How to Prepare for Your Newborn, Infant and Toddler Doctor Appointments

Even if you are blessed with a very healthy child, well-child visits for newborns, infants, and toddlers seem to take up a good part of childhood. During your child's first few years, you will spend a significant amount of time trying to entertain your baby or toddler waiting at the doctor's office. You will spend far less time actually talking with your doctor. Here are some tips and hints for preparing for appointments with your child's pediatrician.

Tips and Hints for Preparing for Pediatrician Appointments: Packing for the Doctor's Office

If you are a new parent, one of the things you learn very quickly is that even quick trips require extensive planning and packing. For a newborn, you will need extra diapers, bags to store dirty diapers, wipes, bottles, formula, burp cloths, bibs, an extra set of clothes, blankets, and perhaps a toy or two. For older children, pack a few small books and toys to occupy your time in the waiting area. Keeping your child busy and happy can lead to a stress-free appointment when you actually get to see the doctor.

In addition, bring your child's favorite lovie, stuffed animal, or blanket to the appointment. My children always appreciated having the comfort that a favorite blanket brings while being examined, and loved wrapping up in the blanket before and after the physical exam as well.

Tips and Hints for Preparing for Pediatrician Appointments: Make a List of Questions for the Doctor

One essential item to always bring with you to a well-child doctor visit or a sick-child doctor visit is a list of concerns and questions. If you are seeing the pediatrician for a well-child visit, your questions may be things like what feed schedule is appropriate, whether you are feeding enough or too much, how many dirty diapers should your child be having, and any other incidental issues or concerns that you may have. It helps to keep a running list of these questions posted on the refrigerator, or even in a file in your computer.

Some of the questions we asked as new parents included asking about baby formulas. We were using Enfamil at the time, and wanted to know whether a cheaper formula would be as nutritionally sound. We have also asked about dry skin on infants and the brand of lotion that would work best for our child's eczema. Our doctor recommended Eucerin. These types of questions may not be worth making an extra appointment to ask, but having them handy while you are already at the doctor's office with your child makes the most of the scheduled appointment.

If your child is seeing the pediatrician because she is sick, your list should include the symptoms your child has, the last time she ate or drank, whether she is still having wet or soiled diapers, whether she has a fever and what the temperature is, and when you first noticed your child was sick. In addition, you may jot down questions to ask about home remedies or things you can do to help ease your child's discomfort. For instance, you may wonder whether using Vick's Vapor Rub on your infant is appropriate, or whether to use a humidifier in your child's room when she has a cough.

Tips and Hints for Preparing for Pediatrician Appointments: Ask the Nurse Ahead of Time About Shots/Vaccinations

When you make an appointment, ask ahead of time whether your child will be given any shots or vaccinations at the next appointment. If the answer is yes, you may want to give your child Tylenol, Motrin, or another pain reliever recommended by your pediatrician. This will ease the pain at the site of the shot after the vaccination is given. In addition, if your child has a preference for a particular cartoon character, you can be sure to have character bandages on hand in your diaper bag to help ease the pain.

These simple hints and tips can help make an otherwise difficult trip to your child's pediatrician more comfortable your child and more informative for you.