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How to Prepare for Your Baby's Checkup: A Simple List

By Tommy Bergeron 6 min read
checkupspediatricianwell-baby visitsfirst yearbaby development

The checkup is on Thursday. You had a list of questions. Somewhere between the car seat, the diaper bag and the waiting room, that list quietly left the building.

This happens to pretty much every parent. The fix is simple: jot down a few things in the days before, and bring one list with you.

Here’s what the visits are for, what usually happens, and what’s worth writing down.

What well-baby visits are for

Well-baby visits (or well-child visits) are the appointments you go to when nothing is wrong. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the point of these early checkups is to make sure your child is growing and developing properly.

The AAP also describes them as a time for prevention, tracking development and building a trusting relationship with your pediatrician. That last part is underrated. The better your doctor knows your baby, the easier it is to notice what’s unusual for them.

They’re also your time. Sleep, feeding, a weird rash, a cough that won’t quit - it all counts.

When the visits happen in the first year

In the US, the Bright Futures/AAP periodicity schedule lists these visits in the first year. Every one includes measurements, a physical exam and a chance to talk. A few visits have something extra on the schedule:

AgeAlso on the schedule
3 to 5 daysA check on feeding and jaundice
By 1 monthA check-in on how mom is feeling (postpartum depression screening)
2 monthsPostpartum depression screening
4 monthsPostpartum depression screening
6 monthsPostpartum depression screening, oral health risk check
9 monthsA developmental screening questionnaire
12 monthsAnemia screening

Vaccines are often given at many of these visits. Recommendations can change, so ask your doctor what’s planned for your baby’s next appointment and bring any questions you have about it.

The schedule is a baseline. The AAP notes that extra visits may be needed if there’s a concern, so your doctor may see you more often.

If you’re in the UK, the rhythm is a little different. The NHS offers health and development reviews at around 1 to 2 weeks, 6 to 8 weeks, 9 to 12 months and 2 to 2.5 years.

What the doctor usually checks

Growth

Your baby gets weighed and measured for length and head size. These numbers go on a growth chart. For babies under 2, the CDC and AAP recommend the WHO child growth standards, which show how children should grow rather than just how they happen to grow in one place and time. The WHO standards cover weight, length, head circumference and more.

What matters most is the line over time. The AAP says the growth curve from one visit to the next is the most reliable way to judge whether a baby is growing normally. So if one number looks low or high to you, ask about it before you start worrying.

Development

The doctor looks at reflexes, muscle tone and milestones, and asks what your baby has started doing.

The CDC’s “Learn the Signs. Act Early.” program has free milestone checklists for 2, 4, 6, 9 and 12 months (and beyond). The milestones are things most children, 75% or more, can do by that age. Going through the checklist the day before gives you something concrete to talk about.

It’s not a test, and the CDC says it doesn’t replace proper developmental screening. If something worries you, the CDC’s advice is clear: don’t wait, talk with your child’s doctor.

The physical exam

This usually covers the soft spots on the head, eyes, ears, mouth, heart and lungs, belly, hips and legs, among other things. You mostly just hold the baby and admire how calm the doctor is.

Feeding, sleep and diapers

The AAP checkup checklists include questions about whether your baby gets breast milk, formula or both, sleep habits, and for newborns, how many diapers you should be changing. This is where your notes pay off. “Uh, a normal amount?” is a harder answer to work with than a rough number.

What to note down before the visit

You don’t need a spreadsheet. A few days of rough notes are plenty. Here’s a list you can screenshot:

  • Feeds: roughly how often, how much or how long, breast milk, formula or both
  • Sleep: a typical night, naps, anything that changed lately
  • Diapers: roughly how many wet and dirty per day, anything that looked unusual
  • Fevers: the temperature, how you took it, the date and time
  • Medicines: the name, dose and time for anything you gave, including supplements
  • New foods, if you’ve started solids, and any reaction you noticed
  • New skills and firsts since the last visit
  • Anything that changed at home, like starting daycare or a round of colds in the house
  • How you’re doing, honestly
  • Your questions, with the most important ones at the top

A note on fevers and medicine. Writing down what you gave and when is useful for the doctor, and the NHS points out it can help you space doses evenly and avoid giving too much.

And don’t save a fever for the checkup. The AAP says that if your baby is 3 months or younger and has a rectal temperature of 100.4°F (38°C) or higher, call your pediatrician right away.

What to bring

  • Your notes and your list of questions
  • For the first visit, hospital paperwork, including discharge weight and any complications during pregnancy or birth
  • In the UK, your baby’s red book. The NHS suggests taking it to every visit
  • The CDC milestone checklist, if you filled one in
  • A spare diaper, a change of clothes and a feed, because babies love timing
  • Another adult, if you can. The AAP notes it’s much easier to concentrate on the conversation with a little help

Write your questions down (and the answers too)

Here’s a slightly alarming number. A review in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine found that 40 to 80% of medical information patients hear is forgotten right away. The same review found that written information is remembered better. Add a sleepy parent and a crying baby, and you can guess how that goes.

A few habits that help:

Keep one running note for questions. When something pops into your head at 3am during a feed, add it right then. You won’t remember it by morning.

Bring your top three to five questions and raise them at the start of the visit, as the AAP suggests. Not on your way out the door, hand on the handle.

Write the answers next to the questions. If your hands are full of baby, ask the other adult to do it. If the doctor gives you a dose, a date or a “call us if,” get it written down before you leave.

It’s fine to ask the doctor to repeat something or slow down. They’d much rather do that than have you guess later.

Next time, open the old list first. Last visit’s answers are often the best starting point for this visit’s questions.

If you’d like an app for this

We’re building Vivi Baby, an iPhone and Apple Watch baby tracker coming soon to the App Store, and checkups are a big reason why. Its Checkups feature sums up sleep, feeds, diapers, growth on WHO charts, medical entries, vaccines, new teeth and firsts since the last visit (or over the last 1, 2 or 3 months). It also keeps your questions for the doctor with the answers, plus notes and photos. Your data stays in your own iCloud Drive.

A notes app or a pen works too. What matters is walking in with the list.

Sources

Coming soon to iPhone & Apple Watch

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