One Month Well Visit: What to Expect

Congratulations! Your baby is now one month old! By now, you and your baby have hopefully settled into a routine and have begun to understand one another. Babies this age are awake more often, starting to smile in response to your voice or smile and may be beginning to coo. Babies have temperaments and personalities, and you may begin to notice patterns of behavior as well as particular likes and dislikes.

What’s NEW at this visit

  • Postpartum depression screening.
  • Screening to be sure your baby and family have a safe environment.
  • Evaluating your baby’s risk of tuberculosis, hearing, and vision problems.

What to expect today checklist

  • We will ask about your baby’s feeding and nutrition.
  • We will examine your baby’s growth, making sure the growth rate and weight gain is normal. This is a very important part of making sure children are healthy and are getting the proper nutrition.
  • We will check on sleeping because this is important for your whole family’s health!
  • We will check your baby’s risk of tuberculosis and vision problems.
  • We will ask what kind of things your baby is doing now to be sure her brain, nerves and muscles are developing properly.
  • We will do a full physical exam, looking at every part of your baby’s body, and checking reflexes, nerves, muscles and development.
  • We want to be sure you have everything you need, including food, home, and safety, to care for your baby. We will ask if you have any concerns about these issues at today’s visit so we can help you care for your baby and yourself.
  • Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns about your child’s health or how to care for your baby or yourself.

Vaccines given today

  • The second hepatitis B vaccine is usually given today. If your baby did not receive one in the hospital, then this would be the first dose. It is safe and has no side effects.
  • See the notebook in your exam room for information from the CDC on each vaccine.

Depression screening for mothers

Most moms experience the “baby blues” to a certain degree, with symptoms of exhaustion, moodiness, crying, and sadness. However, between 10-20% of moms will experience postpartum depression, a more serious condition. Since moms see pediatricians far more often than their OB/GYN or other doctors, pediatricians now screen moms for symptoms of postpartum depression. Learn more.

Vaccines parents need

  • To protect your baby, you and everyone living at home or who will care for your child should be vaccinated recently with the Tdap vaccine for whooping cough (pertussis).
  • Everyone who cares for your baby should also get a flu vaccine during flu season.
  • We can give these vaccines to parents who need them.

Well visits and insurance

  • If we treat your baby for an additional illness or issue today, it may result in an office visit code in addition to the well visit. It depends on how significant the issue is and what treatment and follow-up is needed. Your insurance company may assign a co-pay or part of this visit to patient responsibility such as deductible or co-insurance.
  • You have the option of coming back another day to treat the problem, or to treat the problem today and come back another day for the well visit, or treating both today.

Your baby’s next well visit