Bumby had his four month checkup on Friday. He weighed in at 17lbs, 5oz. This is a 5lb weight gain from his 2 month appointment, and puts him in the 90th percentile. Although this seems huge, it was actually a relief for me, because last week, I did that weigh yourself holding the baby and weigh yourself without the baby trick, and came up with 22lbs. So 17 5 is sounding pretty good to me (and my biceps). For length, he was right around the 75th percentile. This makes him a relatively chubby baby, but this isn’t a surprise at 4 months with an exclusively breastfed baby.
A few weeks ago, I had lunch with an immigration client of mine from Jamaica (let’s call him Vincent, for the sake of conversation). He recommended that we put mashed potatoes on Bumby’s lips and see if he licked them off. If he did, Vincent said that this meant he was ready for solids. This is apparently what they do in Jamaica. All weekend, we laughed about this idea. Mashed potatoes at less than four months, as a first food. Potatoes, butter, milk, and salt, all rolled into one. Vincent opined that he could also have gravy. Well, last week we were coincidentally having mashed potatoes for dinner. “Want to do Vincent’s trick?” my wife asked. We decided to give it a try, and my wife smeared a fingerful of mashed potatoes and gravy on Bumby’s lips. Not only did he enthusiastically lick it off, but he grabbed her hand looking for more. She gave him a bit more, but stopped short of giving him her entire helping, which I actually think he would have gobbled up if given the opportunity.
I asked the doctor whether we could or should start our big boy on solids, and whether she thought this would help him sleep. She recommended waiting a little longer, so that his digestive system would have more time to mature, which makes sense to me. I am a little reluctant to give up his exclusively breastfed status before we do a little bit of traveling this summer. He has never even had a bottle, and can’t sit up on his own in the high chair yet.
We also talked about the sleeping (or lack thereof), but she didn’t really have any ideas we hadn’t already tried. She said solids would only help if he had reflux or silent reflux, since the weight would help keep his food down. In reality. he’s not really waking up hungry. He just nurses at night because it’s his favorite way to get back to sleep, so solids wouldn’t help with that.
All in all, our Bumby is a big, healthy baby boy. He got his four-month vaccines, and off we went. He didn’t even cry for his first poke, and his little tears at the second poke were easily cured with a quick nursing.
And to everyone relying on herd immunity to keep themselves or their kids safe, for whatever reason, Bumby and his chubby thighs say “You’re welcome.”
GAYBY MAKES SIX 