Weight: When we went to Lee’s 4 month check up, he weighed in at 16 lbs 5 oz (75%). The doctor was really impressed with how much he has caught up and reminded us that the percentiles are being calculated based on babies that were full term. Just imagine if he wasn’t born 5 weeks early!
Length: Lee measured at 25 3/4 inches (75%). He has grown half a foot since birth – wow!
Head Circumference: I haven’t mentioned Lee’s head circumference from his previous appointments, but it’s kind of funny. At his four month appointment, his head measured in the 10th percentile. Yep, we’re in the double digits now. At his 2 week appointment it was in the 3rd percentile and at his 8 week appointment it was in the 4th percentile. I was worried about it since the measurements are so different than his height and weight, but the doctor assured me it was fine because they just look at the rate of growth. Also, when the doctor adjusted it for his actual due date, it was more in line with his height and weight percentiles so it could have something to do with him being early.
Clothing: Lee is wearing mostly 6 month clothing. He can still wear a few of his 3-6 month outfits too. He is wearing a size 2 diaper.
Feeding: Lee is still breastfeeding. We changed our schedule a little this month to spread out the feedings. He can make it about 3 – 4 hours in between feedings. I also dropped one of the feedings, so he is just eating 5 times a day now. As you can tell from his cute chubby cheeks, he did not suffer from dropping a feeding! At his four month check up, the doctor said he would normally tell us we can start rice cereal and some other baby foods at four months, but he wants us to wait to start introducing these until he is at four months from his actual due date. So, we will at least wait until the beginning of December to do that.
Sleep: Lee sleeps about 11 hours at night now. We usually start getting him ready for bed at 8:00 and he goes down by 9:00. He sleeps until 8:00 in the morning and a lot of times I have to wake him up. Yes, we do realize how lucky we are to have such a great little sleeper! Lee is also napping well too. He takes a morning nap and a couple of afternoon naps. He is still good about sleeping in his infant carrier if we are out and about, but I do try to get him to nap in his bed because he gets a better nap that way. Lee is also a very hard sleeper and not a high maintenance sleeper. Generally the door to his room is open while he sleeps and I can go in and out of his room without waking him. This child just likes to sleep. We don’t use sound machines, blackout shades or anything fancy. We noticed this month during his naps and at night he discovered his thumb and he is now officially a thumb sucker. It’s always the left thumb and the other four fingers stick straight up and cover his face. As cute as it is, I was really hoping that he would be more attached to the paci versus his thumb. It doesn’t look like there is any stopping him though. The good thing is that it calms him down and if he wakes up in the middle of the night, he will find his thumb and put himself right back to sleep. We also stopped swaddling him this month. He was getting strong enough to break out of the miracle blanket and he was doing it to get to his thumb. So, now he sleeps in his sleep sack and we have put all of the swaddle blanket contraptions away.
Activities: Lee is such a happy baby! He smiles and coos and even started to laugh right about the time he turned four months. We discovered his laugh when we started to tickle him. It is the cutest thing! He loves it when we talk, sing and interact with him. Whenever Lee smiles you will usually see his tongue sticking out – it cracks us up! We are having so much fun being Lee’s mommy and daddy. We thank God every day for our little blessing!
