ZMC - German Doctor

Zach went to the peditrician (Arztkinder) today to get a check up and his 6-month old immunizations. Our ABQ peditrician warned us that the Germans do not have the best bedside manner and SHE WAS RIGHT. Dr. Michael Hauch (How) was a bit gruff and detatched. A far cry from our ABQ peditrician who loved to hold Zach and chat. He answered all my questions and talked about all I wanted to, so I can't complain.

Zach's stats: Weight 7.66kg (16.89 pounds) - 50th percentile Length 67cm (26.4 inches) - 50th percentile. They do not track head measurements, so I don't know if his head is still little or not. I will try to find a tape measure and measure if he will cooperate.

Things are just strange here. Most obvious is that I took a bus, then a train to get to the Dr., though it is not far, and I could walk it in about 25 minutes or so. The biggest strange thing was that, after the appointment and he had received his immunizations, I had to take the immunization prescription down to the pharmacy to pay for them (127 Euro). Hopefully there is no issue getting our insurance to reimburse.

The Dr. would like for me to start Zach on meats and think about adding a lunch of 'solid food' pretty soon. He wants him chewing by 8 months, though we think he might be already. The German take on foods is also different. He said I should give him some harder things that would help him learn to chew, like a slice of apple. An American would consider that a choking risk. So now we will have to reconcile what our US books and peditrician say vs. what the German says. Sigh. Luckily, some things are the same, like table foods by 10-12 months (monat).

Zachary did pretty well with this round of shots though. No noticable fever today. A little more cranky than usual, but not terrible. Certainly nothing like his 2 month shots which kept him asleep in my arms all day, or his 4 month shots where I could not keep the fever at bay.

He will go back for a check-up at 8-9 months, then again at 1 year.