Milestones: Happy Four Months!

Happiest four months to my little prince! Baby Kasen had his four month check-up yesterday with his pediatrician. He's growing rapidly, which I found surprising since he's been an exclusively breast-fed baby. His weight at 4 months is 15.9 lbs, which is 50 percentile and his height is 27 inches, which is 99 percentile - off the charts. The CDC length for age and weight for age charts are located here. I was wondering why his 3-6 months clothes weren't fitting length wise. We've since had to put him in 9 month and 6-12 month clothes which at least no longer make him look like he is wearing highwaters. While I'm trying not to have ANY expectations built in, I think he's going to be tall, lanky and skinny just like his Daddy!

I discussed the introduction of food with his pediatrician and it appears that his growth won't be inhibited vis a vis other babies if we don't introduce the rice cereal right away. Our doc did say that based on his growth that it was likely we'd probably begin to introduce rice cereal to him by the time he's about 5 months old, or next month. But it was more important for us to watch for signs of him being ready for food - i.e. having a strong interest in what we are eating, and waking up frequently in the middle of the night looking for food after having previously been satisfied with just the breast milk. Our doc also did say that the cereal won't replace his breast milk but that it would instead be a supplement. I've been wrestling with doing breastmilk for either 6 months, 9 months, or 12 months and I think I'm prepared to do it for 12 months since there are so many benefits for Kasen, and it's important to me that we always do what's best for him.

We started having him lay on his playmat more often to stretch and have better motor movement - and we're also assisting him in sitting up, either with one of us supporting him from the back, or having him sit in his bumbo. I think he's really enjoying all of this newfound freedom of not being constrained just to the bouncy seat!