On Wednesday (15th October) I took Conrad to the health visitor clinic down the road to have him weighed, as a visit there hadn’t fitted in with his sister’s nap the previous Wednesday (which really had been the Wednesday nearest to his 4 month day). Conrad now weighs 8.4 kilos (18lb 8oz), which seems especially big when you consider that his now almost 20 months old sister wears size 4 nappies, with the weight range starting at 9 kilos… Very soon they’ll be wearing the same size nappies! (Which will make it easier for us shopping.) But then Conrad is tall too: I started putting him in size 74 (or 6 to 9 months) clothing recently – when Ian and I measured Conrad at home the other day he was 69 cm.
The health visitor, who weighed Conrad. was surprised he is getting by on formula only and no solids as yet. To help him sleep through the night, she suggested starting to wean him already – I had planned to wait until Conrad was 20 weeks old, which would have meant another two weeks to go.
‘Other people will advise you to wait until he’s 6 months old’, she said. ‘But to help you get some sleep and considering his size, you might just as well start now.’ She smiled conspiratorially: ‘If I put in his red book that it’s to help with his reflux, that should be a good enough official reason!’
I had already bought some organic baby rice in preparation, and we’ve now decided to give Conrad his first taster this weekend, as one’s supposed to start weaning mid-morning to noon-time and our whole family would be there then to give Conrad a bit of moral support… I’m feeling quite excited about Conrad trying his first bi of non-milk food – can’t believe we’re there already…! Will be very interesting to see his reaction.
In the morning, Conrad had had his third lot of jabs, which now were only top ups (boosters) of the ones he had had already. As the previous two times, he cried when the needles were stuck in his thighs and a while after, but I was quick to cuddle him, and not 5 minutes later he was all smiles again, and fell asleep in the pram on our walk back home. He showed no other symptoms of anything: no temperature or grizzliness.
By the way, for four out of the five last nights – after having had his last feed at 7pm before bed – Conrad has now only had one night feed (when has varied: 11.30pm, 1.30am or 2.30am) and then lasted nicely until 7am. In general, his nights of less feeds have gradually increased the last few weeks. So I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we are heading in the right direction!
Gabriella