Lifelong healthy behaviors begin in early childhood.* Start a healthy habit by making the suggested preventive care appointments for toddlers. Recommended visits to the medical provider are at the ages of 12 months, 15 months, 18 months, 24 months, and 3 years.
Preventive visits will cover:
- Developmental screening
- Hearing and vision
- Height and weight measurements
- Iron supplements for some infants
- Obesity screening and counseling
- Oral health risk assessment
- Autism screening at 18 months and 24 months
- Anemia screening at 12 months and 24 months
- Lead screening at 12 months and 24 months
- Immunization Vaccines
- Regular dentist visits or as recommended by the dentist
- Fluoride varnish at 18 months
The provider may talk about:
- Family support: Adjusting to the child’s developmental changes and behavior, balancing work and home and resolving parenting disagreements
- Learning to communicate and socialize: how to handle separation anxiety, child’s communication and helping with shared attention
- The day to day: Routines like family time, bedtime, teeth brushing and nap times
- Who’s Hungry? Eating, nutrition and your child’s appetite
- Encouraging language: simple words and phrases, reading, singing and talking
- Healthy teeth: finding a dentist, teeth brushing and using a bottle
- Safety at home: proper use of car seats, pedestrian safety, access to windows and firearm safety
- Are you finally getting some sleep? Sleep routines, waking in the night and sleeping with a bottle
- Temper tantrums and discipline: How to predict conflict, creating distractions and being consistent.
*US Department of Health and Human Services, Healthy People 2020, www.healthypeople.gov.
Sources
American Academy of Pediatrics. Recommendations for Preventive Pediatric Health Care, https://www.aap.org/en-us/Documents/periodicity_schedule.pdf.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. From Coverage to Care, go.cms.gov/c2c.