While there may be several different reasons that a parent may want to see a pediatrician, here are the top 5 reasons why you should visit a pediatrician.
1. Immunization/ Vaccination Consultation
As your pediatrician knows about your baby’s health more than anyone in the world, it’s vital to consult a pediatrician for the immunization schedule of your child.
This is because pediatricians are the ones who are well trained and thereby specialize in child health.
Thus, if the health condition of your child is not optimum for any immunization schedule or if your child has a specific medical condition that may be counterproductive if immunized at that time, you may want to delay it as per the evaluation and advice from your pediatrician.
Immunizations and vaccinations are the injections of a small number of bacteria or viruses in its inactive form to provoke an immune response to children so that they can avoid any diseases triggered by the same.
Typically, numerous vaccination schedules are present at different geographical locations and demography for the children under the age of 18 at different points of time.
But some common vaccinations include for the diseases and their causative agents such as bacteria and viruses include
- Chickenpox (Varicella Vaccine)
- Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Pertussis (DTap Vaccine)
- Hepatitis A (HepA Vaccine)
- Hepatitis B (HepB Vaccine)
- Haemophilus influenza (Hib Vaccine)
- Human papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine
- Influenza Vaccine
- Measles, Mumps, and Rubella Vaccine (MMR)
- Meningococcal Vaccine
- Pneumococcal Vaccine (PCV)
- Polio Vaccine (IPV)
- Rotavirus vaccine
It may be well recommended for a child to get a combination vaccine than the single-shot for everyone to remove the number of shots that a child obtains.
This reduces the chances of after-effects such as soreness or fever which is rare. Therefore, immunization is one of the most important reasons to see your pediatrician.
2. To check your Child Developmental Progress in an Annual Physical examination
It always a wise decision to see and consult a pediatrician regarding your child’s developmental progress.
These may include weighing your child to evaluate the weight, height, and body-mass index. As a result, your pediatrician might say something about the progress or delays to you in comparison to others of the same age and gender.
During such visits, there may be verbal inquiries about your children such as their behavior at home, walking, use of language, and others to gauge the progress in critical terms.
3. Fever in Children
Fever is not a medical condition in itself but a symptom of other conditions. So if your child is younger and has a fever, it may well be because of another illness that can be detrimental if not diagnosed early.
Hence, younger your child, sooner you should care to take him to see a pediatrician.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends you to contact a pediatrician immediately if your child is
- Younger than 3 months and has a fever of 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
- If your child below 6 months and has a fever of 101 degrees Fahrenheit or above.
- If your child is of any age and repeatedly has a fever above 104 degrees Fahrenheit that lasts more than 24 hours.
- Fever is associated with other symptoms such as common cold, sore throat, stiff neck, headache, ear pain, stiff neck, rash, vomiting, and diarrhea.
- Fever associated with drowsiness, dehydration, seizure, and problem in the immune system.
4. Ear Infections
Small children are more likely to develop ear infections than adults. As a result, an ear infection is a common problem that makes a child irritable and problematic than usual.
Usually, the symptoms of ear infections include a fever of 100 degrees Fahrenheit or above, feeling of pulling and tugging at the ear, sleeplessness, crying and irritation than normal.
Generally, wait and see approach is advised for ear infections but you might want to see a pediatrician immediately if the infection is serious that may be associated with severe ear pain, discharge of fluid, pus, or blood from the ear.
5. Monitoring the Behavioral changes of your child
Behavioral issues such as bedwetting, discipline issues, or learning difficulties are common for children and a problem for most parents. Monitoring your child habits is one of the crucial reasons to see your pediatrician regularly.
Pediatricians can be useful to guide to solve these problems effectively and efficiently. Specifically, developmental-behavioral pediatricians are the ones that are well trained to deal with your child’s behavioral issues namely their medical and psychological issues.
They may coordinate with a team of other specialists for the solutions to a problem.
Thus, you might want to see a pediatrician to recognize your child’s behavioral issues that can range, as serious as dyslexia or a simple regulatory disorder such as sleep or feeding problems.
Souce: https://www.clinicone.com.np/top-5-reasons-to-see-a-pediatrician/
