To help your child grow into a healthy adult, I highly recommend regular well-child visits. These visits are especially important when children are younger and developing quickly.
During well-child checkups, your child’s doctor will give any vaccines that are due and check your child’s growth and development. Your child’s vision and hearing will also be tested starting when he or she is four years old.
This type of visit differs from a “sick visit” in which you might take your child to the doctor for a specific problem, such as an ear infection, allergic reaction or breathing trouble. Well-child checkups are simply an opportunity to raise general questions and concerns about your child’s development, behavior and general well-being. Many parents also use well-child visits as a time for scheduled vaccinations and to see how much their child has grown since the last check-up.
Childhood vaccines offer protection from serious or potentially fatal diseases. Some of these vaccines include: diphtheria/tetanus/pertussis, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, H. influenzae type b (Hib), influenza, measles/mumps/rubella (MMR), pneumococcal (PCV13), chickenpox (varicella), rotavirus (RV), polio (IPV), human papillomavirus (HPV) and meningococcal (MPSV4/MCV4). The vaccine schedule is designed to ensure that children receive vaccines at the optimal time to protect them from infectious diseases.
Some vaccines will be given as one shot but others include a series of shots. When available, doctors might give your child vaccines that are combined into one shot. For your child to be completely immunized against a disease, he or she must get all of the recommended doses. There have been outbreaks of serious diseases in children who did not get fully immunized.
To find out which vaccines your child needs and which ones are coming up, check the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommendations, which can be found at www.cdc.gov.
You can request an immunization tracking card from your child’s doctor or the Indiana State Department of Health. You should bring that card with you to all of your child’s doctor visits. Ask your child’s doctor or nurse to record the vaccine given, date and dosage on the card.
During these well-child checkups, parents can also ask their child’s doctor about common concerns such as eating, sleeping, toilet training and social behaviors, as well as attention and learning difficulties. Doctors may also address safety in the home and at the playground, optimal nutrition and environmental concerns, such as lead paint exposure.
Having regular well-child checkups with your child’s doctor and raising concerns are important in forming a reliable and trustworthy relationship between your doctor, your child and you.
Even if your child is healthy, well-child checkups are important because it’s a good time to focus on your child’s overall wellness. This means talking about what is being done properly and what can be improved. Preventive care is important to keep children healthy.
The following is a list of suggested well-child visits by age:
• 3-5 days
• 7-14 days
• 2 months
• 4 months
• 6 months
• 9 months
• 12 months
• 15-18 months
• 2-6 years
• 8 years
• 10-17 years
Eskenazi Health provides well-child checkup services at several locations. For more information on these services or to find a primary care physician, please call 317-880-8687. Eskenazi Health Center has a sliding fee schedule and is open to all regardless of ability to pay.
Nydia Nuñez-Estrada, M.D.
Family Medicine
Eskenazi Health Center North Arlington