Meeting the New Pediatrician

Chuck's first butternut squash

Charlotte had her first appointment with her new pediatrician, Dr. Monique Pritchard at the Sellwood Medical Clinic. The lactation consultant at Andaluz, Sonja Horowitz, recommended her to me after I had talked to her about some of the concerns I had about my previous pediatrician. Well I'm happy to say that I loved her, and so did Charlotte.

Charlotte's 11lbs 9oz and 24 inches long. She's in the 75th percentile for length, 80th percentile for head size and 10th for weight. Dr. P was very encouraging saying that Charlotte's development and strength was a good indication that her percentile rating wasn't really that big of a deal. I was happy to hear this because I know my baby is plenty healthy and she's gaining weight pretty steadily.

I also found it very encouraging that she validated some of my instincts. She recommended starting Charlotte on solids now, but to skip rice cereal. I can only guess at my reasons, but I've had an aversion to rice cereal and it was nice to hear that I'm not crazy. She suggested that I feed her organic nutrient rich fruits and vegetables very gradually. She said that there have been a bunch of studies recently that show earlier exposure to foods led to fewer food allergies. I fed Charlotte some butternut squash when I ate my dinner and she had no problem wolfing it down. In fact, she kept trying to grab the spoon and feed herself! I think she's ready.

The bib is stiff so she leans back so it won't push on
the Bumbo.

Besides the numbers we got today, it's pretty obvious Charlotte is growing. I bought her a 6 month size outfit thinking she'd wear it later, but put it on her just to see how big it is. It's a bit baggy but it almost fits her. This is rather surprising considering she didn't fit into the 3 month sizes until recently and when I bought her last round of 3 month clothes they were all on the big side. It's kind of exciting :) Mostly just because I like shopping for baby clothes.


This weekend Charlotte and I are going with my parents on a choir retreat. It should be a bit of an adventure spending a weekend with a group of high school kids. I'm looking forward to it. I got Chuck some fuzzy jammies for the cold weather ahead and a poofy ladybug costume for halloween! Should be fun.