Milestones of Many Kinds
Apparently, Snippet is going to be a short, fat man. At least, I had fun taunting Jake with this yesterday after our 4-month pediatrician checkup. Snippet is 15 pounds 4 ounces, which puts him in the 55th percentile---nice and average. But, he's only 24 inches tall, which puts him in the 20-something percentile---a bit on the short side. I was pointing the finger at Jake and his short genes, claiming he had already put our son at a disadvantage. It was great fun with Jake getting all defensive about how 5'7" isn't all that short, and even getting our (much taller) doctor to agree with him.
We checked off all the milestones except one: Rolling. Snippet is decidedly not into rolling. (Although, I tried to argue with the doc that this didn't matter since Snippet was hitting milestones that weren't even on the list like "Gags self with fist" or "Poops so loudly he scares himself.") We have been practicing rolling with him, pushing him halfway and letting him fall the rest of the way, and then making a big yelping deal about it. He doesn't see what we get so freaked out about. He just looks at us like, "What? Seriously, what?" The doctor agreed that he has more than enough physical strength to do it, noting that he has greater than expected neck and trunk stability. The doctor thinks he just has no motivation to do it, since he's seeing so much of the world and having lots of fun without shoving his face into the carpet. He noted that modern-day babies aren't forced onto their stomachs like they used to be, so they don't feel like they're missing anything, whereas earlier generation babies were on their stomachs all the time and couldn't see what was going on. They frequently started rolling really early, just out of curiosity. Our only tool now is the dreadful Tummy Time, which basically amounts to seeing how pissed off Snippet will get until he rolls over out of sheer rage. You can imagine how often we indulge in this form of parental torture. We're Tummy Time slackers. Jake is convinced Snippet will never be a roller, and hence a crawler, because we aren't forcing him into tummy time. We do it occasionally---a couple of times a week, for maybe five minutes. I'm even less motivated to do it now since our doctor said he's not worried at all about it, and that Snippet will come around to it once he feels like it. He just needs the right incentive.
Our doctor is so convinced that Snippet will soon be a roller that he actually lectured me about still keeping him in the bassinet at night. He feels it's time to transfer him to the crib because he'll soon be able to roll over and pull himself out. I intentionally neglected to mention that we're still swaddling him in the Miracle Blanket so there is no way for him to pull an arm out and heft himself over the edge of the bassinet. I was worried he would say there was some weirdo reason we weren't allowed to do that anymore, either. So, despite his insistence, I'm keeping Snippet in the bassinet for a while longer. I'm just not ready to have him in another room, yet. It's so comforting to know he's right next to me. The sound of his soft breathing is a lullaby for me in its own right. I love falling asleep to the steady sounds of his sleepy, contented rhythms. He has also rarely ever had to resort to actual crying to wake me up to nurse. I'm able to hear his little sounds of discontent right away, and get to him before he has to ratchet up to tears. This makes it nearly seamless for us both to get right back to sleep. I worry that once he's sleeping in the nursery I won't be able to hear him until he's actually wailing. Besides the practical reasons for avoiding this, I just hate to put that kind of stress on him. That said, he will soon be physically too big for the bassinet, as he only has a few inches to spare in length. He's also running out of room in width, and ends up most nights with his face smooshed against the breathable sides of it. I'm sure we'll transition him to the crib sometime in the next month, but I just need it to be on my terms. We'll get there......
We checked off all the milestones except one: Rolling. Snippet is decidedly not into rolling. (Although, I tried to argue with the doc that this didn't matter since Snippet was hitting milestones that weren't even on the list like "Gags self with fist" or "Poops so loudly he scares himself.") We have been practicing rolling with him, pushing him halfway and letting him fall the rest of the way, and then making a big yelping deal about it. He doesn't see what we get so freaked out about. He just looks at us like, "What? Seriously, what?" The doctor agreed that he has more than enough physical strength to do it, noting that he has greater than expected neck and trunk stability. The doctor thinks he just has no motivation to do it, since he's seeing so much of the world and having lots of fun without shoving his face into the carpet. He noted that modern-day babies aren't forced onto their stomachs like they used to be, so they don't feel like they're missing anything, whereas earlier generation babies were on their stomachs all the time and couldn't see what was going on. They frequently started rolling really early, just out of curiosity. Our only tool now is the dreadful Tummy Time, which basically amounts to seeing how pissed off Snippet will get until he rolls over out of sheer rage. You can imagine how often we indulge in this form of parental torture. We're Tummy Time slackers. Jake is convinced Snippet will never be a roller, and hence a crawler, because we aren't forcing him into tummy time. We do it occasionally---a couple of times a week, for maybe five minutes. I'm even less motivated to do it now since our doctor said he's not worried at all about it, and that Snippet will come around to it once he feels like it. He just needs the right incentive.
