Vincent had his 6 month well-baby check-up just a couple of weeks ago. I believe the shots he got were the Diphtheria–Tetanus–Pertussis, Haemophilus Influenza Type B, Polio, Pneumococcal Conjugate, and Rotavirus. He had the 2nd of his Hep B shots at his 3 month check-up so he didn’t get another this time. Either way, it’s a lot of shots at once. It’s 4 shots. 2 in each leg and one of them is oral.
It’s sad to watch. It’s nowhere near as sad as the first time they get shots but it’s always troubling to watch your child get hurt. He cried of course, worse than last time for some reason but it wasn’t that bad. After giving him a bottle he was ok. He came home lively as ever and didn’t really react the way he did after his first 2 check-ups. Thank goodness.
The first time he got his shots
I cried so hard. All the things I’ve read in the media played a part in that of course. I was so torn on what to do. Either way, the first time he had his shots was the first time he discovered there was real pain in this world. The poor baby screamed like I never heard him scream before.. extremely high-pitched. It was definitely the “I’m in pain” scream. So sad… and when he came home the first time he slept and slept and I didn’t. I was too busy checking on him every 5 minutes and worrying all night long. He also seemed to change a bit after that visit but I think it was more because he experienced pain for the first time than the actual vaccines themselves doing something to him. Anyway! don’t let me scare you into not getting your child vaccinated. I think it’s something that has to be done. It was hard to watch but you and the baby will both get over it and in the end they’re a lot more protected than if they hadn’t been vaccinated.
The Dr. also checked his body out again, as she does at each visit and she offered a lot of advice.. most of which seemed a little outdated. Thats why I try to keep myself as informed as possible about things. She asked if he was trying to crawl yet, even though I told her when we got there that he was crawling. Then she told me that if I wanted him to stop waking up at night to start feeding him more food because the “formula doesn’t do anything for him, he just pees it out”. She suggested that I could go down to 15-18oz a day. Hello! I don’t think so… what the heck? Every single thing I’ve read or heard has told me that when babies first start eating solids it’s just to get them used to eating the food and their real calories come from the formula or breast milk, not to mention their iron. I’ve upped his food intake and I’ve lowered his formula/breast milk intake but there is no way in this world that I’m going down to like 4 small bottles a day. Nope.
As far as measurements he has stayed pretty consistent. His head grew like 3 inches in 2 months though hehe. He’s still only in the 50th or so percentile for that. For whatever reason when he was born he had a tiny little head. I think its because someone or something knew that if it were any bigger it wouldn’t have been able to get out of me! As small as it was it was terrible enough, believe me. He was 10lbs when he was born after all. His height is still in the 95th percentile at 28 1/2 inches long and his weight was a little more than 19 1/2 lbs. So he’s a tall skinny baby. Although I have noticed that it goes in spurts.. some weeks he’ll look really chubby with a double chin and then the next he looks skinny.
Babies grow so fast. Cherish every moment you have with them!
Here are some useful links for you in regards to well-baby check ups:
