What are the 3 components of a well-child check?

Most parents turn to a pediatrician when their child is sick, but it’s important not to overlook scheduling regular well-child check appointments for your little one as they are essential to helping keep your child healthy.

Well checks for children are recommended from birth until 18 to 21 years of age. Pediatricians give age-appropriate anticipatory guidance during a check-up. There are also three main components your pediatrician assesses during a well-child check: development, growth and screenings/vaccines.

Development

Your pediatrician will monitor your child’s development by looking at their gross motor skills, fine motor skills, communication/language and personal/social skills. To learn more about well-child checks and development, click here.

Growth

Pediatricians also observe a child’s growth pattern by creating your child’s growth chart. There is a lot of growth that happens during childhood – especially within the first few years. To learn more about well-child checks and growth, click here.

Screenings/vaccines

Another part of a well-child check is screenings. Pediatricians screen for different medical problems beginning at birth and continuing throughout the many stages of childhood. Additionally, a very important aspect of well checks for children, are vaccines. Your pediatrician is a great resource if you have questions about vaccines which have the ability to prevent devastating diseases in your child.  There are many vaccine preventable diseases that include (but are not limited to) meningitis, whooping cough, and polio. To learn more about screenings and vaccines during a well-child check, click here.

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