Our doctor is so convinced that Snippet will soon be a roller that he actually lectured me about still keeping him in the bassinet at night. He feels it's time to transfer him to the crib because he'll soon be able to roll over and pull himself out. I intentionally neglected to mention that we're still swaddling him in the Miracle Blanket so there is no way for him to pull an arm out and heft himself over the edge of the bassinet. I was worried he would say there was some weirdo reason we weren't allowed to do that anymore, either. So, despite his insistence, I'm keeping Snippet in the bassinet for a while longer. I'm just not ready to have him in another room, yet. It's so comforting to know he's right next to me. The sound of his soft breathing is a lullaby for me in its own right. I love falling asleep to the steady sounds of his sleepy, contented rhythms. He has also rarely ever had to resort to actual crying to wake me up to nurse. I'm able to hear his little sounds of discontent right away, and get to him before he has to ratchet up to tears. This makes it nearly seamless for us both to get right back to sleep. I worry that once he's sleeping in the nursery I won't be able to hear him until he's actually wailing. Besides the practical reasons for avoiding this, I just hate to put that kind of stress on him. That said, he will soon be physically too big for the bassinet, as he only has a few inches to spare in length. He's also running out of room in width, and ends up most nights with his face smooshed against the breathable sides of it. I'm sure we'll transition him to the crib sometime in the next month, but I just need it to be on my terms. We'll get there......
posted by deanna at 8:10 AM
7 Comments:
That's weird about the height percentile because Evie was 24.5 inches at 4 months and that was the 50th percentile according to our ped. A half inch makes that much difference?!? I think using the percentiles to predict what Evie and Snippet will look like as adults is impossible because, for instance, when I was a baby I was in the 75th percentile for height and the 40th or something for weight and my ped said I'd be tall and thin. Well, I'm average height and NOT thin. So it's more accurate to look at the parents to predict and usually when a mom is on the tall side, which you are, then the son will be taller than his father and when a mom is on the shorter side then a son will be shorter than his father. That formula usually works from what I've heard, so Snippet might end up being 5'9" or something like that. And he definitely doesn't look fat in the pictures I've seen...I think he's perfect! :)
Everybody has to do things in their own time. Rolling...growing...moving to cribs :)
If his room is right across from your bedroom, you'll be able to hear him just fine. Mama-ears are finely tuned to those middle-of-the-night coos. I can't remember the last time we used the monitor, or maybe we just have a loud baby.
Oooh...a fellow Tummy Time slacker. I thought I was the only one. Owen is the same with rolling over, too. He starts to get himself over, but gets stuck on his shoulder and just stays there happily. But, like Snippet, he's totally nailed the gagging himself with his fist thing.
For years while I was growing up my pediatrician told my mom that because i had such big feet, obviously I was going to be tall. My dad was 6 feet, so it wasn't too much of a stretch to believe this. Years went by, and I maxed out at 5'4". I still have the big feet, though.
Snippet is doing fine - my babe is 5.5 months and still doesn't roll!! As you said, perfectly capable, but no motivation. He is so content to stay where he is.
As for a short, fat man - I've got a 22lb, 26 incher on my hands. Again, no worries about Snippet when you compare him to my monster!
Good luck with the crib transition. It is so hard to move them out, but you now have super-mom radar hearing and will still be able to get to him quickly! Of course, having a super sensitive baby monitor that enables you to hear every breath helps too. ;)
Definitely not fat, but absolutely adorable!
I was in the midst of writing a long comment to this post last night and then IE shut down out of the blue. Maddening!
Anyway, we too are tummy time slackers. It pisses off Little Husband to no end and therefore is soooo not worth it. My pediatrician said that if we lay him on our chest and let him push up and lift his head, that accomplishes the same thing. Seeing as how LH loves, loves, LOVES to be held, he doesn't mind this modified version of tummy time.
As for sleeping arrangements, due to the loud, barnyard-like noises emanating from his bassinet every night, we stuck LH in his crib somewhere between weeks 2 and 3. There he has slept ever since. I promise you this: you will develop an acute sense of hearing once you put Snippet in his own room. I swear that Lil' H can merely stretch and I hear it--even while in a deep sleep.
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