As we near the end of the school year, it’s time to plan ahead for your school-aged children’s physical/wellness visits at the pediatrician’s office. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends yearly physicals for school age children till the age of 21 years. Wellness visits comprise 21% of the pediatricians practice time and we love doing these visits.
The best time to get an annual wellness visit done is usually summer break for school aged children.
Wellness visits are an important part of your child’s health and wellbeing.
It is a great way to keep up with the growth, both mental and physical, of your child. It also provides an opportunity for parents to ask questions that normally don’t get answered during problem or sick visits like speech and language skills, performance in school, difficulty learning and or social skills, eating and sleeping habits etc. When you go in they will check the child’s height, weight, pulse, blood pressure, and plot it on standardized charts to compare to other children their age. It also helps you understand how your child is growing over the years. Any childhood/adolescence vaccines that need to be caught up will also be offered at these visits. We also check hemoglobins and order fasting blood work at age 9 and above to ensure that everything falls within normal range.
I generally recommend making a list of questions to ask the pediatrician before the visit asking about growth, development, trends of growth.
I also encourage kids to ask me questions about their diet, sleep, school etc.
It is a great time to connect with the pediatrician for kids and families on an annual basis. I know I love connecting with all my families and patients this way at least once a year. So parents be proactive and call your child’s pediatrician’s office today.
