Thanks, Julie!
We all have to take our baby to the doctor on their regimented schedule to make sure our baby gets all of his/her vaccinations and is hitting all the developmental milestones on time. Here's three tips to help you deal with these stressful visits.
1) Shots hurt...but only for a moment. It's hard not to feel a little bit guilty when your baby looks up at you with accusing eyes, visually pleading "Why are you letting them stab me???" And I'm sure by the time my children are grown, vaccines will be delivered orally or some other non-invasive method, and my kids will actually say to me "I can't believe you let doctors STAB me as a BABY!" When that happens, I will say three things (hey...three within three!) 1) Shots were the only option back then, 2) It only hurt for a few minutes, and 3) Do you know how many needle sticks I had giving birth to you??? I had IV's! A nurse blew one of my veins! So don't complain to me about a few shots! Man up!!!
2) Doctors ask seemingly random questions because they think you won't understand what "fine motor skills", and other developmental skills, are. When my son was a toddler, the doctor asked "Does he use a fork?" I said "Are you insane??? I have carpet in my dining room! But if you're talking about hand/eye coordination, he can put blocks into the shape sorter."
3) There is a very wide variation of what is considered "normal". If you think about a bell-shaped curve, my son is always on the ends. He either does something way ahead of schedule...or way behind. He didn't talk for a long time, and when he did his first words were "apple", then "banana", then "cheese". "Is he working in alphabetical order?" the nurse asked. Eventually he was evaluated by a speech language pathologist. After the evaluation I said "Don't worry about hurting my feelings. I know he's very behind." "Ummm, well, uhhh, actually, he's ahead." "That's impossible!" I shrieked. Turns out, yes, there were some speech skills he couldn't do at all, but there were others he had mastered that were well above his age level. So when all the results were tabulated, he was "above normal".
My daughter, on the other hand, is the child they modeled the developmental milestones after. At her well-baby visits, I would say "Yes to all" when they started asking questions. They'd look at me strangely and continue with their questions, and sure enough, it was always yes to all.
My kids are 9 and 6 now, so those well baby visits are thankfully behind me, although they do still occasionally get shots. "Is it going to hurt?" they always ask. And I always say "Of course it's going to hurt! They're going to stab you with a needle!" Duh.
