How often should my child see his pediatrician?
Doctors' visits often follow the vaccine schedule. So, your doctor sees you every day that you're in the hospital, and every day the baby's in the hospital. Some doctors will see you about a week, four days to a week, after you leave the hospital, to check the color of the baby's skin, to rule out jaundice, just to make sure the baby is eating well, and to touch base with the parents to make sure everything is going well and that they're keeping their sanity and getting some sleep. Then the first routine visit is usually around two weeks of age. The two week visit is really important because, especially in breastfed children, most children lose up to 10% of their weight in the first week of life. At two weeks children usually regain their birth weight, so it's an important milestone. Again, it is also important to make sure the families are happy; they're getting some sleep, and keeping their sanity. After that, many paediatricians follow the vaccine schedule as far as well visits go, and those are at two, four, six months, nine months, a year, fifteen months, eighteen months, two years, and then yearly thereafter. Some paediatricians will see you more frequently in the first year of life, like monthly, but it really varies depending on paediatricians and how frequently they see your child is something about which you should talk to your paediatrician.
