Why Well-Child Visits Matter

Everyone wants the best for their child — especially when it comes to their health.

At Neighborhood Pediatrics in Shenandoah, Texas, board-certified pediatricians, Rachel McConnell, MD, and Sharon Lucas, MD, and our professional team specialize in well-child visits. We have the knowledge and expertise to give your child the health care they need. 

When you bring your child into our practice, we provide an atmosphere in which you and your child feel comfortable. You can also be confident about your child receiving the highest level of personal attention to help them achieve optimum health.

The importance of well-child visits

When you have a baby, you want to keep your child in the best health possible. Well-child visits provide routine medical evaluations of your child from head-to-toe during their developmental years. 

These appointments allow our team to monitor your child’s growth and ensure they don’t have any issues of concern like food allergies, diabetes, or behavioral problems. We can compare their charts with each visit to make sure their health and wellness stay on track.

Understanding the well-child visits schedule

To monitor the health of your child from infancy through adolescence, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends the following schedule:

• 3-5 days old
• 1 month old
• 2 months old
• 4 months old
• 6 months old

After six months, you should bring your child in every three months until they’re 18 months old. After that, they should be seen every six months until they reach age 3. Then, we should continue well-child checkups for your child once a year until they are 21.

What to expect at a well-child visit

When you bring your child to Neighborhood Pediatrics for their recommended routine visit, we:

• Record their developmental milestones (physical, mental, and behavioral)
• Provide hearing and vision screenings
• Offer nutrition guidelines and recommendations
• Provide immunizations at the appropriate age
• Check their heart, lungs, stomach, reflexes, and temperature
• Examine their ears, nose, and throat

If we detect any out-of-the-ordinary conditions or symptoms, we may need to perform additional tests to rule out or confirm certain health issues.

We always take a conservative, holistic approach to your child’s health. Before prescribing medications, we work to find the root cause of the issue during your child’s well-child visit. Once we understand why your child has a certain issue, we tackle the source rather than simply treating the symptom.

Well-child visits also provide an open door to ask any questions you might have. Not only do we work to develop a healthy relationship with your child, but we’re here for you, too.

When you continue to see us monthly and then yearly, we want to make visits to our practice something that you and your child look forward to experiencing.

To schedule a well-child visit today, use our online booking tool to request an appointment, or call our friendly office staff today.