Posts for: August, 2020

What is a wellness visit?
While you should bring your child into the doctor’s office when they are sick, this isn’t the only time that they should be visiting a pediatrician. Regular wellness visits allow your child’s doctor to continue to monitor their health and development throughout their childhood and teen years. A wellness or well-child visit typically involves:
- Recording your child’s height and weight
- Providing a detailed medical history of your child
- Checking vital signs
- Hearing and vision screenings (depending on the age)
- A full physical examination (painless and non-invasive)
- Additional testing or blood work, if necessary
- Vaccinations, as needed
- Answer any questions that the parent may have about their child’s health and provide information and advice on ways to keep your child healthy
Furthermore, children will need to go through a series of vaccines during the first few years of life. Vaccines are one of the best ways to protect your child from serious and potentially life-threatening diseases such as polio. By keeping up with your child’s wellness and vaccine schedule you ensure that you are providing your child with everything that they need to stay healthy.
Why are wellness visits so important?
As you can probably assume already, these checkups are the best way to prevent health problems from happening in the first place (which we can all agree is so much better than just treating the problem once it comes along). Other benefits of wellness visits include:
- Providing parents with support, peace of mind, and advice regarding everything from sleep schedules and diet to medications and behavioral concerns.
- Catch problems early on, whether physical, mental or behavioral, when they can easily be managed and treated through simpler and less invasive treatment options
- Having a doctor that becomes an important part of your family; someone you can trust and rely on to always be there for your child. After all, knowing that you have a doctor that you can turn to in an emergency is invaluable.

Is This Normal Behavior?
- Being defiant
- Lying
- Whining
- Impulsivity
- Issues around bedtime
- Issues around food (being a “picky eater” or refusing to eat)
- Anger
- Temper tantrums
- Are still occurring regardless of discipline or punishment
- Are affecting their schoolwork and/or social interactions
- Aren’t appropriate for their age (e.g. throwing temper tantrums as an older child)
- Aggressive or violent behavior
- Harm to self, others, or animals
- Hearing or seeing things that aren’t there
- Breaking the rules or skipping school
- Sudden or extreme behavioral changes
- Showing no remorse
Pediatricians come equipped to handle and address any issues regarding your child’s health, and this includes behavioral concerns you may have as a parent. If your pediatrician believes that a developmental, neurological, or mental health disorder could be to blame, then they may recommend additional testing and evaluations. This is done either through their practice or with a specific specialist who can properly diagnose and treat certain conditions such as depression, oppositional defiant disorder, ADHD, or autism spectrum disorder.
Based on the results of your child’s screening, your pediatrician will then be able to create a custom treatment plan to help you and your child manage their condition and their symptoms. Your pediatrician can also refer your child to therapists and other specialists who can also provide additional support and treatment for the whole family.
If you’re having concerns about your child’s behavior, it’s best to talk with your pediatrician at your child’s next wellness checkup.
Could your little one be dealing with an ear infection?
Your child may not be old enough to tell you that their ear hurts, but you may suddenly notice that they are pulling or tugging at one of their ears, or that they cry whenever they lie down. These are all warning signs of an earache. Of course, does this mean that you should see our Edison, NJ, area’s top pediatricians or wait it out? Here’s how to handle an ear infection in your little one,
If In Doubt, Call Your Doctor
Our office understands that any symptoms your child is experiencing is a serious concern; however, you don’t want to rush right to the office to have a pediatrician tell you to “wait and see”. Therefore, if you are concerned about your child’s ear infection but not sure if it warrants seeing one of our top pediatricians here in Edison, NJ, we also offer telemedicine appointments so you can talk to us about your child’s symptoms over your computer or smartphone before deciding whether or not to come in.
In most instances where your child doesn’t have a fever and isn’t dealing with significant ear pain, our pediatrician will most likely say to wait it out to see if the problem gets better on its own; however, if symptoms get worse or don’t go away then you should definitely come into our office within 48 hours.
If your child is dealing with severe pain, has a fever that’s over 102 degrees F, or has fluid in the ear canal then your doctor will most likely prescribe antibiotics. Once your child starts taking antibiotics, they should start to experience some relief from their symptoms within the first day.
Along with the symptoms we mentioned earlier, here are some other signs to look for that might tip you off to the fact that your child has an ear infection,
- Fluid draining from the ear
- Trouble sleeping (this is because there is more pressure placed on the eardrum when lying down)
- Poor appetite (yes, even chewing can make ear pain worse)
- Redness or swelling of the outer ear
- Changes in your child’s hearing (they may have trouble hearing quieter sounds)
- Increased fussiness, clinginess and irritability
7 Days Pediatrics provide top pediatricians and the highest quality pediatric care to children and teens in Edison and South Plainfield, NJ. If your child is dealing with an ear infection call our office at (732) 548-3210 to schedule an in-office or telemedicine visit.
The Importance of Regular Wellness Checkups
Your child’s wellness checkups are important for several reasons, but the main purpose is to let your pediatrician examine your child to ensure that they are growing and developing as they should for their age. Caching any delays in development early on means that your child can get the treatment they need to grow into a healthy adult. The team of pediatricians at 7 Days Pediatrics in Edison can provide your child with regular wellness check-ups.
The Important Factors to Wellness Checkups
Edison parents like to book regular wellness checkups for their children so that they can protect their children in the following ways:
- Prevention: Preventive care means that your child always gets their immunizations at the appropriate time in their life. It also means that they can have regular hearing and vision checks and you can ask your pediatrician for nutritional advice.
- Growth and development: At each visit, you and your pediatrician will be able to see how your child has developed since your last appointment. This will allow you to learn if your child is meeting healthy developmental milestones.
- Help and advice: Your child’s wellness check gives you an opportunity to raise any concerns or ask any questions about your child’s health. If you prepare a list of questions or topics before your appointment, you can be sure that you will not forget to discuss them. Some topics you may like to discuss include your child’s diet, sleep patterns, school development, relationships with siblings, and how to break habits such as thumb sucking or bedwetting.
If you would like to find out more about the benefits of regular wellness check-ups for your child, call 7 Day Pediatrics at our Edison office on (732) 548-3210, South Plainfield on (732) 548-3210, and Amboy on (732) 548-3210.