Six month pediatrician check

Maxim is approaching his 6th month birthday. That is yet another perfect time for a schedule check with his pediatrician Dr.Simos Kitiris.

First were the measurements: weight – 8,600 grams, height – 68.5 centimeters, head – 44.5 centimeters. These are all normal, but a bit above the average. He’s a big guy, you know.

Secondly were the vaccinations. There were two of them. The vaccination schedule marks them as “Infanrix-Hib + OPV 3”. I guess the one marked as OPV 3 is against poliomyelitis. Or the other one. I’m not sure which.

Thirdly was the diet issue. Maxim will start tasting a lot of other food. He’ll start with vegetables for the next three weeks. Single (in other words no mixes) cooked-than-mashed vegetables will come first. Carrots, potatoes, tomatos, beans and stuff like that. Than he’ll try a few mixes. If he won’t like these too much, he’ll have a couple of drops of olive oil as a sauce. Later, he will try the same vegetables, but cooked in some kind of soup. Not exactly though. We are supposed to boil some chicken and than use the same water to cook the veggies. When he’ll get used to this stuff, he will try some cooked chicken and turkey.

All these should occupy us for the next two month when our next appointment is due.

In the meantime we’ll be visiting Nicosia for the kidney nuclear medicine test. I’ve read in a few places that this is not at all bad for the baby (extremely little amounts of radiation), but very useful for the doctors (allows a lot of measurement, including kidney functionality, which cannot be provided in such detail by any other test).

We will also have to take Maxim to see two other doctors – oculist and neuropathologist. Oculist check is something that all babies have to go through. The tests should make sure that everything is OK with the vision. Neuropathologist is for our special case though. The doctor should check the progress of that face nerve recovery that causes Maxim to use only one side of his face. So far I have no idea what kind of tests will be performed and what are the possible treatments. But I’ll find out.

Now I think I’ve mentioned everything. Oh oops. Nope. Not yet. The last thing that was discussed were Maxim’s teeth. He hasn’t got any yet, but they are surely coming soon. His gums are ready and all there has to happen is for the teeth to push through. Noone can tell when that’s going to happen. My bet is about two weeks from now. Dr.Simos gave us a prescription for some gel that we should put on Maxim’s gums four or five times a day. It should make it easier for him to go through this painful stage.

That’s a lot of stuff we discussed today…