Articles - Your Well Child
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.