We ended up going to see the pediatrician today instead of yesterday because my car died on the way there yesterday. Even though it was inconvenient, I couldn't have asked for more favorable conditions for having car trouble. DH was with me because he had a dental appointment near the pediatrician's office. About halfway into our 45 minute drive, we pulled into a Wal-Mart gas station to fill up and then the car wouldn't start after that. If you're gonna get stranded somewhere, the best place for it to happen is Wal-Mart. DH was able to buy tools to remove the battery and take the battery over to the tire & lube to get it tested. It was still good, so DH figured the starter had gone bad. He remembered an old trick that a mechanic friend had taught him. For some reason, if you crawl up under the car and whack the starter with a wrench as hard as you can while someone else turns the ignition, it will probably start back up again. It worked, so we were able to get some errands done and pick up a new starter.

Scout was a trooper through the whole thing and didn't protest too much during the almost 3.5 consecutive hours we were in car. We took a nursing break and got to walk around a bit while DH was figuring out what was wrong with the car, so I think that appeased her.

Anyway, the visit with the pediatrician went well. He was Mr. No-personality and hardly cracked a smile the whole time we were there, but I still liked him better than the last guy we saw at her one-week check. I like that he is an older gentleman....reminds me of the doc my sis and I went to from the time we were born until we were 18 years old.

At this office, she will see the same doc every time, as opposed to the last place, where there were 9 docs and a couple of nurse practitioners. I didn't like the fact that you could request to see a specific doc if you wanted to, but 9 times out of 10 your request was was futile and getting the one you requested was a crap shoot. (according to a friend who used to take her child there)

This new doc seemed unphased with the fact that we are either going to delay vaccinations or skip them entirely and only told me his opinion after I asked him. He told me that he doesn't deny that there are some risks involved with immunizations, but he feels than the benefits outweigh the risks. I figured that would be his stance and that's fine. The nurse or MA or whatever she was, who had walked us back to the exam room and took Scout's temp, weight, etc, was a little less understanding about us forgoing shots. It didn't bother me. She was very young and didn't have a very professional demeanor anyway.

Her: So, did she get her Hep B shot in the hospital?
Me: No, we declined all injections while we were there.
Her: (with an astonished look) So, you're not getting any shots at all?
Me: No.
Her: (frowning and confused) Then, why are you here?
Me: She hasn't had a check-up since she was a week old. I thought it would be a good idea to bring her in for a well-baby visit.

I guess in her mind, it's only worth bringing your kid in for a check-up if shots are involved. Weird.

I told the pediatrician that we were thinking about starting Scout on solids pretty soon and that we plan on mashing up fresh fruits and veggies for her to taste (one at a time, of course). His response was that he normally recommends starting babies out on rice cereal at 3 months of age. Hhhmm...

That is contrary to what I've been hearing at LLL mettings and reading on breastfeeding info web sites. Here is an excert from Kellymom.com:

"Cereal is not at all necessary, particularly the baby cereals. Regular (whole grain) oatmeal is more nutritious for your baby. Many doctors recommend iron-fortified rice cereal as baby's first food because it is less likely to cause an allergic reaction and because most babies sometime after the 6th month require an additional iron source other than mother's milk. If your baby starts solids around 6 months or later, there is much less chance of allergic reaction to foods. It's debatable whether healthy breastfed babies need the extra iron (you can get baby's iron levels checked if you're worried about this). In addition, infants need lots of protein and cereal has a low protein-calorie ratio (even lower when mixed with water or fruit). Many experts (including LLL) suggest giving meat or other foods naturally rich in iron instead of foods with added iron. For more information on iron, see Is Iron-Supplementation Necessary? "

I know that you can't trust everything you read on the internet. Some pages out there can be downright flaky, but I tend to trust most of what Kellymom has to say about breastfeeding and nutrition because they always provide lots of links to studies and sources for their info at the bottom of the page. They're not just pulling it out of thin air, as far as I can tell.

Anyway, I also showed him Scout's diaper rash and told him that I'm paranoid that it could be yeast. I had read that yeast feeds on cornstarch and if you use a corn starch-based baby powder and it causes the rash to flare up, then it is more than likely yeast. It seems like it did get more inflamed after I used powder on her, but it's hard to tell because the rash comes and goes, whether or not I'm using cream or powder, or just leaving it alone. He looked at the rash and said, "Oh, that's nothing. Just put some Desitin on it." I guess I will force myself to trust him and assume that he knows what a yeast infection looks like...but it just seems like he totally dismissed what I said about the yeast-cornstarch connection. I'm really tempted to take matters into my own hands and just put some OTC yeast infection cream on the rash to see what happens. Another thing that makes me suspicious is that when she has her diaper off, she sometimes reaches down and scratches it. But she may just be curious about how her diaperless hoo-ha feels, I dunno.

Scout weighed in at 15 lbs 12 oz, which is lighter than what I thought she'd be. I weighed her at last month's LLL meeting and she weighed over 16 lbs. Then again, when I weigh her at the LLL meetings, she usually has clothes on. There is another LLL meeting tomorrow and I plan on stripping her down to a clean dry diaper like when she was at the doc's office to see how much their scales differ.

The doc said her weight, height, head circumference, etc all looked great. I didn't bother to ask about percentiles. I guess I don't care. As long as she seems healthy and is growing fine, I don't see the point in comparing her to other babies.

We never had a hearing test done on her because the hearing tester thingamajig at the hospital where I delivered her was on the fritz and I never scheduled an appointment to get it tested. I know, that's horrible. The doc's office called and got us in to see an audiologist to get it tested on the 24th. I've never had any cause for concern because she has always startled at loud (and not-so-loud) noises and constantly turns her head in the direction of sounds. It's better to be safe than sorry, though.

Labels: health