps under her nipples are fine - just glands. The sore she has behind her ear (we noticed this a day or two ago), is just cradle cap. Dr. Gagen said that cradle cap likes to grow behind the ears especially. We can use hydrocortisone cream for that.

She did okay with her shots. I gave her tylenol before we went and of course she screamed when they did it but she calmed down very quickly. Then was fast to sleep!

I think that's about it. Her next check is 6 months. Be praying that the cry it out thing goes well for us! We'll probably start that in the next few days after she has gotten over having her shots.