Yesterday marked two weeks since Monkey was born and it was also the first pediatrician appointment. Yesterday was also the 2nd time I had left the house in a two-week period. It is no fun to be cooped up in a house for two weeks straight. I’m so glad that that period is behind me now!
We didn’t interview pediatricians while I was pregnant. Mostly because any pediatrician that we might have picked near our house wouldn’t be able to check Monkey out at the hospital I was delivering at. My OB recommended a pediatrician in her building so she is the person that saw Monkey on his 2nd day of life. After meeting her at the hospital we liked her and decided to stick with her for the first pediatrician appointment at least.
You see, our plan is to move closer to my parents and this pediatrician is centrally located so that works. Let’s just see how soon we actually move though…
Being that we never interviewed her, yesterday was our first time to see her office. When we walked in the door the first thing I noticed was all of the bright colors on the wall. So far, so good.
Then I noticed that there was a room for sick kids and well kids. This I liked too. There weren’t too many other kids in the waiting room with us, so I didn’t worry initially about Monkey being inside. After about 5 minutes had passed about six kids were present in the waiting room. They were all older so they thought it was cool I guess to go back and forth from the sick room to the well room and this made me nervous.
(Note to self: When Monkey is older, keep him in the appropriate room so that he doesn’t scare new moms with newborns at the first pediatrician appointment.)
While I finished up filling out the paperwork, I asked Tarzan to take Monkey out in the hallway to wait. It was far less crowded and I thought it might be just a little less germy for a new baby. As soon as T. took Monkey out, the nurse told me that his room was ready. Go figure!
We made it back to room #15 and I realized just what a big practice it was. There are five other pediatricians in the same practice so that means a ton of patients. I’m not sure that I like that too much, but I also have to be realistic that I can’t shield Monkey away from every little thing, no matter how hard I try.
(Question for you: Do you think it’s a big deal to take your baby/kid to a big practice like this rather than a single doctor in an office?)
The pediatrician came right in and asked us to undress Monkey completely with the exception of his diaper. Tarzan did this while I finished filling out the paperwork (a ton!) and realized that his diaper needed to be changed. T. had no idea where he should do it and I told him to do it on the table that Monkey would be examined on. I totally forgot to lay out the diaper changing pad that was in the diaper bag.
Hey, give us a break, it was the first time to even carry a diaper bag and I was quite impressed that I remembered to put all the necessities in it!
After the diaper was changed we took him off to be weighed. His official weight was 7 lb, 15 oz and the pediatrician was pleased that he gained his birth weight (7 lb, 12 oz) back plus a few more ounces. Go little Monkey!
The little guy has also grown an inch longer. He was 20.25 inches when born and yesterday he was 21.25 inches. Again, the pedi. was happy about this too!
We all went back into the examination room and she checked his heart (“just lovely“) and looked at his penis (“doing great“) and then she asked what questions we had. Here are the questions I asked:
1. Do we still need to use vaseoline on his penis? No.
2. Do we need gas drops since he seems gassy, but doesn’t seem bothered by them? She said that she likes gas because it means that the digestive system is working. If he seems bothered by it we can give him Mylicon, which is perfectly safe.
3. How do I know if I have low milk production? She said that it is extremely rare for the mom to have milk production. If I think that because he wants to nurse a lot, it is probably just cluster feeding and not that anything is wrong with me.
4. How often should he sleep per day? Is there such a thing as too much? She said that babies sleep a lot, something like 16-18 hours a day.
5. Is it okay for him to sleep in his swing for hours at a time? She said that this was just fine, but make sure that he isn’t head down for the breathing passage in his throat to be clear for SIDS prevention.
6. When can we go out in public with him? She said that while she likes people to wait, she realizes that it’s not realistic so to just be smart about it. Don’t let people touch him or breathe on him right now. We can go for walks but just make sure that he isn’t in direct sunlight. No one wants a burnt baby!
7. What medicines can I take while breastfeeding? For headaches she said Tylenol. For allergies, Zyrtec.
8. When can we use lotion and shampoo on him? She said for right now to continue the sponge bath with just using warm water. After his umbilical cord falls off, we can use an infant bathtub for him. She said that she prefers lotions and shampoo that are free of color and fragrance.
9. Should we be doing tummy time now or is it too soon? She said that we could try while supervised, but that he probably wouldn’t like it too much.
10. Is his peeling skin normal? Totally normal. He’s like my little reptile right now shedding his skin.
11. Should we wake him up or let him feed on demand? She said that since he is gaining weight to let him sleep because it seems like he knows when to wake up and eat. If he should sleep for 6 hours at night, make sure that he eats a little more throughout the day to account for that time sleeping.
12. When can he fly in a plane? She said that right now is the easiest time. I told her that I was worried about flying because of swine flu and she agreed that once kids go back to school it will get bad. She said that she would wait and see how bad it gets before purchasing our plane ticket.
13. Are sleep positioners ok? She said that they were just fine.
14. His left eye seems to get really crusty after he has been sleeping. His right eye doesn’t. Any reason for that? She said something about his tear duct and needing to massage the corner of his left eye to help it. Completely normal though.
15. Do we still need to clean the umbilical cord with alcohol? She said that we didn’t need to do that anymore. It’s close to falling off, so we can just wait for that to happen. Once it does fall off she said to give it a day or two before getting that area wet.
All in all it was a great first pediatrician appointment! His next pediatrician appointment is at 2 months old and I can’t believe how fast time is going already. You all weren’t kidding when y’all told us that. Wow!
Disclaimer: Please remember that Tarzan and I are not doctors. All of this information that is being shared with you applies to our baby and his pediatrician. If you have questions, you should consult your own pediatrician’s advice.
You might also want to read:
- Monkey’s two month old vaccination appointment
- Monkey’s 4 month doctor appointment & first attempt at rice cereal
- Monkey, a bump, a trip to the pediatrician’s office, & lots of worries
- Therapist appointment, torticollis, and some postpartum depression talk too
- Furniture shopping on Christmas Eve: A tale of two monkeys
Glad that your first appointment with Monkey went well. Sounds like you have a nice doctor that takes time and listens to your questions. I am always amazed at the difference in what some doctors say is and is not ok to take when nursing.
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