Tell me about Well Baby Visits

[stephbrownthinks]

My DS is now 4 months old and hasn't had any well baby visits. We had a homebirth and our midwife is also a ND. She checked him after the birth, then at 1 and 3 days, then 1, 2, 4, and 6 weeks. She specializes in pediatrics so she is who we will be seeing. We talked about vaccines and decided we aren't doing any (for awhile at least) and I asked her if we needed to keep coming in if we weren't vaxing. She made it seem like it would be fine to skip visits as long as he was healthy, happy, and growing... which he is.

Now I'm reading about iron, hearing, heart and lung tests... should we be getting those things done? Whoops! When are they usually done?

I feel like DS is doing great. He smiles, rolls over, is almost sitting unassisted, has never been sick, turns towards sounds, can grab things and put them in his mouth, sleeps fine... is there a reason we should be going in? I attend a weekly breastfeeding support group where he gets weighed, so I know he is gaining well. I love our NP and have no qualms with making a WBV... I just don't want to drive an hour each way if the only thing that happens is he gets weighed and measured (which is what I thought a WBV for a non vax kid was).

Enlighten me!

[Nicole730]

In addition to weighing and measuring they also move all the joints, feel the belly, check out the testicles if a boy, and listen to the heart and lungs, look in ear, nose, mouth. All of that takes about one-two minutes and seems as though they are doing nothing...although I'm sure if something was off they would notice.

Lead tests I think are usually at one year.

Hearing is supposed to be right at birth, we never did it with DD and from what we can tell she hears fine, even appears to know her name at 6 months.

[greeny]

I go to well baby visits, even though my 1-year-old won't be getting any vaccines for quite some time.

I like to have a good relationship with our doctor, and the best way to establish this is to see him frequently.

Also, I like to make sure that everything is on target. My gut tells me it is, but what if there's something a doctor could see that I can't? It just helps me rest better to know that an "expert" set of eyes is seeing her regularly.

Plus, I love hearing someone tell me every few months, "What a smart and beautiful baby you have!"

[Knitting Mama]

Originally Posted by greeny

I go to well baby visits, even though my 1-year-old won't be getting any vaccines for quite some time.

I like to have a good relationship with our doctor, and the best way to establish this is to see him frequently.

Also, I like to make sure that everything is on target. My gut tells me it is, but what if there's something a doctor could see that I can't? It just helps me rest better to know that an "expert" set of eyes is seeing her regularly.

Plus, I love hearing someone tell me every few months, "What a smart and beautiful baby you have!"

You basically said everything I wanted to say, except that my baby is 5 months old.