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The 9 Month Checkup, or What’s Wrong With Your Child….

So, yesterday was Pookah’s nine month checkup.

Weight : 19 lbs 14 oz

length: 29 inches

He is hitting all of his milestones(clapping, trying to crawl, teething, knowing his name, etc…).  His head is finally rounded out( no more flat head to worry about it).  They took his blood for a a quick CBC(complete blood count).

So, she starts off by showing me the growth curve and how he was going up and up and up and now…..

He”s steady.  Not that much weight gain. 7 whole oz.

Dr: “Usually they start doing that around 12 months when they are more active….”

Me: Well, he’s pretty active( as Pookah tries to take a nosedive off of the exam table).

I bring up my concern that he  has had this stuffy/runny nose for a month now.  She starts to say, as long as he is teething, I can expect a runny nose.  But then, the nurse brings in the results of his CBC.

Dr: Hmmmm( as she looks it over).

I’m a nurse.  I know that  “hmmmmm”.  She is concerned but doesn’t want to say anything yet.  I tap my foot impatiently and try to remember that I am the patient’s mom here……

She does his assessment, proclaims his skin to be great, more teeth coming in( yeah, there are two more trying to make their way in in addition to the 4 he already has coming),  and that he is a really strong boy.

Then she looks in his ears.

Dr: Uh Oh!  That explains the elevated white count!

Me: Elevated white count? He has an ear infection?

My baby has his first ear infection. :(.  She grills me on whether or not he has been pulling on his ear, have I noticed any discharge or has he had a high fever? 

No, no, and no.

She goes on to say he is borderline anemic. 

OK.

So, my child needs: antibiotics twice a day for 10 days.   And iron..  We’ve added Poly-vi-Sol with iron to his diet every morning.

We also got the go ahead to start giving him stage 3 food, table food, eggs and peanut butter.  She did mention to have the benadryl ready just in case. 

I put off letting him have the 3rd Hep B vaccination until after he gets over the ear infection.  We follow up in two weeks.

Sigh.

Elita @ Blacktating

Wednesday 1st of September 2010

Poor baby. How is he tolerating the iron drops? Do you have to supplement, can't you just add some iron-rich foods into his diet like meat? Sorry, I just hate Enfamil :)

I'm surprised your ped gave the OK for peanut butter. I thought no peanuts until age 2. Is there a new recommendation?

rosesdaughter

Wednesday 1st of September 2010

I was surprised about the peanut butter too. I still haven't tried it. Especially since he has eczema and is prone to be allergic to a lot of stuff. I've been giving him more meat. I hate the smell of the iron drops and he hates the taste of it. He hated enfamil, but tolerates Similac Sensitive :(.

Judith C Evans

Saturday 28th of August 2010

Hello from LBS tea party...glad to meet you. Ear infections are no fun, but all will be well! :)

Cinnamon

Saturday 28th of August 2010

He will be fine. You're doing a great job. Makes me long for those good ol days....not. LOL Seriously, cut yourself a break. Get well lil Pookha.

Heather ~ Acting Balanced Mom

Saturday 28th of August 2010

stopping by from the Lady Blogger's Tea Party - hope that Pookah is feeling better - don't feel bad that you had no idea about the ear infection... I only figured out my son's symptoms by trial and error... he never had a fever, runny nose or any outward signs of infection... good luck with the poly-vi-sol and the anti-biotics...

h.

B MoM

Saturday 28th of August 2010

oh man, kaua had to take polyvisol for a few months. he hated the taste, it's very strong. we'd sneak it into his bottles with my breast milk when I was working, but he could always tell when we did it and refused those bottles. good luck getting the pookah to drink it!!