Family time and pediatricians
Yesterday was a lot of fun! We went over to Carter's house to play and the kids had such a great time running around in the backyard and playing with all of Carter's toys. They got along very well and were high fiving and hugging each other. Too cute. Emily and I were enjoying our Starbucks drinks and catching up, so no complaints there. After we left Carter's, Lily and I headed to Outback Steakhouse to meet up with Ethan for dinner. Ethan got stuck in traffic so Lily and I spent some time walking around the business complex to kill the time. He finally got there, and we enjoyed dinner together as a family. Lily demolished her cheeseburger and a lot of fruit, and was begging for some of our french fries the whole meal. She did eat a few, but not that many. It was nice to have dinner together since we haven't seen Ethan as much as we'd like to this past week. The weekend is almost here though, so we'll be making up for that then!
We had Lily's 18 month well check earlier this week on Wednesday and her Prevnar/HIB vaccinations. I was definitely curious to see how tall she was. :)
Ready for this? My child is 36 inches tall which is basically off the charts for her age. Half my height! Not even kidding. I wasn't THAT shocked by it, but it was still a "Woah!" moment. She also weighed in at 27.5 lbs, which is in the 85th percentile, so she's doing great weight wise as well and can't really be called "skinny" even though she certainly looks long and lean.
At our last appointment (at 15 months) her doctor told me I needed to introduce cow's milk to her diet to keep her weight gain coming along. I just nodded and smiled, and left the office with zero intention of doing that. It was pretty funny at the appointment when the pediatrician was going on and on about how great her growth was and asked how much cow's milk she was getting daily. My response? "Oh, none. She's getting breastmilk 3-5 times per day still." There was a long silence. "You're still nursing?" "Yes, ma'am!" "Oh." "How long do you, um, plan to continue that?" "Oh, well that's up to Lily. When she decides she's done. So who knows?" ::no response:: Haha. In her defense, she was very supportive of my breastfeeding through the first year and has not said anything negative about extended breastfeeding. I know it's not the societal norm, so I'm not offended when people are surprised that we're still in a nursing relationship or ask how long I plan to continue. Lily will get to have cow's milk eventually (she has it in things like yogurt, cheese, ice cream) but not straight in a cup with a meal. I didn't grow up drinking milk with meals, and she won't either... clearly, it's not required for her to be growing well!
Another thing the pediatrician decided to tell me was that Lily would be fine to sit forward facing in her car and that most children love it much more than rear facing. I responded with, "That really surprises me since the American Academy of Pediatrics revised their recommendation in 2011 to be rear facing until a minimum of age two, preferably until the seat is outgrown for rear facing." I then informed her that Lily was just fine rear facing and I had no intentions to forward face her until age 4 or if she grew out of the seat before then. I couldn't believe I was sitting there educating my PEDIATRICIAN about car seat safety. I mean, really. So many people depend on their pediatricians to give them the latest information about children's health, and mine didn't have a clue when it comes to one of the most important aspects of daily life! It's been over 2 years since the recommendations were changed so she can't really claim that the information just came out so she hadn't caught up with it yet. I really hope that she gets up to speed with the research because putting your child forward facing before then is just plain dangerous. Lily is a super healthy kid with no issues (thank the Lord) but if I had a child with chronic issues I would definitely be changing practices and going with a pediatrician that is up to speed on all of the latest information. Parents should at least know the risks and official recommendations before making the decision to forward face, and who better to deliver that information than their child's doctor? On the flip side, parents should be doing their own research too and not depending on one source of information. I really hope the carseat law changes eventually for every state to reflect the new recommendations... if we know better, we must do better.
We had Lily's 18 month well check earlier this week on Wednesday and her Prevnar/HIB vaccinations. I was definitely curious to see how tall she was. :)
Ready for this? My child is 36 inches tall which is basically off the charts for her age. Half my height! Not even kidding. I wasn't THAT shocked by it, but it was still a "Woah!" moment. She also weighed in at 27.5 lbs, which is in the 85th percentile, so she's doing great weight wise as well and can't really be called "skinny" even though she certainly looks long and lean.
At our last appointment (at 15 months) her doctor told me I needed to introduce cow's milk to her diet to keep her weight gain coming along. I just nodded and smiled, and left the office with zero intention of doing that. It was pretty funny at the appointment when the pediatrician was going on and on about how great her growth was and asked how much cow's milk she was getting daily. My response? "Oh, none. She's getting breastmilk 3-5 times per day still." There was a long silence. "You're still nursing?" "Yes, ma'am!" "Oh." "How long do you, um, plan to continue that?" "Oh, well that's up to Lily. When she decides she's done. So who knows?" ::no response:: Haha. In her defense, she was very supportive of my breastfeeding through the first year and has not said anything negative about extended breastfeeding. I know it's not the societal norm, so I'm not offended when people are surprised that we're still in a nursing relationship or ask how long I plan to continue. Lily will get to have cow's milk eventually (she has it in things like yogurt, cheese, ice cream) but not straight in a cup with a meal. I didn't grow up drinking milk with meals, and she won't either... clearly, it's not required for her to be growing well!
Another thing the pediatrician decided to tell me was that Lily would be fine to sit forward facing in her car and that most children love it much more than rear facing. I responded with, "That really surprises me since the American Academy of Pediatrics revised their recommendation in 2011 to be rear facing until a minimum of age two, preferably until the seat is outgrown for rear facing." I then informed her that Lily was just fine rear facing and I had no intentions to forward face her until age 4 or if she grew out of the seat before then. I couldn't believe I was sitting there educating my PEDIATRICIAN about car seat safety. I mean, really. So many people depend on their pediatricians to give them the latest information about children's health, and mine didn't have a clue when it comes to one of the most important aspects of daily life! It's been over 2 years since the recommendations were changed so she can't really claim that the information just came out so she hadn't caught up with it yet. I really hope that she gets up to speed with the research because putting your child forward facing before then is just plain dangerous. Lily is a super healthy kid with no issues (thank the Lord) but if I had a child with chronic issues I would definitely be changing practices and going with a pediatrician that is up to speed on all of the latest information. Parents should at least know the risks and official recommendations before making the decision to forward face, and who better to deliver that information than their child's doctor? On the flip side, parents should be doing their own research too and not depending on one source of information. I really hope the carseat law changes eventually for every state to reflect the new recommendations... if we know better, we must do better.
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