Checkups are best gift to family

Just as important as a new winter coat, festive decorations, family gatherings and resolutions this holiday season, a physical exam will help prepare your child or teen for a healthy year ahead.

School requirements have changed, and many important immunizations are required prior to entering school to protect against harmful and potentially deadly disease. In addition, there are valuable recommended vaccines to prevent hepatitis A, meningococcal meningitis, human papilloma virus (cervical cancer) and the flu.

In addition to catching up on missed immunizations, a yearly physical exam may detect something as serious as a heart murmur or as simple as acne. While clearing up teen acne may seem insignificant to a parent, it can improve a 15-year-old’s life and he or she will forever thank you for it.

At every complete checkup your pediatrician should calculate and plot your child’s body mass index—a ratio of weight to height. With the dramatic rise in child and adolescent obesity, nutrition and exercise counseling is vital. Overweight children not only suffer from diabetes, high cholesterol and heart disease, but they also have higher rates of depression, school failure and lower self-esteem.

If your child has asthma or another chronic illness, frequent follow-up with review of their medications is crucial. As children get older, they may need a higher dose or may have outgrown the condition.

In addition to disease and illness, there are other critical issues such as sleep troubles, behavior problems, school failure and injury prevention that can affect your child’s health and should be discussed with the pediatrician on a regular basis.

If your child is having difficulty in school this year, start the new year off right and talk to your pediatrician, who can determine if there is an underlying condition such as ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) that, if left untreated, can hinder your child’s academic performance. School success might be as simple as a tutor for math or after-school time set aside for homework.

A complete physical exam takes much longer than a quick visit to evaluate an ear infection or cold and needs to be booked in advance. Get your family’s new year off to a great start and schedule everyone a checkup as soon as possible.

Tanya Remer Altmann, MD, FAAP is a boardcertified pediatrician at Community Pediatric Medical Group in Westlake Village and editorinchief of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ parenting book “The Wonder Years.”