What You Need To Know About Well-Child Care Visits

Well-child care visits are important in ensuring your child’s good health. This basically involves regular checkups and wellness examinations in a trusted pediatric clinic, from the time the child is one week old until he or she becomes older.

As opposed to doctor's visits when the child is sick, a well-child visit is more of a regular activity to monitor the child’s overall health and general well-being. The main objective is to make sure that the child is growing normally in all aspects, and to arrest wrong child-rearing practices as early as possible. The child’s height, weight, and other information relevant to his growth and development are recorded and reviewed by the doctor, especially among infants and toddlers.

There are also physical examinations to check vision, hearing, heart activity, reflexes, and the like. Furthermore, necessary immunization shots are administered to prevent life-threatening diseases such as hepatitis, influenza, meningitis, and polio. Nutrition and diet are also discussed with parents during these checkups, with some clinics requiring the older children or teenagers to undergo urinalysis or blood pressure screening.

For parents, a well-child visit is also an opportune time to openly discuss your child's health with the pediatrician. Why wait until it's too late before taking your child to a doctor, when you can do something to aid his or her physical, emotional, and mental development right now?