What to Expect During This Visit
Your doctor and/or nurse will probably:
1. Check your baby's weight,
length, and head circumference and plot the measurements on the growth
charts.
2. Ask questions, address any concerns, and offer advice about
how your baby is:
Feeding. Infants should
be fed when they seem hungry. At this age, breastfed babies will eat about eight
to twelve times in a 24-hour period. Formula-fed infants consume about 24 ounces a
day. Burp your baby midway
through feedings and at the end.
Peeing and pooping. Infants should have about six wet diapers
a day. The number of poopy diapers varies, but most breastfed babies will have three
or more. Around 6 weeks of age, breastfed babies may go several days without a bowel
movement. Formula-fed babies have at least one bowel movement a day. Tell your doctor
if you have any concerns about your infant's bowel movements.
Sleeping. Infants this
age sleep about 14 to 17 hours a day, including 4 or 5 daytime naps. Breastfed
babies may still wake often to eat at night, while bottle-fed infants may sleep for
longer stretches.
Developing.
By 1 month of age, babies should:
- focus and follow objects (especially faces)
- respond to sound by quieting down, blinking, turning the head, startling, or crying
- still hold arms and legs in a flexed position, but start to extend legs more frequently
- move arms and legs equally
- lift the head briefly when on the stomach
- have strong newborn reflexes:
- rooting and sucking: turns toward, then sucks breast/bottle nipple
- grasp: tightly grabs hold of a finger placed within the palm
- fencer's pose: straightens arm when head is turned to that side and bends opposite
arm
- Moro reflex (startle response): throws out arms and legs and then curls them in
when startled
3. Do a physical
exam with your baby undressed while you are present. This will include
an eye exam, listening to your baby's heart and feeling pulses, examining the belly,
and checking the hips.
4. Do screening tests. Your doctor will review the screening tests
from the hospital and repeat tests, if needed. If a hearing test wasn't done then,
your baby will have one now.
5. Update immunizations. Immunizations
can protect infants from serious childhood illnesses, so it's important that your
baby get them on time. Immunization schedules can vary from office to office, so talk
to your doctor about what to expect.