Infant/Newborn Care

As pediatricians, we know that newborns benefit greatly from close clinical supervision.

Our physicians perform well visits to assess your baby’s growth, development, and overall health. We follow the American Academy of Pediatrics’ recommended visit structure for preventive care. This widely accepted schedule ensures comprehensive monitoring of growth and development and anticipatory guidance for what is to come.  It includes visits within your newborn’s first week of life, again at two weeks, at one month, two months, four months, six months, nine months, and twelve months. Parents and families can find more information on the AAP’s family resource website, Healthy Children.

We want to make your newborn’s pediatrician visits as comfortable and welcoming as possible! It’s important to know what to expect during your visit. At each appointment, your baby will be weighed and measured and you will receive a handout with guidance for each visit. Our physicians will spend time to review growth charts, immunizations and dietary history. You’ll have the opportunity to ask questions and raise any concerns that you may have.

Commonly discussed topics at preventative visits include; bottle feeding and breastfeeding, vitamins, sleep schedules or difficulties, normal voiding, stooling and diaper changes. We also discuss making your home and car safe for baby, social interaction and exposure to friends and relatives, vaccine and immunization requirements, and ways parents can promote mental health, well-being and early literacy.

Common concerns during these visits often include diaper rash or other skin irritations, birthmarks, healing of your baby’s umbilical stump (belly button), fussiness, gas, teething and more. When significant concerns develop between well visits, we encourage you to schedule a problem- based visit with your doctor to discuss.

GROW physicians do not perform circumcisions. When parent’s desire circumcision for religious or cultural reasons, we can refer you to physicians who will perform the procedure under appropriate local anesthesia.

Hepatitis B vaccine is given at the first newborn visit if not given at birth. During RSV season, we will give newborns an immunization for RSV when indicated.

At your one-to-two-week visit, we will collect and send a heel-stick specimen to the state lab for your infant’s second newborn screen, the first of which is collected in the hospital at birth. Further details on disorders that are screened for in the test can be found here;

The health and wellbeing of our patients’ parents is extremely important to us also; we’re here to assist in your adjustment to parenthood! 

We will regularly check in to inquire about your mental health post-partum, and assist should there be any needs in that area. Our practice has information on outside resources at hand that we regularly provide to parents, and we follow up to ensure that those needs are met and that both parents and baby are both well. We’re dedicated to the overall well-being of your family, as parent mental health is tied to infant health.