Jace's 15 Month Check Up

Today Jace and I headed to his 15 month wellness check up at his new pediatricians office.  I realize he's almost 16 months but he had a bad cold for about a week when he turned 15 months and it took a while to get in after that.  I felt really guilty that he was a few weeks "late" for his visit but the doctor laughed at me, I guess it's not a big deal, thankfully!  We made our next appointment for right after Jace turns 18 months and it sounds like that will be his last vaccine until he's four years old.  I'm glad to hear the shots are coming to an end for a while. 

I was nervous about going to a new pediatrician that we knew nothing about, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I LOVED his new doctor.  It's the first time we've seen a male doctor and I wasn't sure if Jace would be a little more intimidated by him than a woman, but it went well for the most part.  The only time it came into play was when he picked up Jace and laid him on the table to check out his tummy.  Jace couldn't see me anymore and immediately started bawling... I've never seen that kind of seperation anxiety from him before.  Jace never minds when woman doctors take him away from me, but I don't think he's as used to being around other guys that aren't his dad. 

Jace weighs 23 lb 12 oz which puts him in the 25th percentile for weight.  He's 33 inches tall which puts him in the 90th percentile for height.  In other words... he's still a string bean.  He's always flucuated between 85-95th percentile for height and anywhere between 25th and 50th for weight.  I was actually surprised to hear he's only in the 25th for weight because I don't think he's skinny at all... I've actually thought he's filled out a bit lately.  He's never had arm or leg rolls like some babies and toddlers, but he does have the cute pot belly.  I didn't catch what his head size was but I asked the doctor if his head was still really big (it's always been about 80-95th percentile) and he said, "it's good sized but we don't worry unless it's above 90th"  So I guess that means it's below 90th... who knows, both Tate and I have big heads, so I have no idea what there would be to "worry" about anyways.  So pretty much, Jace continues to follow his normal "curve" on the growth charts and it all looks good to the doctor.

The reason I really liked this new doctor is because it was the first time I didn't feel rushed through a well check with Jace.  The first thing he said is "Ok, let's go through all of your questions first."... and we did.  I had actually written a list for the first time because of all the new questions that come up after moving to a different climate.  We discussed alot about sun and heat safety.  He recommended Blue Lizard SPF 50 sunblock and also said that once summer hits Jace shouldn't be outside between the hours of 11am and 3pm for more than short periods of time.  He said it's important to take him inside periodically and make sure he's well hydrated.  All of this was sort of common sense... but unlike Minnesota summers where you may have a week of 90 but then a few days of 75, here it's going to be 100-105 for three months straight.  I guess we'll be going to the mall alot.  :)

I had alot of questions about diet since Jace's 12 month well check didn't go that well for us.  If you remember, I had high hopes that his dairy allergy was gone and his egg was getting better, but the allergy tests said that both were still the same level allergy that they were when he was 6 months old.  It didn't feel right to me at the time, because I'd re-incorporated dairy into my diet and Jace didn't have any reactions to my breastmilk... but I trusted that the test knew better than I did.  I told the doctor I wasn't sure how much to base off of those results and he simply replied "Don't base anything on them, they're not reliable at all... you're gut instinct is probably much more accurate."

Oh, you don't say!  Well I'm glad I've been Jace super pricey and not-as-good-as-whole soy milk all this time.  He said to go home and give Jace a cup of cows milk and see how he does.  So I did... and guess what, so far so good.  Can you believe it?!  I gave him about 4 ounces of cows milk about an hour and a half before he went to bed and he showed no signs of any reaction... no skin redness, no diarrhea, no diaper rash, no vomiting or spitting up.  Nothing.  I'm hoping we don't have any issues throughout the night because being able to give Jace cows milk would be a huge, huge blessing.  It's one of those things that seems simple, unless you've had to do the strict no dairy regiman that we've been doing.  Most importantly, I don't feel comfortable giving him soy long term just because of the studies that show it can have some adverse effects on growing kids.  But my wallet would also take a deep breath if we could quit spending about $45 on soy milk each month.  Cow's milk would run us more like $15, and is easy to pick up at any corner gas station or any restaurant, unlike soy.  So I'm crossing my fingers for nothing to go wrong by morning so that we can start transitioning him little by little to whole milk.

The doctor did confirm for me that the guidelines are still that kids should avoid all nuts and peanut butter until the age of 2 and all seafood until the age of 3.  Seafood is not an issue for us because I doubt Jace would stomach it anyways... but he has just recently started having the occasional peanut butter.  I knew I wasn't really "supposed" to, but it started as sort of a test to see if he had a nut allergy and turned into "oh well he doesn't... so here's a PB&J for lunch..."  The doctor said it's really up to me if I want to continue giving it to him or not.  He said that supposedly giving nuts to a child at this age can cause an allergy to develop over time, but that there's no conclusive evidence that proves that.

The doctor also mentioned that 15 months is when the guidelines for child safety says it's ok to start letting children sleep with blankets and stuffed animals in bed.  He said for most kids this age, a blanket is only a comfort object and not actually about warmth since they kick off the blanket or move out from under it right away anyways.  Since Jace doesn't take a nuk and has no problems going to sleep without a blanket he said it's no big deal if he continues to be blanket-less until he's in a toddler bed.  Jace has been sleeping amazingly without a blanket, so I'm not sure if I want to get him attached to a comfort object if he doesn't need to be.  Maybe closer to the time he'll transition into a toddler bed just so there's something consistant about his "sleeping place".  I'm not thinking about moving him into a bed for another 2-4 months though.  We'll see.

The doctor said he was happy to see how vocal Jace is (he was running around the room squacking during our Q&A session) and he said even though he's not speaking many "real" words, what he's saying makes sense to him.  He made me feel a little bit better about Jace's lack of a large vocabulary by saying that kids Jace's age should only be able to say 1-3 real words besides mama and dada.  He said it will pick up alot faster once he's closer to 2.  He said the most important thing for improving vocabulary is reading, which we do alot of.  He said pointing to things and trying to get him excited about what we're looking at works well too.  He pointed to a picture of three pigs on the wall as an example and said "pigs", little did he know Jace and I had already been pointing at this picture while we were waiting and Jace was "oinking" at it.  (His oink is really only him curling up his nose and breathing through it, but it's still funny that he does it whenever he sees or hears "pig").  Other than that he said Jace was doing well and he gave me some tips on early potty training and handling temper tantrums.

Jace got one vaccine today and the nurse let me hold him while she put the shot in his thigh.  I was so impressed with how she did it... he didn't even cry!  Not one tear or pout.  He just looked a little startled and stiffened for a second.  I was so happy he didn't cry because I usually end up tearing up right along with him... (which is always embarassing in front of the nurse!).  So all in all, it was a stress free appointment and I'm so relieved to have found a peditrician in the area that I feel like is a good fit for Jace and I!