Thursday, April 5, 2007

4 month appointment & vaccinations

Wren had his four month pediatrician visit today. It went fine but 4 hours after the shots he has developed a fever of 102 and is very sad alternating between napping and crying and not wanting to nurse much. I have given him infant Tylenol and hope he feels better soon.

I have always been on the fence about vaccinations so whenever a reaction occurs - however mild - it strikes my heart with fear and doubt. It doesn't help that he had 4 shots today (we refused Hep B). The nurse said that the DTaP shot is most likely to cause fever - the flyer said 25% of children get a fever. Still, it makes me sad.

Anyway, at 4 months he met all the expected milestones of smiling, responding, reaching and grasping, rolling front to back, squeals, coos and drools. The only thing asked which he does not yet do is laugh. She asked about that a couple of times and then said "well, perhaps he is not a laugher". Hrmm... I beg to differ. He will be a laugher when he hears a good joke. So far he has not found life amusing.

He also had a hemocrit heel stick. He bled well from the foot - nothing like last time when he had to be squeezed and poked for ages for a blood stick - but his hemocrit was 29 only up a tiny but from 2 months ago (28). So, he is back on the iron citrate(??) drops daily.

He weighed 17 lbs (7.7kg) - 90%ile
Height: 26 inches - 80th %ile
Head 16. 7/16 - 35%ile (up from 25th)

We were given the "how to introduce solids" pamphlet which I am going to ignore for now. It says 4-6 months you can give iron fortified baby cereal.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear that Wren has a fever. Hope he feels better soon. Otherwise, sounds like he is doing great. Good to have such a nice checkup! - Josephine