Infants,
children and adolescents see their pediatrician for many well
checkups over the course of their childhood. These well checkups
generally will follow the schedule recommended by the American
Academy of Pediatrics. Each checkup has been found useful
and necessary for many reasons. These reasons include vaccinations,
checking growth and development,
answering parental questions and looking for early presentations
of illness. This is an excellent opportunity for both the
pediatrician and family to assess the well being of the child.
During each well checkup the pediatrician will be looking
for specific illnesses relevant to that age group. In discussing
well checkups, I would like to explain why the pediatrician
is doing what they are doing. For example, why do they move
the hips the way they do, what are they looking for in the
eyes, why are they pressing so hard on the abdomen, what are
they looking for?
Each well checkup will be discussed according to age: Prenatal
visit, newborn checkup, two-day checkup, two-four week checkup,
two-month checkup, four-month checkup, six-month checkup,
nine-month checkup, twelve-month checkup, fifteen-month checkup,
eighteenth-month checkup, two-year checkup, three-year checkup,
four-year/five-year checkup, six-year/seven-year checkup,
eight-year/nine-year checkup, ten-year/eleven-year checkup,
adolescent visit.
Back
