Well Visits
Our goal is to keep your child healthy, through all stages of life
At Westchester Health Pediatrics, we believe keeping your child healthy is a big part of healthcare. This is why we put a lot of emphasis on well visits, or preventative care.
Seeing your baby frequently during the first 2 years of life, and every year after that, allows us to evaluate your child’s developmental progress, identify and treat an issue before it becomes advanced, and keep an eye on more serious conditions that require long-term monitoring.
Well visits are important opportunities for us to address your concerns
As well as enabling us to keep up-to-date with your child’s health, well visits are also a great time for us to listen to you. We encourage you to bring with you a list of your questions, concerns, anxieties and observations about any facet of your child’s well-being. You can be certain that we will take as much time as is necessary to fully address all of them, because it’s important to us that you to leave your pediatrician’s office with peace of mind as well as answers.
Some of the tests we perform or things we look for in well visits:
- Determine if your child is hitting appropriate developmental benchmarks
- Hearing and vision screening
- Screening for autism (12 months-2 years)
- Immunizations (for the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended immunization schedule, click here)
- Nutrition (including concerns about overweight or underweight)
- Health education: We talk to your child about what it takes to be healthy, including nutrition and exercise
- Physicals: school, sports, camp, college
- Evaluate your child’s emotional status (in school, after school, with friends)
- Question whether your child is getting enough sleep and exercise
- Healthy stress-reduction strategies
- Mental health counseling (we offer referrals, if deemed necessary)
How to know if your child is developing in a healthy way
One of the most common questions we hear from our parents is, “Is my child developing normally?” While there are wide variations of what is considered “normal” at each stage of life, here are some helpful guidelines from the American Academy of Pediatrics about what to expect, and what to look for, as your child progresses from infancy to young adulthood:
• Baby: 0-12 months
Divided into 3 categories (0-3 months, 4-7 months and 8-12 months), this section covers physical skills, social skills, sensory milestones and cognitive thinking. It addresses typical development during the first months of life, such as: follows moving objects, explores with hands and mouth, and gets to sitting position without help.
• Toddler: 1-2 years
Covering physical skills, social skills and cognitive thinking, this section examines a period of great change in your child. It explains developmental benchmarks such as: walks alone, imitates behavior of others, language development and toilet training.
• Preschool: 3-5 years
Covering physical skills, social skills and cognitive thinking, this section discusses this (sometimes exasperating) stage of energetic self-assertion. It describes developmental benchmarks such as: school readiness, sharing with others and beginning to read.
• Grade school: 5-12 years
This section addresses typical issues facing your school-age child, such as: puberty, solving problems independently, how to develop healthy self-esteem, signs of low self-esteem and gender identity.
• Teen: 12-18 years
Here you’ll learn about many of the things your teenager might be going through, such as: dating and sex, driving safety, substance abuse, personal hygiene, money management, acne and gangs.
• Young adult: 18-21 years
This section focuses on situations and pressures encountered by your almost-grown child, such as: SAT stress, college applications, building a healthy social support system and leaving home for college.
Count on us for information and advice to help your child grow up healthy and happy
You’ve got questions, we’ve got answers. Whether you’re a parent-to-be, a new parent or an experienced mom or dad with years of child-rearing under your belt, rest assured. We’ve got years and years of experience helping parents take care of their children, sick or well, newborns to young adults, and we’re ready to help you with yours.
To learn about all the services we offer here at Westchester Health Pediatrics, CLICK HERE.
And please contact us to discuss any of these topics. Whenever, wherever you need us, we’re here for you.