Elsie's Nine Month Dr. Appointment

Yes, that is right...nine months!!  I seriously can't believe that she is that old already.  She is just three months away from one year!!  That is so nuts to me!  Yesterday morning she had her Dr. Appointment and everything went really well.  I made a prediction that she was going to be about 20 lbs since last month I weighed her on the Wii by weighing myself, then picking her up and it told me I was holding something 18.3 lbs.  I also went with a list of questions.  Here is how it all went:

Weight:  18 lbs 3.5 oz (52%)
Height:  28.5 inches long (83%)
Head: 44-3/4 (75%)

Yes I was wayyyy off on her weight haha.  In fact, she weighs less than the Wii said she weighed a month ago.  I knew that the Wii was off but not that far off haha.  So she is still right on track with her chart and where she has been on the chart at her past visits.

On the way over I was talking to John about the things most 9 months old should be able to do and on most lists it says "Plays Peekaboo".  So we play this but what does it mean when the baby plays this??  Are they supposed to be doing something?  Well sure enough on the sheet we fill out we are supposed to mark if they can play peekaboo or not?  So I asked the nurse what that means.  I am sure it was a dumb question but is Elsie supposed to be covering her face too??  Nope they just want to make sure the baby is reacting to us playing by laughing or something along those lines.  If they don't it sends out a red flag for maybe something like Autism.

We also had to decided if we should give Elsie a flu shot.  I asked if now is the right time since she has a cold and one of the things they ask is if there is an egg allergy.  Well Elsie has never eaten eggs.  How do we know if she has an egg allergy.  The Dr. responded that since she doesn't have a fever she is okay to get the shot and as far as eggs go, she most likely has been exposed to eggs at  some point in the past 9 months and it really isn't a big deal.  So we decided to do it.  She also got her final Hepatitis B shot too.

So most of my questions revolved around Elsie's eating and sleeping.. I guess that makes sense since those are two of the most important things.

Q.  How much formula should Elsie be drinking each day?
A.  18-24 ounces which is what she is currently drinking.

Q.  Should we still be waiting 3-5 days between introducing new foods?  When do we stop doing this?
A.  Yes, up until 1 year old.

Q.  Do you think she has a banana allergy?  She kind of got a little puffy and red by one of her eyes after eating it.  I don't know if it was a coincidence or not.
A.  Most likely not.  She would get a whole body rash, really puffy eyes (both of them), diarrhea right after eating.  There would be no question that she was allergic.

Q.  Should we expect Elsie to sleep through the night?  She wakes up a couple of time a night.  Mainly just once between 3:30-5:30 AM.  The other times are really just her stirring and fussing a little.
A.  Yes.  We shouldn't have to go in and put the pacifier back in.  She will figure out how to comfort herself. Unless she is standing up and crying out for us it is okay to let her cry for 10 minutes.  He doesn't reccomend going any longer than that.  If she is still crying then we should go in, pick her up, comfort her and put her back down.

Q.  Is it okay for Elsie to still get a nighttime feeding, like when she wakes during that 3:30-5:30 range?
A.  Yes it is still okay to give her a bottle in the night.

Q.  Elsie sometimes wakes up between 5:00-6:00 AM and doesn't go back to sleep.  How can we get her to sleep later?
A.  If she wakes up and doesn't go back to sleep that just means she is ready to start the day.  (We have an early bird just like her daddy).  We can also try to limit naps during the day to 1 hour so that she may try to get more of her sleep at night.

Q.  Can we give Elsie a blanket or lovey to comfort her at night?  At what age can we do that.
A. There still should be nothing in the crib until 12 months of age.  If she is cold, that might be waking her up so we may need to adjutst temperature or change what we put her to bed in.

There are non eat and sleep related questions.
Q.  Elsie's pupils are still different sizes.
A.  He checked them again and told us the same thing he said at the 6 month appointment.  If they are still the same way at 12 months he will then refer us to a ophthalmologist. It is not something to worry about.

Q.  Can we give Elsie's infant ibuprofen instead of acetaminophen? (We asked the nurse this?)
A.  Not not yet (I didn't ask when but I know I have heard other people say they give it to thier 6 month olds so I am not sure the reasoning).

That is about it!  another great appointment