For many families, summer is a busy time with poolside picnics, summer camp arrangements, and day-long adventures at the beach. Before you know it, days turn into months, and suddenly it’s time to head back to the classroom. (Panic mode: activates)
Instead of waiting until the last minute to book your child’s check-up appointment, you can avoid back-to-school crowds and easily schedule an appointment without having to fit around your child’s school schedule.
Scheduling medical exams may not be at the top of your list of summer activities, but at Atrium Health Levine Children’s, we believe preventive care for children, especially in the form of physical exams, helps prepare kids to face the challenges of the new school year, whether it’s the first day of kindergarten or their final year of high school.
But before you book, let’s take a look at what to expect from these visits and how they can help get your child off to a good start in the new school year.
Why are well-child exams important?
Taking care of your child’s health is just as important as getting care when they are sick. Wellness checkups are an opportunity to monitor your child’s growth and development, prevent illness, and address any health concerns.
These visits include a physical exam, developmental screening, and discussions on a variety of topics relevant to your child’s age and developmental stage. Here’s an overview of what will happen during these visits:
Key aspects of the medical examination:
- Growth and Development: Regular monitoring will help ensure your child is growing properly and meeting developmental goals.
- Health Guidance: These visits provide an opportunity to discuss nutrition, physical activity, sleep patterns and other important health issues.
- early detection: Regular visits to your child’s pediatrician can help identify any health problems early, making them easier to manage and treat.
- vaccination: Keeping vaccinations up to date helps protect your child and those around them from preventable diseases.
Age focus:
From newborns to teenagers, health screenings are tailored to the specific needs of each age group.
- Infants (0-12 months): Topics discussed include breastfeeding, sleep safety, introducing solid foods, and early developmental milestones.
- Infants (1-3 years): Focus on speech, potty training, safety and behavior.
- Kindergarteners (ages 4-5): Readiness for school, healthy habits and social interactions.
- School age (6-12 years): Emphasis on academic achievement, physical activity and mental health.
- Youth (ages 13-18): Guidance on adolescence, mental health, technology use, and transitions to adult care.
Please see the Well-Child Visit Schedule for more information on what to expect for each age group.
Protect your child’s future
Vaccinations are an important component of a pediatric wellness check. Vaccinations protect children against serious diseases such as measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis, and meningitis. Schedules ensure that preventative measures are taken at the right time, and specific vaccines are recommended at different ages.
- infant: Vaccines such as Hepatitis B, DTaP (diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough), and polio.
- Toddlers and preschoolers: Booster vaccinations for DTaP, MMR (measles, rubella, mumps), and varicella (chickenpox).
- Preteens and Teens: HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccines to prevent certain cancers, meningococcal vaccines, and Tdap boosters.
Regular visits not only help you keep your child on their vaccination schedule, but also give your pediatrician the opportunity to see your child holistically, in terms of both their physical and mental health.
Tests during well-child exams include checking how the whole family is doing and whether there are any issues that a pediatrician can help with. Because the mother’s health is so important to the child’s health, health care providers can also use the exam as a time to check for depression in the infant’s mother.
As children grow, health exams also screen for developmental problems such as autism and how older children are adjusting in school, from attention to learning to read and write. Pediatricians also monitor risk behaviors in older children and teens, screening for drug and alcohol use, sexual activity, depression and anxiety.
These tests and visits are not necessarily things that health care providers have the opportunity to discuss during your child’s medical visits, but taking the time to discuss these topics can lead to important conversations that ultimately help your child reach their full potential.
Levine Children’s provides comprehensive, specialized care for children from toddlers through adolescents, so by scheduling your child’s checkup today, you can get the new school year off to the best start before you even start thinking about what to pack for lunch.
Looking for a great doctor to schedule a checkup with? Find an Atrium Health Levine Children’s pediatrician near you.
