How often should your toddler (ages 1-6) see the doctor? What is the optimum schedule for well-child visits? What are the recommended check-ups and screenings for toddlers?
Check-ups are a very important of your child’s life in the toddler stage. Important lab tests and screenings are performed during the toddler years, which are fully explained below:
Recommended Check-Ups and Screenings for Toddlers
At the 12- and 15-month visits, pediatricians at Tenafly Pediatrics continue to document feeding and sleeping habits. At the 12-month visit they also test for Turberculosis in addition to the appropriate immunizations.
At the18-month visit, they ask prior to your visit that you complete a MCHAT questionnaire which screens for autism. Tenafly Pediatrics offers the test in an online format which you can access by clicking here. The questionnaire’s responses are sent to the practice where it will be scored and reviewed with you at the visit.
Tenafly Pediatrics recommends you review a video with Dr. Larry Stiefel focused on “Toilet Training“. This video helps guide you in a) knowing whether your child is ready to be toilet trained, and b) once your child is ready, the video also describes techniques in making the experience successful for you and your toddler.
Check-ups continue for age 2, 21/2, and then annually from age 3 – 6 with more lab tests, such as hemoglobins, urinalysis and cholesterol tests, being performed. These tests can all be done at a Tenafly Pediatrics office, or you can take your child to a lab as an option if your insurance does not cover in-house labs.
Tenafly Pediatrics suggests that at age 3 your child’s eyesight be screened with the Pediavision. This is a tool that screens for common issues like eye muscle weakness and near sightedness, without the need for the child to read off letters or numbers. A link to a video demonstrating this device can be found by clicking here. If you choose to have your child go to an ophthalmologist instead, you should take him/her by age 4. At age 3 Tenafly Pediatrics will also test your child’s hearing using a device that does not rely on your child’s cooperation, but tests the eardrum objectively.
At age 4, if toilet trained, Tenafly Pediatrics will do a urine test for your child along with the regular lab work. There are also pre-school immunizations to administer.
At age 5, Tenafly Pediatrics will complete the series of all immunizations begun at infancy as well as the regular lab work.
At age 6, except for the flu vaccine which is recommend annually, there are no immunizations until your child turns 11. Regular lab work is performed.
For more than 30 years, Tenafly Pediatrics has been committed to providing the finest in pediatric health care to Northern New Jersey families. Staff pediatricians at Tenafly Pediatrics are board-certified and received their education and training from some of the country’s most renowned medical schools and pediatric residency programs.
Tenafly Pediatrics has offices conveniently located in Clifton, Fort Lee, Hoboken, Oakland, Paramus, Park Ridge and Tenafly, New Jersey. For more information about Tenafly Pediatrics or to make an appointment, visit tenaflypediatrics.com.
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