Well Visits

Your child should not only see the pediatrician for an illness. It is also important to schedule well-child-care exams regularly, beginning in infancy. Also called well-care visits or checkups, these routine examinations provide the best opportunity for the doctor to observe the progress of your child's physical and mental growth and development; to counsel and teach parents; to detect problems through screening tests; to provide immunizations, and to get to know one another. Well-care visits are strongly recommended as part of preventive pediatric care.

Well-child visits are also a good time for parents to raise questions and concerns about a child's development, behavior, nutrition, safety and overall well-being.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends this schedule for routine well-care visits:

  • 3 to 5 days 
  • 1 month 
  • 2 months 
  • 4 months
  • 6 months
  • 9 month
  • 12 months 
  • 15 months
  • 18 months 
  • 24 months
  • 30 months
  • 3 years
  • 4 years
  • Once every year thereafter for an annual health supervision visit that includes a physical exam as well as a developmental, behavioral, and learning assessment.