Pediatrics – Questions to Ask When it’s Your Baby’s First Visit!
When a child is born, parents are also born. Everything related to the child is a fresh experience in the lives of the parents. It is therefore natural for parents to be little nervous about the first visit to the pediatrician. The first visit of the baby happens within few days after the baby comes home from the hospital. Discussed below is the list of few questions that parents must ask the pediatrics Gaithersburg, in order to understand various facts about babies’ growth and development.
Checklist of Questions
Parents must prepare the checklist of all important questions before they take their baby to the pediatrics in Gaithersburg, so that they do not miss out on even a single question. Parents often have questions for almost everything about their newborn. Therefore, preparing a checklist saves time and parents can also remember doctor’s advice and guidance better.
Vaccinations
Though parents are given the schedule of the baby’s vaccination, but they must still ask for any additional vaccination that they feel their baby must be prescribed. Mothers should also ask how to make vaccination easier for the babies because it is often suggested that babies are able to bear the pain of vaccination if given something sweet to suck or are fed right before or after the vaccination.
Post-delivery concerns
In many cases delivery may not happen as smooth and as natural as others. Sometimes it is the painful and longer labor pain, and sometimes baby is delivered through cesarean. In these cases, parents must ask the pediatricians in Gaithersburg, about any complication that may affect the development of the baby. It is alright to ask the doctor to examine the body temperature, heart beats, and blood pressure of the baby in case the need is felt.
Feeding
The newborn must be fed well for a healthy and normal growth. Mother needs to know if she is producing enough milk to meet the baby’s nutritional requirement. Also how much the baby should be fed and how many times in a day? In case of first child, breast feeding may be difficult and the feeding coordination between the mother and the baby may take little longer than normal. Mother should ask for the alternate feeding option from the pediatrics.
Elimination
A healthy baby with enough nutritional in-take can eliminate around ten times in a day. The normal elimination also depends upon whether baby is feeding on mother’s milk or the formulated milk. Parents must ask the pediatrician in Gaithersburg about the digestive health of the baby. The consistency and color of the elimination vary among babies and also changes as the child grows and start consuming other food in addition to milk.
Sleep
Babies have a longer sleeping time but a mother needs to know how much sleep is sufficient for her baby. Can she wake the baby from sleep for feeding? How many hours of sleep is healthy and how much or how little of it should be worried about. Some babies take small naps and parents must ask the pediatrics in Gaithersburg how much naps in a day are normal for a baby.
Bathing
Babies are given complete bathing slowly and gradually. Pediatrics in Gaithersburg often suggest not giving complete bath to the baby until umbilical cord dries off and in case of babies who have been circumcised, it is advised to wait until the area is completely healed. Parents must ask the pediatricians on how to sponge bath the baby until complete bathing begins and that whether it may be done at home or the baby should be taken to the hospital or the medical center.
A good pediatrics in Gaithersburg can easily address these questions of the parents and help them in identifying and understanding the feelings that their little ones convey without uttering any word.