"well visits" for kids who are always at the Dr - Page 2

[green betty]

I started taking my kid to WBV when he was an infant and at his 6 month visit I was chatting with our family doctor (under our system everyone goes to the same GP) about how WBV are important even though we don't vax so they know each other and have a baseline for what's normal for dc, and our doc looked at me and said, "actually, if you aren't vaxing, there's really no point to these visits." Lol!

Since we have socialized health care I decided that I wasn't really ethically comfortable using a public resource that someone who is actually sick is waiting for, so I decided we'd only go to the doctor if dc was sick or injured.

[Birdie B.]

Ha, we aren't doing the WBV either, but our baby isn't well, so she still goes to the doc a lot. I'm still trying to make up my mind about vaccines, so far I've been stalling. Her doc is awesome, but likes to push the vaxes. I don't know yet if it's a big enough reason to switch, but we'll see.

Anyway, I wouldn't worry about it, because your kids are already being seen by medical professionals somewhat regularly. You'll know when something's wrong.

[Bluegoat]

If you are there a lot anyway, it seems silly to go for the well-baby visits. If you told the doctor this, I suspect he/she would be amenable.

[shanniesue2]

I know there are a lot of moms on here who just don't do WBVs at all... but I have to say that with what we are going through right now, I'm really glad we've done them (not necessarily on schedule, but every few months or so). This last time, week took DS to a new ped. Our only health concern is that he is really small for his age (in the .68th percentile). But other than that, he seems very healthy. Lots of energy, eats well, still nursing, meeting all of his milestones either on or ahead of schedules... so not much to worry about.... well at this last WBV, the new ped heard a heart murmur and it turns out that DS has a very large hole in his heart (50% of the septum between his two atri are missing) and he needs open heart surgery SOON to fix it (his heart is already enlarged and he has signs of pulmonary hypertension at 17 months old). The cardiologist went as far to say that if we didn't fix it soon, then there would be tissue damage to his heart and lungs which would "shorten his lif span." Now, if I had waited until he started acting sick to take him to the doctor... well, we might be looking at a situation where DS wouldn't live past adolescence. So whether you vax or not isn't the issue IMO (we selectively vaxed for a while, but now we're on pause until further research), sometimes there are hidden issues and waiting till their sick to do anything about it could be too late. At this stage, kids grow so fast, which is why I think they need checkups more frequently than older children and adults. I mean thinking about it like that, most women go in for a yearly well woman exam, whether they're sick or not... and it's just to make sure everything is okay and to catch something before it gets out of hand. So why wouldn't this apply to babies/toddlers?

All that said, I think that if you're into the doc so frequently, maybe you could work out a deal where if you have to take your child in and it's almost time for the WBV, then you just have the doc do it all in the same visit and not have to come back next week or whenever.