Why Does My Child Need a Wellness Visit?
Your child develops at a dizzying speed in their race toward adulthood, which means you need to have a good pediatric healthcare provider in your corner. We partner with you in every aspect of pediatric care during each stage of your child’s development.
- Infancy: When your child first enters the world, their body needs to learn how to function independently from you. Our providers ensure that everything progresses as it should, including your child’s physical growth and neurological development.
- Toddler/Child: Once your child has reached the toddler age period, their musculoskeletal growth begins in earnest. During this time, we track their growth and make sure important structural and developmental milestones are met
- Puberty and Beyond: The last stage of childhood is the passage through puberty, which is when your child’s hormonal systems come online and the final growth spurt takes place. We are there to make sure your child’s last step toward adulthood is a healthy one.
What Happens During a Well Child Visit?
The goals of a well child visit change along with your child’s growth. At each visit, we will look for specific development in certain areas, depending upon the age of your child.
Regardless of your child’s goals, you can expect the doctor to sit down with you to review your child’s health and any changes that may have occurred since your last visit. This is a great time to bring up any concerns or questions you may have. Age appropriate health risk assessment and standardized tools to evaluate your child’s development are also conducted each visit.
From there, we will conduct a full physical exam, first collecting vital statistics, such as:
- Height
- Weight
- Blood pressure
- Heart rate
- Temperature
We will continue the exam, checking your child’s:
- Heart
- Lungs
- Ear, nose, and throat
- Eyes
- Abdomen
- Reflexes
Ultimately, we check your child from head to toe in order to make sure they are as healthy as possible.
How Often Should My Child See the Doctor?
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends the following schedule:
- 2-5 days old
- 1 month
- 2 months
- 4 months
- 6 months
- 9 months
- 12 months
- 15 months
- 18 months
- 24 months
- 30 months
- Annually after 2 ½ years
To give your child a healthy start in life, call Laurel Pediatric & Teen Medical Center to schedule your visit.
