February 9, 2011

1 Month Appointment

My son had his one month appointment this morning.
Now, I might be a bad mother by admitting this but I didn't go with. Yeah, you read correctly. My husband took him, alone. I stayed home to catch up on sleep from being sick. [Did I mention I have the terrible little infection called Mastitis?]
My hubby reports that our son perfectly healthy! Which also means that I must be doing something right as a mother.
At his first check up he had lost 6 ounces since birth making him 6 pounds 10 ounces. [Now ladies, don't let anyone freak you out into thinking this is bad. Nearly all newborns lose weight the first week after birth. This doesn't mean they're unhealthy. It's normal!! (I'll tell you a story about this a little later)] I was really looking forward to today's appointment to see how much weight he has gained. People and books say that a baby should gain 1/2 pound each week in their first month along with growing 1/4 of an inch. Well!! My son weighed in at 10 pounds 8 ounces. That's almost 4 pounds! He's also 2 1/2 inches longer! This all happened within the last 4 weeks. Holy smokes!
At the beginning I, like most new moms, wasn't sure if Joaquin was getting enough to eat. I now know that he has gotten plenty! Super healthy and gaining weight. Healthy weight!
One thing that concerned me starting about 3 weeks ago was him grunting like he was trying to push poop out. I thought he was constipated. [Which would be super sad because I know how uncomfortable adults get not to mention an itty bitty baby]. So I looked up in my handy dandy What to Expect - The First Year baby book why he might be dong that and to see if my suspicions were correct. According to the book it takes babies a little more effort to get poops out and some might grunt (some a lot) while doing so, even in their sleep. My son does this mostly while he sleeps. The book advises that if you want to help baby, you can do some bicycle movements with his or her legs.
My husband told the doctor about it today and asked if there was anything else we could be doing. She gave us a prescription for gas relieving drops but told us that she would recommend us giving him tea instead. Manzanilla tea to be exact[which is also Chamomile to some of you]. But seriously? Tea? I didn't think you could give babies anything other than breast milk or formula. I guess I was wrong...
I never imagined that I would be having tea parties with my son.

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