Your child’s health matters to you and your family. When a kid gets sick, it’s hard to avoid taking them to the doctors as soon as possible. It’s your job to worry about your child, and there’s often no relief when they feel less than amazing. The truth is, kids get sick a lot. Combined, babies, toddlers, and preschoolers end up catching up to eight colds per year. Children have little concept of hygiene and can’t help themselves when touching surfaces then their faces, putting odd things in their mouths, or avoiding washing their hands. It’s all a part of the learning process, and this is how they build up their immune systems. While we know kids get sick, there’s a lot of grey area around when a trip to the local pediatrician is needed. What are the cases in which an appointment to a local pediatrician is required?
1. Vaccines
In the USA, 91% of children were vaccinated against rubella, mumps, and measles in 2016. It is of the upmost importance to keep your children up to date on their vaccines. This keeps old diseases as they should be in this day and age, nonexistent. Vaccines for children who have uncompromised immune systems need vaccines not only to protect themselves, but to help protect other children who have compromised immune systems and cannot be vaccinated for that reason. Many myths have surfaced about vaccines recently, which involve alleged side effects and other harmful conspiracies. While it is natural to be concerned about the effects of vaccines on your child, there is plenty of research available that disproves myths and scholarly results on the benefits of vaccinations. Many healthcare professionals, including your local pediatrician, will be happy to help you understand the way vaccines work.
2. Check ups
It’s recommended that children have wellness checkups at certain ages at their local pediatrician’s office. These ages are respectively 2 weeks, 2 months, 4 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months, 15 months, 18 months, 2 years, 2.5 years, 3 years, 4 years, and 5 years. During these particular appointments, vaccines will be administered, physical and emotional development will be assessed, and allergies will be tested. All of these processes are to indicate the health of your child, and compare their growth to other children their age. During these appointments, your local pediatrician will also educate you on how to recognize the signs of developmental delay if need be.
3. Severe or Extended Illness
Keeping an eye on a child’s symptoms when sick is key to figuring out whether or not they require a visit to the doctor. For fevers, a child 6 months and under should be taken to a local pediatrician if they have a fever at or over 101 degrees. For children over 6 months, a fever that has lasted for 3 days is a sign they need to be taken to the doctor. Any rashes, earaches, changes in breathing, or extended cold, flu, and cough is a sign that a trip to the doctor is required. In the case that your child is injured, dizzy/lightheaded, convulsing, unresponsive, or exhibiting any other extremely concerning signs, they must be taken to the emergency room immediately.