Maternal & Child Health Nurse (MCHN) visits

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Article Summary

You will have about nine routine visits, either with your GP, health visitor or practice nurse.

No sooner do you bring your baby home from the hospital than your baby's doctor wants to see you. You will have about 9 routine visits either with your GP or with the health visitor or practice nurse. When your health visitor comes for the first visit, she will give you a Child Health Record Book that you should always take with you so that all the observations can be recorded. It also tells you about all the immunisations. These "Maternal & Child Health Nurse (MCHN) visit" or health supervision visits are important: they enable your GP to monitor your baby's growth and progress at regular intervals, ensure that your baby gets the necessary immunisations on time and provide reassurance about your baby's health. These appointments are the perfect time for you to raise questions and issues about your child and your family, and to get help and information about what's ahead. Don't miss your scheduled Maternal & Child Health Nurse (MCHN) checkup.

Most GPs will get you and your baby to come in two or more times in the first couple of weeks to check on feeding and other newborn "getting started" issues, or the doctor or nurse from the practice may visit you at home. These brief visits help to ensure that everything is on track. However, the more regular, longer visits start at about one month.

At each Maternal & Child Health Nurse (MCHN) visit, you can expect the doctor to conduct some routine checks and offer information, including:

 Checking your baby's weight and height to make sure he's growing steadily and gaining weight normally.
 Measuring your baby's head circumference to make sure it's growing normally.
 Giving your baby any immunisations he's due for.
 Sharing insights into your baby's development.
 Discussing breastfeeding issues.
 Answering any questions you may have.

Click on your baby's age for what to expect at the corresponding Maternal & Child Health Nurse (MCHN) visit:

1 month    2 months    4 months    6 months    9 months    12 months

18 months   2 years    3 years 

Category Tags:

Development

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Health

Article Tags:

immunisations

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paediatrician