John Hayden turned 4 months old yesterday, so here's an update about him:
--At his well-baby check-up this morning, he weighed 17.6 lbs. and is almost 25 inches long. (On the charts that puts him as 95th percentile for weight and 50-75th for height.)
--He's still eating 6 oz. every 3ish hours and this month has become somewhat disinterested in eating. There are days where he doesn't want to eat all 6 oz. at most feedings and he most definitely doesn't want to eat all of it in the mornings (whether he ate during the middle of the night or not). At first I thought it was because of sinus drainage that he had for the majority of February, but I think it's a combination of teething, being very aware of his surroundings, and just a slow-down in growth. He still gained this month, though, so he got plenty to eat.
--He wears size 3 diapers and mostly 6 month clothing, although he can still wear some 3-6 month onesies and pants. He also still fits in his 3-6 month pajamas and I imagine he'll be able to continue wearing those for this next month.
--During the month of February, he woke up pretty much every night to eat (probably because he wasn't eating as much during the day and also because he would cough--from the drainage--and wake himself up.) Starting the first day of March, though, he started sleeping through the night again, mostly. He apparently likes to keep me on my toes!
--He is still a very smiley baby and this month found his voice. He can get very loud!! He still doesn't have a ton of patience for tummy time (he holds out for about 5-10 minutes) and starting rolling over from tummy to back last week. (He doesn't want to show us his new trick this week, though.) He's trying to roll from back to tummy as well, but hasn't made it. He can bring his hands together and hold toys and put them in his mouth and can reach and grab something (and not miss it--more hand control now). He's also able to pull down on the car seat toy and the bouncy seat toy to make them make noises. He can do mini push-ups while on his tummy (I think he could do that last month...can't remember, though) and he has to be buckled into everything now or he will kick and arch his back and come close to getting out. He pretty much has complete head control and doesn't need much support when you are holding him up right, but is still a little wobbly with entire upper body control (as in, if I put him in the exersaucer, I have to put a rolled up blanket behind him or he will slump over; he's not really playing much in it yet, though). He's teething and I can see where two little teeth are going to come in. They haven't broken through his gums, but I wouldn't be surprised if he cuts them sooner rather than later since Juliette cut her first two at 4 1/2 months and 5 months. His newest thing he likes to do is suck his thumb and his bottle at the same time...and that doesn't really work! We're constantly having to move his hands from his mouth while feeding him. He has started pulling on his feet, but hasn't put them in his mouth yet. He still loves for you to sing and do the motions with him for different songs, but his favorite thing to do (and that leads to great big smiles) is to make him ride the bicycle with his feet (which we have also branched out to rowing the boat with his hands and playing air guitar among other things). Juliette loves to do these with him and he grins really big at her. He also likes for Matt to play the actual guitar for him, and if Matt is in the room, he tends to follow his every move. Oh, and he has perfected blowing raspberries, which has led him having a wet face constantly!
--He has started spitting up a whole lot more than he used to, and I mentioned it to the doctor this morning because I thought it might have to do with the chronic congestion he has had the last month. She said that spitting up peaks at 4 months because they are starting to move around a lot more (which makes sense) and that it's possible the spitting up/refluxing can be causing the congestion since it's common for babies to reflux into their nose. (I know that sounds gross.) Anyway, we're going to try out a reflux medication on him. If it works, great...he'll spit up less and be less congested. And if it doesn't work, it's no big deal. His ears looked good and his lungs were clear and he's generally happy, so if the medicine doesn't work, he will be fine. Doesn't hurt to try, though!
--At John Hayden's 2 month check-up, I mentioned to the doctor about him favoring his right side and having a flat spot on the back of the right side of his head. The doctor said to try to reposition him to get him to look to the left more and that the flat spot would probably improve once he was able to sit up in the Bumbo, Exersaucer, etc. She said he might have torticollis and we'd look into physical therapy when we came back at 4 months if he hadn't shown much improvement. Well, we've been pretty diligent about forcing him to look to the left more by the way we lay him down, etc. and he WILL look to the left, but he still very much favors the right side and doesn't seem to have the same range of movement on the left that he has on the right (it's almost like he has a crick in his neck when he turns to the left). So, I talked to the doctor about it again today and we're going to start physical therapy next week. Torticollis is typically from them favoring one side while in utero and then continuing to favor that side after being born resulting in the need for the unused (or not used as much) neck muscle needing to be stretched out. The physical therapist will show us things we can do at home to help stretch it out and to get him to where he'll use both sides equally. And, then once he's sitting up good, his head should round back out. I asked if he would need to wear a helmet and the doctor thinks that it will fix itself by 6-7 months, but she said if not, she can refer us to someone then for a helmet. If he has to wear a helmet for a little while (typically in this situation, it would only be a few months), then it's no big deal to me, but we're going to let nature run its course first and see how his head looks once he isn't laying on it all the time. And, hopefully, the doctor is right and we won't need one. (We have seen a little improvement in it just by making sure we are putting him on his tummy more--which he is still not a fan of, so hopefully, he'll start liking that position more so we can keep him off the back of his head.)
--Oh, and a big milestone: The doctor gave us the okay to start cereal (and even baby food--fruits and vegetables) if we want, so we'll be trying out the cereal and once he gets a hang of eating from a spoon, I'll start introducing the fruit and vegetables one at a time. We're in no rush, though, so if he isn't interested, we'll just try again in a few weeks.
And here's the comparison of him between 3 months and 4 months. (For some reason these are showing up very tiny, but if you click on them, you can see them at regular size):
