Here in the United States, access to health care is becoming better and better with each passing year. And healthcare is important for everyone here in this country and beyond, from the oldest of adults to the youngest of babies. In fact, seeing a child doctor to stay on top of your child’s health care needs is likely to be more important than anything, as children need a wide array of treatments to protect them as they grow. In addition to this, children have immune systems that are still growing and changing, meaning that they can be much more susceptible to various diseases and conditions – and complications resulting from such.
Vaccinations, for instance, are incredibly important as your child grows and something that the average child doctor will be able to provide with ease. In fact, many people would consider vaccines for children to be one of the most important parts of pediatric care around, something that is backed up by the vast majority of all child doctors – who are also known as pediatricians. For instance, mumps, measles and rubella can now be vaccinated against and, according to data that has been gathered from many a child doctor in this country, more than 91% of all children have bene vaccinated against such at the current date, a number that hopefully only continues to grow and grow in the years that are to come.
In addition to this, whooping cough can be vaccinated against as well, an illness that once took many lives. While a child is unprotected from the whooping cough for the first few months of life, before the vaccine can safely be administered, a child doctor is likely to recommend that family members in close proximity to the child all get vaccinated against it. And once a child is able to be vaccinated, their chances of catching this often dangerous illness drops quite dramatically.
The flu vaccination is also very important, even though many people are wary of it. But the flu vaccination is highly important, especially for those who are more susceptible to developing serious complications from it, as children so often are. As a matter of fact, even a child that catches the flu after receiving the flu shot will suffer a much less severe version of the illness, one that is far less likely to ultimately end up putting them in the hospital with serious medical concerns. Therefore, just about every child doctor recommends that children who are over six months of age get a flu vaccination.
However, it’s important for parents to understand that contracting minor illnesses is commonplace among children, as their immune systems are just being built up. So while it is likely that the average healthy adult will get no more than four colds over the course of the year, children can get as many as ten colds (and typically get no fewer than six) and can still be considered healthy on the whole. During winter months, when the rates of colds as much as triples, colds are likely to be especially common. And while a cold is very unlikely to be harmful to your child, you can always take him or her to your local child doctor to be checked out – just in case.
Monitoring healthy growth is something that the average child doctor will also do, ranging from height to weight to head circumference. For many child doctors and pediatricians across the country, making sure that children are at a healthy weight has become particularly important, especially as more and more children cross the line from being overweight into being obese. In fact, the prevalence of obesity among children reached an all time high in recent years, with the percentage of obese children in this country actually exceeding 18%. This can lead to serious health side affects, particularly as a child grows older and closer to their adult years.
Having your child doctor monitor your child’s weight on at least a yearly basis can help to keep a close eye on it, which can make obesity easier to combat if it becomes a more real threat.