Today we had Donovan's 2 month old doctor's visit. His stats are, drumroll please...
Head Circumference: 16 1/2 inches- 90th percentile
Length: 24 1/2 inches- 95th percentile
Weight: 13lbs 14oz- 94th percentile
=this kid is huge!
Once again the Dr was very impressed with his growth and said we must be doing a great job with breastfeeding. So I guess there is a reason for how often Donovan thinks he should be eating, he is getting bigger and bigger! She asked me how often he is eating and the answer is every 2-3 hours in general during the day and usually around 4 hours during the night. She then told me that in general, babies at 2 months of age or above 12 lbs (of which Donovan is both now) should be able to sleep 8 hours uninterrupted overnight. WHAT? 8 hours! That is awesome! So hopefully Donovan was listening and should be stretching out his nighttime feedings here soon. She thinks that he was just going through a growth spurt and maybe that is why he was beginning to stretch his feedings out several weeks ago and then promptly went back to every 3-4 hours.
She was also impressed with his motor development. She picked him up and he showed her how he can support his weight on his legs and she said that it was a "three month skill", which is great as he has been doing this for the past several weeks. Go Donovan! I always knew he was advanced ;) Then at the end of the visit she placed him on his belly to see how well he did and he of course pushed himself up on his elbows and looked around, and she was very happy with how well he held up his head and got his chest off the ground. (see below picture from the 18th)
The biggest issue I wanted to talk to the dr about was how Donovan now refuses to sleep anywhere other than in our arms. It's cute but also extremely restricting. On a related note, I am now an expert pee-er with a baby in my arms. But I digress...anyways, I told her no matter how asleep he is he always wakes up within a few minutes of being laid down in his bassinet. She recommended that we begin teaching him to go to bed in his own crib during naps first. The crib- because that is where we want him to be in the long run and he needs to get into a routine, and at naps- because we won't be as tired as we are at night so we will have more patience to try and try again to get him to sleep on his own. She said we need to set him down when he is still a little awake and then try to help him get to sleep in the crib on his own, either with the help of a pacifier or just with us patting him or something simple like that. She said it is just part of his personality that he is such a fighter of naps and is so hard to get to self soothe; which is why we need to get started now and try hard. So we will see how that goes. Hopefully we will begin that tomorrow as we are charging and setting up our baby monitors tonight for the first time. (Turns out, you don't need to use baby monitors when your baby refuses to leave your arms at any given time, who knew?) I know it will be hard, as Donovan is absolutely positive that he is being punished if you are not holding him, but hopefully we will get through it without too many tears on both sides.
The one sad thing about our appointment today was that Donovan had to get 4, yes 4, shots. Sad face. He actually did really well and only cried a little and for not too terribly long. I was really proud of him. He also got a basketball band-aid and a baseball band-aid so he graduated from the hot pink ones. As a result of the shots, they told me he might be more cranky and tired then usual and we are to give him baby Tylenol every 4 hours for the first 24 hours to prevent any fever. So far he has been sleeping (when he is not eating) since we have been home so he seems pretty wiped from the whole experience. I feel so bad for him. Hopefully tomorrow he will be back to his old self.
