3-4 month health check

Last Thursday was Pi's 3-4 month health check. I know, I know- late hey. But this one isn't my fault. You see, in my town they combine all the babies 3-4 month check from a certain date range. In my case it was all the babies born from the 23rd of April (Pi was born on the 24th) until some date in September. Which means Pi was one of the eldest. There was a baby born on the 23rd though,so he wasn't the oldest.

The check was at the local 'health' centre, which is a big concrete building in the middle of town. After registering and surrendering the boshi-techo, and a questionnaire (I had only half filled the questionnaire due to all the Kanji), I went into a tatami room filled with other residents with their babies peacefully lying on cushions on the floor. Needless to say, when I put Pi down he did not 'peacefully' lie on the floor. Instead there was rolling, and kicking and general thrashing about. I am proud of my little boy though, at least he is energetic.

We had a midwife speak to us about our health, and to watch our calories (they really don't like people getting fat in this country), and then talk about feeding baby solids for the first time, which was useful. After that, we were split into halves, and I went through to speak to another midwife about Pi, and any problems I was having. There was the usual questions on the form about weight and feeding, and she read the ones out that I couldn't answer- which were things like "do I have any help with the baby", and "do I get angry with my baby". After that, we were back to sitting on another tatami floor while we stripped off our babies and waited to be weighed and measured. Then, the doctor poked and prodded for a bit, but gave Pi a clean bill of health.

After all that was done, we were given back our boshi techo, but had another talk (individually) with a lady from "book smart", who gave Pi a free book (which is awesome). She had 3 to choose from, so it was nice that we had a choice. I think it was part of a reading initiative. This is the one I chose. Kind of Japanese peek-a-boo.



I also signed up for a 'how to make solid foods' class, which is on tomorrow. I can't wait!

All in all, a successful visit. The next check isn't until 8 months, but will be done by the paediatrician.