- The well-child consultation is not very common in our country, either due to lack of information or for economic reasons.
- This consultation aims to detect any pathology.
- Your first appointment is recommended at one week of life, and subsequently every month until one year of life.
The well child consultation It is not very common for it to be carried out in our country, either due to lack of information or for economic reasons. This consultation aims to detect any pathology in babies under 1 year on time, in order to have timely treatment and thus a better prognosis.
Your first appointment is recommended at one week of life, and subsequently every month until one year of life. In each consultation, weight, height, head circumference, neurodevelopment and complete physical examination will be verified. As I already mentioned in detail in another column, it is also necessary to perform the different screenings (metabolic screening, cardiological screening, hearing screening, ophthalmological screening, orthopedic screening, oral screening).
Upon reaching a year of life, the consultations decrease in frequency, but each visit to the pediatrician, he will carry out a comprehensive evaluation not only of their physical condition but also of their social, emotional development. Let us remember that many times in a medical office is where cases of physical and / or verbal abuse of infants are detected.
If for some reason you do not have a pediatrician nearby, in Mexico the Health Centers will give
a free surveillance and monitoring service during this stage, where they will guide and even refer to a next level in case of finding any abnormality.
We cannot standardize all babies in the consultation
Let’s not forget that at this age, we can’t standardize all babiessince his
growth will never be the same as that of another baby, as I mentioned in consultation, a patient who was born weighing 2 kilograms will never be the same as one who was born weighing 5 kilograms.
Each of them must take more care in different parameters. Likewise, it should be taken into account if he was a full-term child, that is, if he was 9 months pregnant, if he was premature; if he suffered from any immediate pathology at birth or if he required any intervention.
The well-child consultation is not a waste of time, on the contrary, it is saving time for diseases with timely detection.
Estela del Sagrario Velázquez Gutiérrez is a Certified Pediatrician, with training as a General Practitioner at the University of Guadalajara and as a Pediatrician at the Autonomous University of Sinaloa.
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