1st Check Up

We took Laila and Max for their first official check up at the doctors today. My neighbour had recommended a doctor in the next village called Ploulec'h (pronounced Ploulair), she is supposed to be good with children apparently.

The system is slowly changing here as previously most parents would have their children seen by a Pediatrician for all check ups, but apparently there are less and less available now and the GP's are taking on more of these tasks. I did look for a pediatrician in Lannion, but there were only 2 for the whole town of 20,000 people.

They both got their "carnet de santé" equivalent to the red book, it follows them to 12yrs old. There is a lot of info to read in there! The Doctor had a look at their red books from England to check their vaccinations are up to date, the schedule is slightly different here so Laila needs an extra jab (Diptheria/Tetanus/Polio) as soon as we can. François and I actually need the same one so we might go for it all together!

She was very thorough and weighed, measured and checked both Laila and Max all over. Max was full of smiles and giggles, she said he was a happy healthy baby, which of course we know! Laila was a bit more dubious, but she managed to be brave, didn't mind being weighed and measured she likes that and once she realised the stethoscope and the light didn't hurt her she was very obedient!

She has prescribed Vitamin D drops and flouride for Max, which is standard for all babies, even breastfed ones. I am going to read up on this before I decide whether or not to give it to him. I'm sure there's no harm but why is it deemed necessary here and not in the UK?

Their stats for today are:

Max @ 5.5 months (24 weeks) weighs 8.74kg (19lb4) and measures 69cm. This puts him just below the 91st centile on the UK graphs for weight and height.

The french charts are the same for both boys and girls unlike the UK ones, Max is on the 97th centile for both on this chart. There were no comments about him being too big, as he's in proportion its not a problem!

Laila @ 31 months weighs 16.7kg (nr 37lbs) and is 95.5cm tall. This puts her over the 97th centile for weight (i.e off their scale) and between the 75th and 97th for height.
On the UK charts she is on 98th centile for weight (which is still on the scale at least!) and between the 75th and 91st for height.

Since making the appointment with the doctor for today I found out about a weekly baby clinic which sounds the same as we have in the UK. It is run by a pediatric nurse and once a month a doctor attends. They can weigh the babies and chat about any probs etc, they can also do the vaccinations and its all free.

For the doctors today we had to pay 52euros, we will get it reimbursed once Francois' health insurance kicks in, but it will be easier if I can get some things done without paying for them.

That reminds me, I need to write a list of things to be done next week, one of which is Francois taking the next step to get his/our Health Insurance sorted. It's a complex procedure as we've come from abroad and just started work, fingers crossed it doesn't turn out to be too difficult.