Annual checkups keep kids healthy and developing well

NORTH PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Taking your child to the pediatrician when they're healthy may seem like a waste of time, but annual checkups are vital to making sure your child stays healthy.

Like any toddler, Kaylah Davis's daughter Zola is always on the move.

"Exhausting, honestly. From the time they wake up, they're ready to go," Kaylah says.

Parenting is a challenge, but she loves every minute with he daughter. And as a first-time mom, she has a million questions about Zola's health and development.

Davis has been a Temple Health patient since her childhood, so she was thrilled to connect with pediatrician Ilona Duffy.

"She was very hands-on, very attentive, like - do you need anything? She was so concerned," she said. "I feel comfortable with my child being in her care."

Dr. Duffy says new parents like Davis need extra support and information that go beyond just checking height and weight.

At checkups, she notes, "Their motor skills, in their fine motor skills, in their cognitive development, their social and emotional development, and how they interact with other people," and more.

The doctor says preventive medicine is a big focus: vaccinations, nutrition, sleep, screening for obesity, diabetes, high cholesterol, even how they are doing in school.

"Early intervention helps patients to gain those skills much earlier so that they don't fall behind," says Dr. Duffy.

Infants need well visits every few months. For toddlers, it's every six months. At 3 years old, it goes to once-a-year unless there are chronic conditions.

Dr. Duffy says teens need annual check-ups, too, to manage the major changes and stress in their lives.

"There're may be worries that they have that they don't wanna voice to their parent or guardian," Dr. Duffy says.

"We like to be the trusted adult during this time," she explains, adding, "We ask the parent to step out of the room and give them some confidential teen time with us. Just to have that privacy to ask them a question that they might be embarrassed to ask in front of their parent."

Davis says the concern and care Dr. Duffy and her staff show help her juggle parenting, a job, and studies to become a registered nurse.

"I'm glad I'm able to access the doctor and anything that I need at any time," she says.

And Dr. Duffy says her own experience as a parent helps her inform other families on what to expect next developmentally.