Six month appointment and more..

Caden had his 6 month appointment today. He is two days shy of 6 months today - almost a 1/2 of a year ~ can you believe it? He weighed in at 17lbs 1oz and is 25 inches long. His head circumference was 17 inches. (2lb 1oz gain, 1.5 inch increase since 4 months). The doctor said he is growing beautifully. She showed me the chart and where he stands and he is right on the marker. I talked to her about my concerns on how fussy Caden can be for the sitters when it's time to take his bottle. It seems like he has more bad days then good days where he won't take much. On bad days he may only drink 4-8 oz while I am away during a 10 hour stretch. On a good day he'll take about 13oz. The doctor believes it can be due to teething or because he prefers the breast. She said most BF babies act this way towards bottles. She also said not to be concerned because if he was really hungry he would definitely eat. In addition, he is growing perfectly and because he is mostly BF I should not count ounces. If he wasn't gaining weight, then she would be concerned.

I've been reading Babies First Year and read that you can start offering juice at this age, but I'm just not ready to give him juice. In all honesty I want to wait until he is at least a year old. The doctor was fine with that. She told me to do whatever I feel is best. I don't want to feed him meat out of the jars either. Eck! It looks disgusting. She gave us some pointers on making our own baby meat, so we can control what is in there. We agreed to go that route and to start introducing meats when he is 7-8 months old. She didn't seem to concerned that he wasn't eating a lot of cereal either. I've read that BF babies need cereal/oatmeal, green veggies and meat to provide iron after 4 months.

Caden just LOVES to show off for the doctor. She laid him down on his back and he immediately rolled over to his tummy with such strength. Then he started scooting towards the stethoscope she had laying on the table. THEN he started moving around in a circle on his belly. It was SO cute and she was thoroughly impressed with him. WTG Caden!! He did get one shot and only cried for less than 30 seconds. He is getting better each time we go.

Finally we discussed Caden's waking up during the night. He still wakes up 2-3 times a night. I read in Babies First Year he really should be sleeping through the night and should not need to eat during the night either. I know that he has trouble soothing himself back to sleep and likes to nurse. IMO, I am enabling a bad habit. It's just so much easier to nurse him back to sleep than to let him cry. The pediatrician said she agrees he is waking up to nurse and that is what comes with BFing and motherhood. She said if he is one years old and still doing this THEN we can talk. What? A year?? I really don't think I'll be BFing that long, but who knows. I change my mind all the time. It's a lot harder to stop then I thought. I dont' know if I am ready to lose that part of our relationship. Maybe he will self-wean by 9-10 months? Knowing Caden he won't. He is a boob man. No more doctors until he is 9 months old!

Over the last couple of days Caden has discovered a few things. The funny part is EVERY time I read something on my mommy site about what their little ones are doing - Caden does them within a week.

~He has discovered he can scream at the top of his lungs. He only did it one day this week, but it was so funny. He would scream like something was wrong and then smile.

~He is starting to pull on the diaper tabs every time I put a new diaper on him.

~Yesterday in the tub he discovered his "doodle and friends".

~Today he started panting like he was out of breath. Since Mommy and Daddy thinks it is so funny he won't stop.

I forgot to mention that I took today off of work. We had a rough night of sleep the night before and Ryan had to fix his breaks on his car today. It just made sense to stay home, sleep in, and spend time with Caden :) Although Caden did wake up twice last night he didn't wake up for the morning until 7:30am. Here are a few pictures from today.