Newborn Journey
Having a newborn is life's most special and joyful moment. It is also often overwhelming and confusing period of time (especially when you are dealing with sleep deprivation). At paedsdoctor, we aim to provide a continuity based care model for families welcoming their newest family member. We support parents and babies from birth through to their first months of life (and throughout childhood).
We have included a summary timeline illustrating the key moments in your newborn journey with paedsdoctor.
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01
Arrival of baby
Birth attendance
Your paediatrician may be requested by your obsterician to attend your delivery to ensure safe arrival of your newborn. This may include resuscitiation and nursery admission (neonatal intensive care or special care nursery) for some babies.
Hospital Reviews
Inital medical review is completed by your paediatrician to give your baby their first top to toe check up.
During your post-partum stay in hospital, your paediatrician typically review your baby 2 -3 times (more urgently and frequently if any medical concerns arise). We ensure feeding, weight gain and jaundice are closely monitored. Your paediatrician also ensure any new or evolving concerns with babies are addressed immediately.
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Discharge Review ( Day 3-5)
Before heading home, your baby will have another comprehensive examination. During this review, you will be provided with specific guidance on feeding, growth and developmental expection and details on newborn follow up care.
The aim of this review to to ensure you are feeling confident to take your newborn home, address any concerns or uncertainity.
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Nursery Reviews
If your baby requires nursery admission for medical interventions, they will be reviewed daily by your paediatrician. Your paediatrician will ensure that your baby is recieving evidence based intervention and utmost care in order to have a safe sooner reunion with parents.
02
Baby Support Clinic
At paedsdoctor, we offer early support to new mothers and newborn. At 1 - 2 weeks post hospital discharge, our lactation consultant midwife offers a telehealth video review. This telehealth is a bulk billed service. This provides an opportunity for mothers to address any feeding, sleep, settling, early growth and weight concerns with our experienced midwife. Any identified concerns will be promptly identified and escalated to your paediatrician by our midwife.
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We also offer early clinic/ face-face lactation service and additional support review (out-of-pocket fees applies, refer to fee section). This can be arranged during initial telehealth review with our lactation consultant midwife.
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Finally, we understand life can be messy with a newborn hence our lactation consultant midwife also offer home-visits lactation service if needed (pending distance and out-of-pocket fees applies, refer to fee section).
03
6 - 8 weeks Paediatrician check
At this review, your paediatrican will assess your baby's health, growth and early development in depth. This include a detailed full physical and developmental assessment. Any outstanding neonatal investigations and parental concerns will be also discussed.
This is an extended 30 minutes review to ensure parents are not rushed and all concerns are appropriately addressed.
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Follow up plans and some expected future milestones may also be discussed. Your paediatrician will also close the loop by providing a printed summary or electronic summary to your obsterician and family GP.
04
On going Infant and Childhood clinic
Some families may opt to continue their babies journey with us past the routine 6-8 weeks paediatrician review.
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Your paediatrician may continue to reivew your baby at key developmental stages to ensure they are progressing as expected. This typically involve a 4-6 months old review and/or a 9-12 months old review.
This review is especially important for our nursery graduates or premature graduates.
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At 4 -6 months old reivew, your infant's motor and social developmental skills are assessed. Often, your paediatrician will also offer an in-depth assessment and discussion about solid readiness and feeding transition. This bulits parent's confiderence to start this important milestone.
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At 9 - 12 months old reivew, this is a key achievement milestone for your and your child. Your paediatrician will assess your child's developmental milestone, including gross and fine motor, speech and languae as well as social skill. This is an important opportunity to flag any early developmental concerns or red flags for early childhood intervention. This review provide parental reassurance about their child's progress to date and assist in planning for future care (into early childhood and school years).
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After this review, your child may continue to be reviewed by our paediatrician in our general paediatrics clinic for on-going review throughout childhood and school years. We strive to ensure continuty of care for our patients and their family.
