15 month wellness checkup

After swim lessons we headed to the pediatrician's office for Gavin's 15 month wellness checkup.
Unlike previous visits, this time he was a drama king. Everytime the nurse touched him he cried. He was clinging on to me the whole time and when the nurse or doctor came in to the room, he would point to the door and wave bye-bye indicating he was ready to get out of there.

Gavin weighs 22.7 lbs and measures 33 inches (I think that's what she wrote down but I swear his foot was by the 32 inch mark). Anyhow, he used to be at the 50th percentile for everything, and now he is at the 25th percentile. Gavin is not underweight and the doc said it's normal for the weight to drop in percentile at this age since they are now moving a lot more and burning lots of calories.

When we first got to the exam room the nurse opened up Gavin's chart and saw a list they keep with the number of visits he's had. She looked at me and asked how old is Gavin, I said 15 months, why? She then counted the number of visits and then walked over to the wooden desk and knocked on it. She said I can't believe he's never been sick and he's 15 months. Then she went over the normal "family/lifestyle" questions (he lives w/mom and dad, has 1 dog in the house, no smokers, stays at home w/family" and she said "Aaaahhh, that's why- no daycare for Gavin". Yes, I do think that's why he's never been sick. [Side note: So, to those who told me that formula babies had more health problems and I should breastfeed longer....here's the variable you overlooked. Not that I disagree with the statement but I know there are way too many variables at play to establish cause and effect from just one.]

We're doing really well with milestones. We're even ahead on the body parts. The doc told me he should know his body parts by the next visit and I told him we've been working with the face ones (nose, eyes, mouth, hair, and ears) and so the doc said..."well then he should know more by the next visit, like kidneys, pancreas, heart, etc". He was being sarcastic but I'll give it a shot. It'll be hilarious if he actually learns organs by 18 months.

Note to grandma from doctor: "Once he drinks from a sippy cup or a straw- NO MORE BOTTLES!".
I told the doctor, I wish grandma was here to hear that and he asked why. So, I told him that my mom still uses a bottle because Gavin is a "baby" still and it is too early to take it away from him. The doctor's response: "why would you hold a child back? The milestone was completed so we move forward- only forward. Once he learns to walk we don't keep him crawling, we move on to running. Forward only!" [Sorry Mom- Doctor's orders!]

Gavin's vitamin D was a bit low so I've started to give him a supplement along with multi-vitamins. I was caught off guard when he asked me what multi-vitamins he was taking. I must say I felt a little dumb when I said "none". Honestly I didn't know that babies this young could take multi-vitamins. I thought only if they were deficient and the doctor "prescribed" them but the doc said everyone should take multi-vitamins even the little ones. For now, we're doing 1000mg of vitamin D once a day until he goes up to normal levels.
The ironic thing is that I asked the doctor if I could give Gavin soy milk and he said if I gave him soy milk (which I haven't) I would have to place him on a supplement but cow's milk has all the fat and vitamins he needs. When I looked up foods with high vitamin D contents, soy products are high on the list (along with the dairy products). I wonder if the outcome would've been different if I'd stuck with soy milk but either way the outcome now is the same- daily supplements!

So, this was a long post to say Gavin is a healthy and happy boy! Thank God for that.