Saturday, June 28, 2008

Four Month Stats

Inspired by Madison's buddy Sadie, I've decided to post her 4-month stats on here! I was looking back through Sadie's backlisted pages (see "June 2007" on the bottom right of Chillable) and realized that her mommy was a lot better about listing out Sadie's milestones and developments along the way....

Like -- for instance -- Madison rolled over! Like two weeks ago! On the 13th I remember because I wrote it in her baby book. :) Of course, it may have been a fluke because she hasn't done it again since then, but it was spectacular! Todd & I were both watching when it happened, which made it even better. She rolled tummy-to-back in a fit of baby frustration.

Other updates -- she had her 4-month checkup the other day (and shots!!) and measured up as follows:
- Weight: 14 lbs 12 oz (~60th percentile)
- Height: 25 3/4 inches (~80th percentile)
- Head circumference: 16 1/2 inches

She is cooing and laughing and saying a lot of "ah-goo"s and "ah-gee"s, but hasn't had a peep anywhere close to "mama" or "dada" yet. Although Todd claims she said "da" one day which is close, but I wasn't there so it is questionable....

She's still eating only breast milk, and although the doc gave us the OK to start rice cereal, she also warned us that started solids too soon before 6 months can lead to food allergies. Especially if there is a history of allergies in the family (hello, Sanfords). So we're kind of holding off on the solids until she seems "interested." (according to the doc, we'll know! she'll be grabbing the food off our plates! or something like that..)

And the sleeping-through-the-night thing may have also been a fluke, I'm afraid, as it hasn't happened again in a while.... Usually our nighttime schedule goes something like this:
- 7:30/8pm start getting ready for bed
- 8:30pm out like a light
- 9:30pm awake and wailing - followed by a feeding - this, the books call the "midnight snack" even tho for us it is nowhere close to midnight
- 2:30am/3am awake - feeding, back to sleep
- 6:30am awake - feeding, back to sleep
- 8/8:30am - the morning begins!

So, we are pretty much always up twice a night for feedings, sometimes three times if you count that first one. From talking with friends in my new moms group, this is relatively normal for a 4-month-old, but a lot of people are able to ween their babies off that second morning feeding by just doing a passy and making lots of comforting "shush" sounds. For Madison, that hasn't seemed to work. She wants to be held, she wants the real deal. Sometimes I send Daddy in if I for sure know she's not hungry, but unfortunately the breast is our one failsafe to get her to fall back asleep, so I usually whip it out. If you can believe it, though, she is a stellar nap-taker!

Anyhooooooo, for those of you reading this who don't have a child, I'm sure you're like, what the -- ?? But trust me, all of this becomes MUCH more interesting after you've had a baby!!! You can have hour-long discussions about diaper rash, spitup, and whatnot! Who knew?!

Oh - and last but not least, for comparison ---