5 month checkup

Today I took Nico in for his well-baby checkup. We were a bit late because first, I wanted to wait until we were back in Idaho so our insurance would cover the costs, and secondly Nico got sick and so we waited to do the immunizations. Anyways, I digress...I ended up freaking out for a little bit, but I feel much better about things now. Nico weighs 15.25 lbs (33%tile) but last week at the doc he weighed 15.7 lbs and was in the 49%tile. I guess he didn't get as much food this week with me being sick or they weighed him with a heavy dirty diaper last week (which they did.) :0 But I didn't freak out about that. He's 26 in long (65%tile) and his head circumference is 16 in. (5%tile.) This is where I totally freaked out, because in Texas at his 2 mo. checkup the doc whom I really liked and trusted more than the guys I go to here said to keep an eye on Nico's head to make sure it grows at the pace it has been. He has a small head, but as long as it stays at the 18%tile range, things are fine. If it goes below the 10%tile, his brain could not be developing. The doc today said he thought things were fine because Nico's head is growing, and it's still right on the curve it should be. But, alas, I wasn't so sure.

So when we got home I decided to measure Nico's head myself because I wasn't convinced the nurse measured him correctly. (I know, I totally judged her, but you might too considering she looked barely old enough to be out of High School, crazy hair and make-up, not really had the look of a nurse who actually knew what she was doing and cared about her job and making accurate measurements...) So, according to my measurements (which I did twice), Nico's head is 16.75 in. So, if I take the average of both of our measurements We get 16.5 in for head circumference. Here is where I love the internet. According to the WHO, if Nico even has a 16.25 in head circum., he's right on track as to where he should be. Then, there's all these wonderful people who have blogs and talk about their kids, and a lot of their 5 month olds had a head circumference of 16.75 in and they were in the 60th %tile. So, I don't think I'm going to worry about it. Nico seems fine and healthy, is reaching all the developmental milestones, and I learned that just a little bit of an error in measurement goes a long ways with percentiles.