What to Expect at a Toddler Well-Child Checkup at 12 Months

As your child celebrates their first birthday, it’s essential to remember the importance of getting regular pediatric checkups. A simple visit offers essential health and growth insights and gives parents a chance to ask questions. Well-child checks for infants and toddlers at our Cumming office will ensure that pediatricians can monitor your child’s development – and spot signs that would show that treatment is required. Here are some of the main features of a 12-month well check visit.

Essential Aspects of a 1-Year-Old Well Check

The 12-month well-child checkup is an important milestone in helping families transition to the toddler years. Parents may sometimes have concerns about their child’s increasing independence, and desire advice on addressing a one-year-old’s demands.

Guidelines for Feeding Your One-Year-Old Toddler

• Time flies when you are having fun – your baby is one year old and ready to start the toddler years!
• It is now ok to switch the baby formula to whole milk if there are no allergy issues. We recommend whole milk for the next year since the baby still requires a higher intake of fat for optimal growth. 1-2% milk is ok starting at the 2nd or 3rd year of life.
• Allow the baby to be part of your family’s mealtime routine – they should be eating on the family’s schedule (3 meals and 2-3 snacks) with slow elimination of baby foods to all table foods. Encourage self-feeding with a spoon (a fork is still considered a weapon at this age).
• Try to transition the baby away from the bottle to a sippy cup by 15-18 months of age. Instead of cutting out bottles all at once, you can gradually eliminate them from the feeding schedule starting with meals.
• Continue to monitor feedings since the baby still has a significant risk of choking.
• Some kids don’t like cow’s milk at first because it’s different from the breast milk or formula that they are used to. You can mix whole milk with breast milk/formula and gradually adjust the mixture so that eventually it is 100% cow’s milk.

Tips for the General Care of Your Toddler

• Now is the time to establish routines. Toddlers, by nature, are creatures of habit so consistent routines for meals, bedtime and bath time help them manage their day.
• Discipline is an important way to help a toddler decipher right from wrong. Some general rules are be clear and concise with both the misbehavior and desired behavior, ignore unimportant or irrelevant behaviors to stop constant criticism and do not forget to praise positive behaviors.
• Rules should be appropriate for the child’s age and understanding.
• Time-out is used to interrupt unacceptable behavior by removing the child from the scene to a boring place like the corner of the room. This should last about one minute per year of age and not more than five minutes.
• Consistency, consistency, consistency. A behavior cannot be acceptable in one circumstance and not in another – the child has no way of discerning the difference. This is probably the hardest and most important step that a parent needs to take.
• Encourage self-care and self-soothing behaviors.

A One-Year-Old Child’s Developmental Milestones

• Your baby can now pull to stand, cruise holding onto furniture and possibly take steps alone. Safe exploration is the name of the game.
• Your baby is probably saying 2-4 words besides mama and dada. Let the baby imitate sounds, listen to music and convey their feelings of happiness, frustration, anger and fear.
• Make sure the mattress height of the crib is lowered since the baby will soon be able to step over stuffed animals to climb out.

Your child may begin to show more curiosity about bathroom habits at this age, although more than likely they won’t be ready for toilet training just yet. Pay attention to when they are ready, and speak with your pediatrician about a diarrhea treatment for infants and young children in case this issue presents itself.

What to Expect During the Well-Child Appointment

• At this visit, we will draw blood to check your baby’s hemoglobin and lead levels. Hemoglobin is an important part of red blood cells, whose main job is to deliver oxygen to different parts of the body. Low hemoglobin may be indicative of anemia – a lower-than-usual number of red blood cells. This is usually caused by too little iron in the diet, so the blood work will help us decide whether the baby needs supplementation. Lead levels are screened routinely to make sure that your baby has not had unsafe exposure to lead. High lead levels in the baby’s blood can lead to neurological and other serious medical conditions.
• Immunizations are a critical part of the baby’s well-being. Immunizations protect us from illnesses that have historically caused significant illness and death in children. Multiple studies are completed on the importance and safety of vaccines before they are added to the state’s mandatory list. Particular information on each vaccine is available on our website. The vaccines that are administered at the 12-month visit are the following.
  MMR (measles/mumps/rubella) – These viruses can cause rash and swollen glands that can lead to pneumonia, meningitis and hearing loss.
  Varicella (chicken pox) – The bacteria can cause rash, itching and fever that can lead to skin infection, scars, pneumonia or even death.
  Hepatitis A – This is a virus that can cause fatigue, nausea/vomiting, severe stomach pain, diarrhea and jaundice.
  Varicella – A live vaccine that may have a delayed response. A fever in 2-3 days should be mild.
• Your child may experience mild redness or tenderness at the injection site. Again, this should be mild. If the reaction is more severe, the office should be notified.

Safety Concerns for a One-Year-Old Toddler

• Be sure to lock away medications and all cleaning, automotive, laundry and lawn products out of sight and out of reach. Climbing toddlers can reach even high shelves.
• Keep your toddler away from hot objects that are able to be touched, including oven doors and heaters, or put a barrier around them.
• Now that your child will be beginning to walk, get down on the floor yourself and check for hazards.
• Keep plastic bags, latex balloons or small objects, such as marbles, away from your toddler’s reach. Be sure there is not dangling telephone, electrical, blind or drapery cords in your home.
• Make sure televisions, furniture, and other heavy items are secure so that your child can’t pull them over.
• Keep sharp objects, such as knives and scissors, out of your toddler’s reach.
• Never leave young siblings in charge of their baby sister or brother. Allow them to help with daily tasks, like feeding, under the supervision of a responsible adult.
• Use gates at the top and bottom of stairs and watch your toddler closely when they are on the stairs. To prevent from children ever falling out of windows, keep furniture away from windows and install operable window guards on second and higher-story windows.
• Never place your child’s rear-facing seat in the front seat of a vehicle with a passenger air bag. The back seat is the safest place for children to ride.
• The rear-facing position provides the best protection for your child’s neck and head in the event of a crash. It is recommended that children remain rear-facing until 2 years of age.
• Watch your child constantly whenever they are near water. A supervising adult should be within arm’s reach, providing “touch supervision.”
• Empty buckets, tubs or small pools after you use them. Also, be sure that all community pools have self-latching and self-closing gates.
• Children should always wear approved life jackets when on boats or other watercraft.
• The best way to keep a child safe from injury or death from guns is to never have a gun in the home. If it is necessary to keep a gun in your home, it should be stored unloaded and locked with the ammunition locked separately from the gun.

Contact Us for a Well-Child Examination in Cumming

At Vickery Pediatrics, we have a long history of guidance and support for families in Cumming, Buford, Dawsonville, Gainesville, Johns Creek, Sugar Hill, Suwanee and Forsyth County. If you would like to schedule a 12-month well-child examination or discuss another pediatric issue, contact our team today. Call (678) 990-2501 or request an appointment today.