HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT CHECKUPS FOR UNDER-FIVES
Early intervention allows much better outcomes on average for children with health or development concerns. Your paediatrician, GP and Child and Family Health Service (CAFHS) work together to ensure that any problems are identified early or at the right time for intervention.
Health and Developmental Checks for children from birth to 5 years:
-1 to 4 weeks: normally with your GP or CAFHS
-6 to 8 weeks should be with your Paediatrician or GP
-6 to 9 months with CAFHS
-18 to 24 months normally with CAFHS or GP, (not offered if older than 24 months)
-3 years with GP
-4 years normally with CAFHS at preschool, includes hearing and vision screening and growth.
For any specific concerns, at any time, CAFHS can assess your child and if needed advise further review with your G/P and/or paediatrician (your GP’s referral may be needed) or the Community Allied Health Service. Issues with sleep, development, growth vision and hearing are core business for CAFHS. Contact details for CAFHS are available here.
The Blue Book is your child’s health journal for growth and development. It is your first stop for information about health questions and developmental checks. Your paediatrician, GP and CAFHS service review progress with the aid of all the information entered there. Please bring it to all appointments.
Parent resources and help for SA families:
We recommend visiting the Parenting and Child Health website for more detailed information on a number of topics related to all aspects of child health and development. This site is run by the Women’s and Children’s Health Network, a joint venture between Child and Youth Health and the Women’s and Children’s Hospital. Please note that the resources on this site are not intended as a substitute for professional health care.
Parent Helpline SA: a parent helpline is available at 1300 364 100. To see when and how they can assist please visit their website.
Child and Family Health Services (CaFHS) provides free developmental health checks for children at various key stages between birth and 6 years. We recommend seeing one of our paediatricians for your child’s 6 week and 18 – 24 months check but the CaFHS sites may be more convenient to parents for other developmental checks. More information on these checks and further recommendations from CaFHS can be found at their website.
You can also easily find the location of your nearest CaFHS site.
Health Topics for Children from A – Z: Please consult the below link for advice on a wide range of topics in child health.
Breastfeeding Support: This page provides breastfeeding advice as well as information on contacting the Australian Breastfeeding Association for one on one communications.
The Australian Breastfeeding Association’s site is an invaluable resource for new mothers, not only for information but also in making community ties with other young mothers.
Hearing Assessment Services in SA: Services are available for children from 0 – 18 years.
Women’s & Children’s Child and Youth Health Network: cyh.com
Parenting Easy Guides available at www.parenting.sa.gov.au
Information sheets on a range of parenting issues for children of all ages, such as bedwetting, discipline, peer pressure, blended families, feeding toddlers etc.
Other Great Parenting Resources:
Tresillian- Australia’s largest not-for-profit Early Parenting Service offering professional advice, education and guidance to families with a baby, toddler or pre-schooler. Tresillian has helped generations of parents for over 100 years and is based in NSW, Victoria and the ACT. They also have great online information. Go to the Advice and Tips section of the website for reassurance and support with settling baby & sleep difficulties; feeding, solids; managing several babies; understanding your baby’s and toddler’s cues and behaviours; parental emotional & psychological well-being.
( https://www.tresillian.org.au/advice-tips/)
Baby’s Poo Guide- whats normal for newborns and older babies
Respiratory Distress signs in babies:-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oX3CZnrLxbQ
Baby’s behaviour -understand their cues: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiV_uXOg6Bg-
Swaddling-dos and dont’s and rch.cocoon/project
Other Guides for the newborn period, Parenting, Childhood (you can follow further links to various topics).
Healthy Hips Australia -For advice on promoting good hip alignment and development, swaddling and carrying techniques and what to avoid. Go to -https://www.healthyhipsaustralia.org.au/services/parent-tips-hints/
Oral Ties and Gestalt Breastfeeding-Dr Pamela Douglas
More on Oral Ties and impact of cutting or lasering - Dr Pamela Douglas
https://www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/- fact sheets on various health and development concerns, often used by the paediatricians practising at Prosper Paediatrics. Topics include fever, rashes, constipation, helping toddlers with difficult behaviours, Hand Foot and Mouth Disease, etc.
Coughs in children:
https://www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/fact_sheets/cough/
https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/childs-cough.html
Parenting, behavioural concerns, mental health:
Triple P Parenting Courses are now free online -for simple and practical strategies to help parents build strong, healthy relationships, confidently manage their children’s behaviour and prevent problems from developing. -click here to register and here for more information.
The Brave Program offers 3 online programs for children from 3 to 17 years of age for anxiety and depression. This is an initiative of the University of Queensland, Griffith University and the University of Southern Queensland, and has been specifically designed to teach young people the skills they need to reduce anxiety and to cope with stressful situations.
These online programs were developed from a program running in Australia for over 13 years. It is based on Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Participants can develop skills in relaxation, identifying emotions and thoughts, positive self-talk, coping skills and problem-solving.
