Well-child visits exist to keep your child healthy, track their growth and development, help prevent potential problems, and teach you (and Baby, when they are a little older) about health and wellness.
Baby‘s first well-child visit should be 2-3 days after they are discharged from the hospital, although it may be sooner if there are any concerns at discharge. Baby will have a second follow-up visit at around 2 weeks of age, but this may just be a brief weight check.
At the appointment
Now that Baby has arrived, you can stop counting kicks and start tracking feeds, diapers, height, weight, and milestones. Your healthcare provider will begin logging their growth and development so you can see how they make progress from appointment to appointment.
Baby will also be getting their immunizations at these visits. They should have been given a hepatitis B vaccination at birth, so there shouldn’t be any vaccinations needed this time around unless you need to start that series or it’s RSV season. If Baby was born between October through March and the birthing parent was not immunized against RSV in pregnancy, or if the birthing parent was immunized less than 14 days before the birth, then the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine may be recommended. If a newborn hearing test wasn’t performed when Baby was born, it will likely be done at this appointment.
At this visit, your healthcare provider will be looking for a few different milestones: eating well, peeing and pooping enough, turning to your voice, calming down with your support, and sucking, swallowing, and breathing easily.
Questions to ask
If this is your first child, you probably have a lot of questions, and your healthcare provider will have some for you as well. You’ll talk about life with the new baby, how things are at home, and how you’re adjusting. Don’t be shy about answering honestly about your feelings or asking questions you might think are weird. Everything is weird with a new baby. Some questions you might want to ask are:
- How do I know when to call the doctor?
- How do I know when they’re full?
- How do I take their temperature?
- What should I know about car and car seat safety?
- How do I know that their crib is safe?
If you can bring your partner or another caregiver along to this appointment, you’ll have twice the brainpower to ask and answer questions and soak up all the baby knowledge your healthcare provider can give you.
Reviewed by the Ovia Health by Labcorp Clinical Team
A note on vaccines
Ovia Health by Labcorp is committed to providing evidence-based guidance and supporting families with trusted health information. Recent shifts and changes to vaccination recommendations and schedules for pregnant women, children, and infants have raised questions about the safety and efficacy.
We continue to follow the guidance of leading medical organizations including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Academy of Family Physicians about vaccination safety and continued use. Your healthcare provider is best positioned to advise you on vaccination safety for pregnant women, infants, children, and the broader public.
Read more
- What happens at a well-child visit
- Signs to call the doctor
- What you should know about crib safety
- 7 car seat rules for a smooth ride
- Infant fevers 101
Sources
- “AAP Schedule of Well-Child Care Visits.” HealthyChildren.org. American Academy of Pediatrics. December 18, 2015. Web.
- “Well-child visits.” MedlinePlus. U.S. National Library of Medicine. February 5, 2015. Web.
- American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). “AAP Immunization Schedule.” 2026. Web https://publications.aap.org/redbook/resources/15585/AAP-Immunization-Schedule
