Today was Lucy's 6 month checkup.
Her Stats
Her head is 16.5 inches (42nd %). She is 26 inches long (56th %) and weighs 15 lbs, 12 oz. (43rd %). She grew 1.25 inches and gained 2 lbs, 4.5 oz. in two months. Her weight jumped from the 31st percentile to the 43rd. Such a big girl!
Lucy is always great at the doctor's office. There are so many people looking at her and talking to her and holding her. She loves it. She was fascinated with stethoscopes this time. She tried to pull one off her chest when the nurse was checking her pulse. And she tried to eat the doctor's when he was listening to her heart and lungs. She was so excited that she dropped her Sophie giraffe that she had been chewing on.
We saw a new pediatrician at the same office we've been going to. I kind of missed Dr. Mike. The new doctor was a little obsessed with Lucy's lack of teeth. She's been chewing and drooling for a couple of months, but her gums show no signs of erupting teeth. He thought she should be progressing faster and warned that all of her teeth may come in at the same time and be very painful. That doesn't sound like fun.
He asked if I had any questions, and I always have questions about piddly things. Dr. Mike has three kids, so he's able to give advice beyond medical opinion. This is when I really missed Dr. Mike.
Q. Does her belly button look like it has a scab?
A. Try washing it when you give her a bath. (We do occasionally.)
Q. Is there something we should do for the baby acne that's still on her nose? (It is much improved.)
A. There's not a medicine I can give you. (I didn't expect one.) Does anyone kiss her nose? (I don't think so.) That could cause an infection. Try some antibacterial cream.
Q. She scratches at her face and eyes to keep herself awake. Do you know of any way to help her stop that?
A. Mittens. It could be her teeth. Pain relief might help. (She's been scratching her face and pulling her hair longer than she's been drooling. At least now she's more gentle and rarely pulls her hair.)
He said she's doing everything a 6 month old should do and is very cute. Right before he left he said, "By her next visit, she should have teeth." Again with the teeth!
To be clear, I am not worried about Lucy's lack of teeth. I was slow of tooth. I didn't lose my first tooth until the second semester of first grade. My last tooth came out in 7th grade, and my last permanent tooth didn't grow in until 8th grade. (For a year I had a distinct "good side." On one side I had a perfect smile; on the other I looked like a hillbilly.) When I got home, I checked my baby book and found I was 8-9 months old when I got my first teeth. This doctor was way more concerned about several things than I was. For example, Lucy has a little red dot on her chest, like a beauty mark only red. The doctor called it a hemangioma (which it very well might be) and said it might get bigger before it disappears. First, hemangioma sounds way scarier than "benign tumor with lots of blood vessels." Second, I have the same red dot on my chest, slightly different location but same dot. Despite the scary name, I'm not scared of her red dot and would not be surprised if she still has it when she's 33 years old. I guess she must be really perfect if slow teeth and beauty marks are the concerns.
Then the nurse came in to give Lucy her shots. Lucy actually drank the sugar water this time instead of spitting it out. It's clinically proven to lessen babies' experince of pain during injections. And she recovered pretty fast. She's always done pretty well, but this time she didn't babble angrily at the nurse. :) And she didn't need me to nurse her at all or even hold her for long. She didn't even sound like I was torturing her when I put her clothes back on. She always saves her screams for when they leave her alone with me, which makes me feel like everyone thinks I'm abusing her, even though I know they don't think that. But she didn't do that this time. She seems to be following her pattern of post-vaccination drowsiness. Maybe we'll sleep well again tonight. We've had two good nights in a row already.
Lucy's next appointment will be in June, and she won't get any shots. But she will have teeth! :)
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