Doc Says She's Perfect

Thursday, January 21st, 2009 - Day 34

Tia had her one month appointment today and it went very well. She weights 8 lbs 4 ozs and is 21.5 inches long. She is at the 25% on weight and 65% on height. She diagnosed her rash as being baby acne which is normal and will go away on its own. She prescribed her a drop for her clogged tear duct. Doc said that besides the clogged tear duct and baby acne, she is absolutely perfect.

Of course, Chris and I were prepared with a list of concerns to ask the doc.
(1) Rash - we thought it was heat rash because when she got hot, the bumps grew in number. Doc said that the rash is baby acne and will get worse when she is hot or fussy, which makes sense. She said it is caused by the hormones that come from me in my breast milk. I do hope it goes away soon.
(2) Constipation/Bloating - she said it is normal for bloating and although her belly looks so full and hard, it really is nothing to worry about. She said Tia does not have constipation from what I described and that it is normal for babies to get the red faced, frustrated look on their face as well as going a day or two without a bowel movement.
(3) Thrush - Doc wasn't sure if she had thrush or not but when she scraped on Tia's tongue there was movement so she just has a serious milk stain which is fine.
(4) Feeding Amount - Now that Tia is over 8 lbs, we can move up her dose of milk to 4 ozs. She said to use the formula Body Weight/2=# of ozs because that is how big their stomachs are.
(5) Seems Constipated, but stool is runny - Doc says that means she is not constipated and that a runny stool is what we want to see.
(6) Nasal Congestion - Doc says that it is a normal sound to hear when babies spit up because a bit gets trapped in the throat and makes that sound.-
(7) Belly Button - Her belly button has some 'goo' that we weren't sure if we should clean out or not. Doc says to leave it be and let it work itself out. If you want, you can put alcohol on there, but it is not necessary.
(8) Spitting up/Projectile Vomiting - Doc says these are both very normal for babies and not to worry unless she looks like she is in serious pain after either one.
(9) Pacifier - I was concerned because the pacifier is so big and often she'll sleep with it and I was worried about her rebreathing/SIDS. But Doc said that it is actually great that she sleeps with a pacifier because it is proven that it helps prevent SIDS because they learn to break out of their noses.
(10) Swaddle - We were wondering if we over swaddled her with her nightie, blanket and then the cheater swaddler. Doc said that it is great to over swaddle them because it makes them feel they are warm and they sleep better. She said don't be concerned if she has a bit of sweat around the back of the head or if she seems warm when you unswaddle her - all is normal.

So the conclusion is that everything is normal and that we have the same worries as all parents do. She said that it is great that we have our list of concerns and questions. She said that Tia is beautiful and she looks great! Tia was great too, she didn't even cry - she was alert and intrigued by the whole thing.