9 Month Appointment

Madeleine had her 9 month appointment today. Dr. Knights is very please with Madeleine's growth and says she is meeting all the developmental milestones (clapping, crawling, waving). She wants us to now increase her solids to 3x a day and start giving more finger foods. Maddie is fine eating chunks of food but it's like she doesn't want to touch the food if it is wet (puffs are fine) but she likes it if I put it in her mouth.

I am going to introduce a bit of dairy into my diet (Hello, ICE CREAM!?) close to 12 months and see how Maddie reacts. As of right now we are fine to give her most foods with the exception of eggs and shellfish (she wants to stay away from eggs because of the dairy allergy). I'm thinking she is starting to grow out of the allergy as I had butter on fish (found out about it later) and I had a brownie (which probably had milk chocolate) and yet she was fine (no spitting up).

Here are her stats:

Weight: 18 lbs 1 oz (45%)

Height: 26 1/2 (15%)

Head: 17 1/4 (50%)

While the doctor was listening to her back and chest Maddie was intently looking at her with a concerned look on her face. Dr. Knights was talking to me and Maddie looked to me (I smiled) and then back to the doctor. Dr. K said that was a good sign that Madeleine was taking her cues from me as if to say...."Hey, is this lady ok?.....you're not worried? Then I won't be either" Very sweet.

We need to start brushing M's teeth at bedtime with water and I'm going to start moving feedings to 5 hours (she has been moving this way for awhile just didn't want to do it without talking to the pedi). I'm hoping that by increasing the solids the 4am feeding will gradually go away. As with everything I have ever stressed about with Madeleine she will tell me when she is ready....so I am not going to worry about the solids and/or nighttime feeding and I'm sure it will all work itself out.

They pricked M's finger to check her blood count (normal procedure) and her iron is a touch low. No one was concerned but I am going to get an iron supplement anyway. She also got her Hepatitis B shot today, which wasn't too bad.

We are so blessed to have such a happy healthy baby!