Keep Them Healthy with Annual Check ups
Madelaine Murad, MD and Annette Boyle

To keep your child healthy during their growing years make sure they have annual medical check ups.

At a yearly exam, your pediatrician will typically ask you and your child about a whole range of activities and possible issues, including:

„X Sleep habits
„X Voiding/Elimination
„X School performance
„X Social development, friends, activities
„X Home behavior

In addition, the annual exam provides you and your children opportunities to learn more about:

„X Safety issues such as wearing helmets, using seat belts, avoiding accidental poisoning, and babyproofing your home
„X Developmental milestones
„X Interactions of medications
„X Nutrition needs for growing children
„X Exercise, screen time, and general health habits

While you are in the office, the pediatrician will check all of your child's major systems. Specific tests will evaluate your child's hearing and vision. Not only are these evaluations required for school registration, they provide critical information about your child's sensory experiences that he or she may be too young to communicate.

Blood and urine tests will provide information on general health and identify possible infections or other areas of concern. A series of usually entertaining activities, including a variety of funny walks, will help you pediatrician assess your child's coordination. Of course, the annual exam is also the time to review and update all your child's immunizations to make sure he or she is protected from many serious and preventable illnesses, such as polio, mumps, measles, chicken pox, rubella, and several forms of hepatitis.

The American Pediatric Association recommends that children have well-baby visits at 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 months and then every year from age two. Many older children will need proof of a recent physical to register for sports, but even for those who are less active in organized athletics, the annual check up provides a great opportunity to learn about your their body and changing needs and take necessary steps to stay healthy.

Dr. Madelaine Murad is a pediatrician with Preston Ridge Pediatric Associates in Alpharetta. She can be reached at (770) 751-6111. Annette Boyle is a freelance business writer in Atlanta. She can be reached at (770) 455-6847.

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