One moment your child is born and the next moment they are sitting up, saying their first word and taking their first steps. It’s amazing just how many milestones your child will reach in just the first few years of their life, and in order to ensure that your child reaches all of these milestones it’s important to visit their pediatrician regularly for routine wellness visits.

Seeing the doctor isn’t just for moments when your child has a fever or the sniffles, it’s also important that they visit the doctor often for well-child checkups. The benefits of these regular visits include:

• Vaccinating your child and preventing a variety of serious and potentially life-threatening diseases
• Screening them for certain health problems
• Checking their vision and hearing
• Reducing your child’s risk of getting sick
• Monitoring and treating preexisting conditions
• Detecting health problems early on and treat them quickly
• Improving your child’s health and their quality of life

There are many things that go into a well-child visit. When your child visits the pediatrician here are some things to expect,

• Monitoring of vital signs, which includes taking their temperature, heart rate and blood pressure
• Recording their height and weight
• Asking questions about your child’s current health status, physical activity level, diet, sleeping patterns, etc.
• A comprehensive physical examination
• Administering immunizations

Additional screenings, vaccines and other elements may also be included in certain well-child checkups depending on their age. For example, most children will start getting a hearing and vision screening at around three years old.

These checkups won’t just detect physical health problems but also developmental disabilities such as ADHD and learning disorders. Bringing your child in for regular wellness checkups allows your child’s pediatrician to continue to monitor their speech to pinpoint early signs that there could be a developmental delay or disability present. All children should be screened for developmental delays by the time they are 9 months old, and again at 24 and 30 months.

Bringing your child in regularly will also get them comfortable with the doctor’s office. Your child’s first visit should happen just a few days after they are born. From there, your newborn will continue to visit the pediatrician at 1 month, 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 9 months and 12 months.

Once they reach their first birthday, they will come into our office at 15 months, 18 months, 24 months, 30 months and 3 years. From 4 to 21 years old, children and teens should visit their pediatrician once a year for a checkup.

When was the last time your child saw the doctor? Keeping them healthy means keeping up with these routine checkups. Schedule your child’s next wellness visit today.