Well-Child Visits & Vaccines
Childhood is a time of rapid growth and change. Children have more well-child visits when they are younger because development is faster during these years.
Write down your questions and concerns and bring them with you. This will help you get the most out of the visit.
Each visit includes a complete physical exam. At this exam, we will check your child’s growth and development in order to find or prevent problems. The child’s height, weight, and head circumference are recorded on a growth chart. This chart remains part of the child’s medical record. Talking about your child’s growth is a good place to begin a discussion about your child’s general health. We can also discuss the body mass index (BMI) curve, which is the most important tool for identifying and preventing obesity.
Hearing, vision, and other screening tests will be part of some visits.
Even if your child is healthy, well-child visits are a good time to focus on your child’s wellness. Talking about ways to improve care and prevent problems helps keep your child healthy.
Additionally, these visits also provide us with an opportunity to review immunization records. Vaccines protect your child by helping their immune systems recognize certain diseases. Many childhood vaccines protect your child for life; others require boosters on a set schedule. Note that for someone to be completely immunized against a disease, he or she must get all the recommended doses, which may mean more than one shot during a set period of time. There have been outbreaks of serious diseases in children who did receive all of their shots; so adhering to an immunization schedule is critical.