4-month Appointment

We had our 4-month appointment today. Overall it went well. Ada is 14 lbs 4 oz and 24.25 inches - both measurments are in the 50th percentile. He head measurement however is in the 75th percentile...big noggin! The pediatrician was very happy with Ada's progress and body strength.

Emmet is 13 lbs 7 oz (25th percentile) and 24.5 inches tall (50th percentile). For a while now we've had some concern with Emmet's head, neck, shoulder strength. Although he's gotten much stronger he continues to be floppy and always has his head tilted to one side. I had read about a condition called "Torticollis", which as it turns out Emmet has.

CMT (Congenital Muscular Torticollis) is caused by damage to or a shortening of the Sterno-cleido-mastoid muscle in an infants neck. Sometimes, but not in all cases, there is a hematoma (lump) in the muscle where it was damaged. That lump will eventually go away as the muscle heals and is stretched. The most common causes of CMT are inutero positioning, lack of space inutero (big baby or little mom), a traumatic birth, multiples (lack of room again!), and low amniotic fluid inutero.

In our case they think it's due to how he was positioned in utero - sideways and squished! So we have to start going to physical therapy to work on his neck strength. The pedi seemed fairly confident that it will correct with the PT. In extreme cases surgery would be needed to lengthen the muscle in the neck - but Emmet is not an extreme case. She also said that we can see an ENT about his congestion issues, which seem to happen after eating and sleeping.

The shots (3 this time) almost seemed worse this time. Maybe it was because they are smiling and more social now. Emmet was smiling away at me until....OUCH!!! The crying starts, which is heartbreaking. They both did well though and stopped crying when picked up and cuddled. They were both really fussy this evening but I think that had more to do with missing their nap than the shot!

The pediatrician suggested that we wait on the solid foods, especially with Emmet due to his lack of head control. She said they really don't need it until 6 months. She did say that if they start showing readiness signs, showing interest in us while we're eating, grabbing etc that we can start slow.

On the sleeping front.....we offically moved them upstairs to their room this past Monday. Last Friday started sleeping through the night...well, for the most part. They have however stopped needing a middle of the night feeding. They do (especially Emmet) need some assistance (pacifier, re-swaddling etc) falling back to sleep after waking up sometimes. Of course now that I've written it here...they will wake up to eat tonight! Typically though they go to bed between 6:30-7:00pm and sleep until 6:00-7:00am. Not too shabby!!!!

Speaking of sleep...it's time for me to hit the sack!!!