Families Growing Together Team- a service provided by the Department of Human Services that provides workshops around SA on parenting concerns such as connecting, building relationships, handling conflict, positive discipline, cyber safety, disability etc.
Emerging Minds Resources include fact sheets on parenting and mental health for babies, children and adolescents.
Family Relationships Online- a Federal Government service helping parents navigate relationship difficulties to stay together. This service also offers advice and resources to help parents keep family relationships healthy and support children through separation, divorce and beyond.
Relationships Australia-focus on strengthening positive relationships in families and communities including among parents (together or separated and children.
This Way Up provides evidence-based, internet-delivered Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (iCBT) programs. As a not-for-profit and joint initiative of St Vincent’s Hospital and the University of New South Wales, their mission is to reduce the burden of mental illness by providing accessible online treatment for anxiety disorders and related mental health conditions. Programs are for adults and perhaps older adolescents.
Helping the Medicine Go Down.
Success and happiness with medicines is almost always a matter of confidence, not fussing, honesty, sensible rewards and understanding. Kids will often benefit from practising and sharing the activity with their sympathetic but firm and confident parent.
Always check with your pharmacist and paediatrician about the particular medicine and any restrictions, such as not mixing with foods. Some tablets should not be crushed, and some capsules can’t be emptied on food. Within the limits advised by your paediatrician and pharmacist, be creative and use trickery.
Medicines can be yucky. Parents should be honest and realistic about the unpleasant taste of some medications and that children register the nasty elements of the taste, such as bitterness, more strongly. Some infant formulas, tablets, capsules and liquid medicines do taste yuck; some are truly horrid.
Trick the tongue not the child. If your child is a toddler, it might be helpful to trick them sometimes by hiding the medication. But it’s generally best to focus on tricking the tongue rather than the child.
Tricks for yuck: cutting flavours, coatings, chasers, cold, bypassing and choice.
Flavours that cut through and overpower the yuck: Sweet acidic strong flavours such as orange juice and cordials help to mask or overtake the yucky taste. Sometimes strong salty flavours such as vegemite can help. Experiment together.
Bypass the tastebuds: A liquid may be droppered or gently syringed to the side of the mouth or the very back of the tongue. Try putting a tablet or capsule inside a spoonful of cold ice cream or a thick vegemite or chocolate sauce coating for swallowing. Aim to use this trick but not to dissolve the outer layer before it arrives in the tummy.
Chasers: A liquid, tablet or capsule could be washed down quickly with a chilled “chaser” of juice or cordial, maybe ice cream or an icy pole. A liquid medicine dose could be swallowed in several portions, each followed by the chaser.
Coldness can numb taste buds on the tongue. Try eating half the icy pole or ice cream before the medicine and chasing it with the rest. Chasers are even better if cold, even a bit icy. The cold will help minimise the yuck.
Let your child help devise tricks. Invite them to choose the tricks they prefer and maybe even suggest some. It will be a project between you to devise the best solution.
Pill swallowing needs practice. It’s a skill that may not come easily to some children, especially younger ones. Use little and then bigger amounts of ice cream to swallow. Use small smooth lollies suchTictacs to practice with your child. Show them how you do it. Children may need to learn not to chew before they swallow the tablet.
Reward and encourage your child’s efforts.
Share your tricks. If you come up with a successful trick for the tongue or a swallowing skills strategy, let us know so we can share it with other parents.
Some web pages that may help:
https://www.chla.org/blog/health-and-safety-tips/6-tips-will-take-the-strain-out-giving-your-child-medication
https://myhealth.alberta.ca/Health/Pages/conditions.aspx?hwid=abs2316
https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/swallowing-pills.html
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/top-tricks-to-get-your-child-to-take-medicine/
https://www.safemedication.com/pharmacist-insights/2021/04/26/does-your-child-refuse-to-take-medicine-some-helpful-tips
https://www.childrensmercy.org/your-visit/before-you-arrive/what-to-expect/helping-your-child-take-medicine/
Vaccinations information
Information about vaccinations is governed and restricted by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). Except within a consultation, doctors or other health care practices and providers are legally prevented from providing information and advice about vaccination if that information and advice might induce or encourage families to seek vaccination. The TGA has announced a surprising stance on this and will characterise any information or advice that might induce someone to seek vaccination as unlawful advertising. Information is available from the TGA and the TGA provides links to various other authorised Government sites. The Australian Immunisation Handbook, other handouts are available at NCIRS and Meningococcal Information. The practice regrets that we are unable to provide further assistance but encourages families to make an appointment if they would like to talk through, with their doctor, any questions or concerns about vaccinations. Families are able to discuss scheduled vaccinations such as for Pertussis or vaccinations for Meningococcal, Influenza or Covid 19.
The practice has never received any financial gain or benefit from providing information on vaccinations. The practice does not conduct vaccinations and does not receive any financial benefits in association with information regarding vaccinations including from any party conducting vaccinations nor from any government agency or pharmaceutical entity in the business of manufacturing or supplying vaccinations.
