Four Months Old

My sweet little boy turned 4 months old last week. I cannot believe it's already been 4 months. When I go back and look at pictures from the beginning, I'm amazed at how much he's changed. We went to the doctor on Friday. He is a very healthy little boy! He's doing so well nursing and growing as he should be, that we are not going to start him on solid food until 6 months. The pediatrician assured me that he is getting everything he needs in my milk, and that there are studies showing a couple negative possibilities to starting solid food before 6 months-namely increase in allergies and increase in childhood obesity. This isn't true for all children, of course, but since Carter is doing perfectly fine with only nursing then we aren't going to rush that transition.

My biggest concern I asked the pedi about is his head. From the beginning Carter's head has been slightly flatter on the right side than left. We've tried a few things to help with this, but we were still concerned about it. The dr wants to wait until 6 months to see what changes, and then we'll determine if we need to visit a neurosurgeon (not for surgery, but most likely for a helmet). In the meantime we will be spending even more time putting Carter in the Bumbo and on his tummy to see if that will help. Not that a helmet will be the end of the world, but we'd love to avoid that if possible.

Here's a look at Carter at 4 months:
-Weight: 12 lbs. 7 oz - 10th percentile
-Length: 24 3/4 in - 50th percentile
-Head circumference: 16 1/4 cm - 25th percentile
-can roll from his belly to his back if he wants to...He's done it several times, but doesn't do it every time he's on his belly.
-has rolled once from his back to belly-no one saw it. :)
-talks and talks and talks and talks. When he's older we will have to have serious conversations about what it means to use an inside voice.
-Is just beginning to use his tongue when he's talking so that his coos are turning more into babbles and "syllables"
-has the most adorable giggle. However-he's like his mama and after just a couple minutes of hard laughing he ends up with a terrible case of the hiccups.
-he LOVES to listen to music-especially Southern Gospel. This is about the only time he is still. He is so intent in listening that we actually cannot even play music when he's going to sleep. He won't go to sleep. He pays too close attention to go to sleep-I think he has his daddy's very sophisticated musical ear.
-He's wearing most 3 month size clothes and several 3-6 months. He always grows out of clothes in length before width. I put him in a t-shirt and pants the other day instead of a onesie and his pants wouldn't stay up. :) They only stay up if he has a onesie on. This is just the beginning of saggy pants for us, I believe.
-He is transitioning from napping between every feeding to a long morning nap, long afternoon nap, and short evening cat-nap. Not every day works this way, but most do.
-Usually goes to bed 8-8:30, but still needs a feeding around 10. He goes right back down after that. He goes anywhere from 6-9 hours after the 10:00 feeding and usually goes right back down after that first feeding of the day. Basically he's sleeping from about 8-8:30pm until 8-9am with a 10 pm feeding and a feeding anywhere between 4 and 7 am. He's a great sleeper!!! I tend to think he won't drop the 10:00 feeding until we add solid food. I'm not worried about that.
-He's beginning to show signs of teething. Lots of drooling...random fussiness for reasons we can't figure out...acting like he doesn't feel good...chewing on his fingers...and a few low grade fevers. No swollen gums yet, but the beginning of this phase has begun.

He is a wonderful baby! He brings us more joy than we could ever have imagined. We are so thankful for him and so content with our family for right now. Becoming parents has been such an amazing adventure!!!

Here's some pictures from the last week since Carter turned 4 months! Taylor took a couple pictures of me and Carter on his phone the other day, but I didn't have those available. I'll have to post them later. Enjoy!