Pediatric Care Specialist

Pediatric Care Q&A

Why choose pediatric care?

When selecting a doctor for your child, it’s important to be confident in the doctor’s medical expertise and bedside manner when interacting with your child. Beyond those basics, there’s a vital reason to choose a pediatrician over other doctors like family practitioners: All of a pediatrician’s education, training, and experience focuses on children.

Pediatricians don’t have to worry about the vast scope of diseases found in adults. Because all of their attention focuses on children’s health, pediatricians are fully prepared to pick up on subtle changes in children’s behavior that are vital clues about their health and development.

Do pediatricians provide newborn care?

The doctors at Naples Pediatrics consider it a privilege to provide medical care for your newborn baby. We’ll be there to give the baby their first exam, shortly after delivery, and to check in with parents to see if they have any questions before taking their baby home.

Newborn babies should come in for routine newborn check-ups:

Within one week after delivery: check weight, monitor feeding, look for jaundice, perform metabolic screening, and administer vaccines if not administered at birth
At two weeks: check weight again and perform physical examination
At one month: check weight, administer another physical exam, and recommend vaccines
At two, four, and six months: administer and monitor previous physical exams, assess growth and development, and recommend vaccines

What are well-child visits?

Well-child visits are important throughout childhood to continue to track growth, evaluate developing risks for disease, and continue to meet the recommended vaccination schedule.

One of the most important components of a well-child visit is to screen for developmental milestones that indicate whether your child has any signs of developmental delays. There are different developmental milestones at every age. The following list shows a few milestones that are typical for a two-month old:

Movement and physical development: can hold head up and begins to push themselves up when lying on their stomach
Cognitive (learning and thinking): ability to pay attention to faces and follows objects with eyes
Language and communication: Coos and turns head toward sounds
Social and emotional: Begins to smile and looks at parent