Oh Dread

Today we took Finn to the pediatrician's office for his four month shots. He did great! He cried right when the nurse was giving him the shot, but was fine minutes later. I didn't even have to give him any Tylenol until later on in the evening. At this appointment Finn weighed 19 pounds 7 ounces putting him in the 98th percentile for weight and measured 26 inches long putting him in the 79th percentile for height.

During the appointment I mentioned to Dr. Thompson that Finn was a very wiggly baby and that he was difficult to hold. She told me that he will probably calm down once is able to move around on his own. Dr. Thompson got a preview of Finn's wiggly-ness. He wouldn't sit down and was constantly fighting her to stand up. Once he was standing he would lunge forward. At one point it looked like Finn actually jumped towards her (he jumped the same way he does in his jumping gym).Luckily she caught him. After that she made the statement that Finn was in fact very hard to hold. She also told us that Finn was great birth control. Dr. Thompson confirmed that we have a very needy baby.

Next we discussed Finn's sleeping habits. I told her that Finn has not been sleeping through the night since my going back to work. She informed us that at Finn's size he is more than capable of sleeping through the night, but that he is in the habit of waking up to be fed. She then asked how we actually put Finn to sleep at night. I told her that I fed and rocked Finn until he fell asleep and then we would put him in the crib. She told us that it was time for us to start feeding him earlier in the night and putting him in his crib awake so that he can start learning how to fall asleep on his own. She also said that if he wakes up in the night to try not to feed him, but instead try to comfort him in other ways. Fat chance - no pun intended. We are never going to get any sleep! She said that he can cry it out for while - and that it won't hurt him to fuss himself to sleep. I asked her if that would cause him to become insecure and she said that it wouldn't. So I guess I will turn the baby monitor down low and keep my fingers crossed.

7 hours later . . .

It is now 9:41 pm and we put Finn to bed about 10 minutes ago. We did exactly what Dr. Thompson told us to do. I fed him, swaddled him and put him into his crib awake. We turned his mobile on, kissed him goodnight and left the room. He hasn't cried yet, but the night is still young. Oh how I dread this night.