The Importance of Well Child Checkups.

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The opinions in this article are my own. I do not work for, or with, any brand mentioned in this article, nor do I have any official relationship with them.  I have a relationship with GigaSavvy, for whom I create original editorial content.

As a mom with five kids, I know how hard it can be to keep track of every little last appointment your kiddos may need. Well Child checks are pretty close together for babies, and then yearly for your older kiddos. Risi needed a well check two days after leaving the hospital, two weeks, one month, 2 months, four months, 6 months, 9 months, and we’re a little behind but her one year check is next Tuesday.

While I do follow most vaccine guidelines, they’re not the only reason I find Well Child checks to be important. These checks, which are done yearly  after your kiddo reaches the age of 3 really can find problems you may not have realized were even there.

Height and weight are checked, physical examinations are performed to check if your child’s physical development is within guidelines, and if not can lead to further appointments to check for underlying problems. Development and behavior are talked about, and things you might have thought were normal could turn out not to be. Or they could be. 

In Sisi’s case this year her well child check actually broke my heart. Why? Because we found out that the back pain she was having, which I thought was due to carrying a binder with a shoulder strap only one the same shoulder every school day, is actually scoliosis. Not just regular scoliosis, she has kyphoscoliosis and scoliosis. She has a curve that hunches out, and then a side to side s-curve.

With Kat, her scoliosis didn’t show on her well child exam, her pain didn’t really start until a couple of months after, but I also then thought it was due to carrying backpacks poorly and poor posture. By the time we got Kat in to be actually checked for her back, it was months after her pain started (mom fail…) and her scoliosis was way worse upon that exam than Sisi’s is.

Sisi’s well check and finding of scoliosis had us sent straight out for x-rays that very same day. We are now able to get into Shiners sooner, and can possibly prevent the need for Bear to go through spinal fusion surgery like Kat had to. There may be other options available depending on how hers progresses. Had it not been for my asking at her well child check, we very well could have not known until her back was at the severity Kat’s was!

For Lisi her most recent Well Child check confirmed that she really was having trouble seeing, even though a few months before it the eye doctor told me that she was fine and maybe just doing it for attention. Not sure why they’d assume that.. but okay. It turned out that her eye left eye really was pretty bad off, and her right eye needed help as well. No wonder she’d been rubbing at her eye and complaining of headaches. Thankfully due to the Well Child check and the doctors confirming that she needed seen by the eye doctor, we were able to get insurance to let us go in for another appointment even though we usually only get one per year.

In the end? Glasses, Lisi can see and it’s great!

I’m the worry wart kind of mom, and the yearly (or more frequent in Risi’s case right now) well child checks lets me talk to a professional about any concerns and helps me with being able to parent these kiddos better. I know Sisi needs care from Shriner’s like Kat does, Lisi needs glasses, and that I’m not totally crazy when it comes to not understanding all of Var’s various behavioral issues.

Also? I take comfort in the fact that they can tell me Var’s night time wetting isn’t that big of a deal, and some kids just have this condition and it’s not exactly the end of the world.

Do you take your kiddos to their annual check ups? If you don’t why not? I’d love to hear the reasons!

Have you found anything out at a well child check that totally shocked you like I did with Sisi’s scoliosis?