When I adopted a pair of twins, one of the first things that struck me was how many doctor's appointments they needed to go to. As we took them to all of their baby well-checks, I realised that these appointments were designed to find and address issues early before they caused other problems. Fortunately, our family paediatrician found a few critical problems that we were able to resolve head-on, and it was immensely helpful. Check out this blog for information about health care, preventative care, and helping your child to enjoy a better life. I know that some of these tips helped me, and I know that they can help you too.
When you are a parent of a newborn or are a soon-to-be parent of a newborn, you may find yourself feeling elated and overwhelmed in equal measure. After all, taking care of a new, tiny human can be a lot of work and also bring a lot of joy. One of the things you might not be thinking about yet in regards to your new baby is their well-child visits to their pediatrician. You might think that keeping your child home and away from doctor's offices might be a better option than to bring your healthy baby into a place where other children are sick. However, there are many reasons that well-child visits throughout your baby's early months and years are important. Get to know some of these reasons that well-child visits are so important. Then, you can be sure you are doing what is best for your new baby going forward.
Vaccinations to Protect Against Serious Illnesses
One of the biggest reasons to take your child to their well-child visits is to ensure that they get the proper vaccinations for their age group. Newborn babies do receive vaccines and parents may need to receive them as well. This can be taken care of at one of the first well-child visits (at a few weeks or one month of age).
Additional vaccines will be given as needed at well-child visits to come to ensure that your baby has the greatest chance at staying healthy and safe as they grow. Vaccines are the best means of preventing certain illnesses that could be quite dangerous to your child if contracted.
Development Tracking
Another major benefit of well-child visits is that it allows you and your child's doctor to track their growth and development. The growth part generally goes by the child's height (length) and weight. The pediatrician will measure your child and put them into a growth percentile for their age. This will tell you if your child is large, small, or average for their age. If they are too small at several checks, for example, this could be indicative of a health problem that needs to be diagnosed and addressed.
Tracking your child's development is also important. There are certain milestones that most children meet by a specific age. If a child does not reach these milestones, they may have delayed development or failure to develop certain skills. Both can be child development issues that need to be addressed and dealt with through therapy or medical interventions.
For example, at 2 months, most babies begin cooing or gurgling. If your child has not developed any "speech" features, they could have hearing issues or other developmental concerns.
Now that you know just a few of the reasons why well-child visits are so important, you can be sure you stick to your appointment schedule for your new baby going forward. For more information, contact a child development pediatrician's office, such as Northeast Wyoming Pediatric Associates Pc.
Share2 April 2020
