Regular check ups? Dont children have them?

[reren]

I grew up outside the uk and we used to have an annual check up testing hearing, sight, growth and various other things to double check all progressing ok. Does this not happen in uk? Seems like a reassuring thing for parents? I havent had any communication from health visitor since my one year old had his last batch of shots - i think we're due the mmr - should i chase that up or will someone get in touch? Anything other parents recommend i could/should be doing pro-actively?

[jollybaby]

You'll need to be proactive and book his immunisations. 12 and 15 months in this area. I haven't delved too much into the red book but I don't think there is much of a formal programme of assessments from now on. I suppose it's because the pick up rate of such a scheme is quite low and it's probably not a very efficient use of services -ie the chance of finding a problem in a well child (when the mother/carers haven't any concerns) is low. Mums and dads of older children - please correct me if I'm wrong!

[Pickle]

Definitely be proactive regarding immunisations - I'm sure eventually you would get a reminder if you missed them, but I doubt that it would be particularly timely.

You can go to the HV at any time, but there is supposed to be a more formal checkup around 2 years. I went with my first child and it was possibly the most pointless appointment ever (very general stuff that most parents would be aware of). Didn't go with number 2, and got a chasing letter a couple of months ago (she turned 3 in June) - got guilted into going along only to have a very confused HV question why I was there!

[budur]

The only check for the child you get from a doctor in this country is at 6 weeks (by a GP), that's it, the rest is with HV, which as pointed above I also found completely pointless (2 year check is also with HV only). i am also not from the UK and as kids we were checked regularly by all sorts of doctors. And no, I don't agree that the parent will notice if something is wrong anyway, we are not doctors. One of my friend at 2 years noticed that her son was a bit struggling to watch TV, took to the doctor, turned out he had a lazy eye and could have lost his sight in one eye completely, good she noticed, normally they it gets noticed only at 4, when kids go to school, by which time in this particular case it would have been too late. Something like this would have been discovered back home as a child is seen by an ophthalmologist regularly (among other specialists). And there are few examples like this... We took our daughter to a private pediatrician after 1 year, just to make sure everything is ok and he said he gets a lot of parents like us.

[chantelle]

I've heard talk of a 2 year check but it certainly wasn't mentioned by my GP or anyone else and my son is now 3.5. I saw the HV only once after my son was 1+, and that's just because she saw us in the surgery and we were new to the area, so she came round to the house once to have a look.

I was recently getting my own flu jab and the nurse was kind enough to look up his records and saw he's due a booster and the second round of MMR.

I imagine lots of early hearing and sight problems are missed out by the system here but I suppose it's a balance against costs.