Hey Mama, welcome back to parently. Today we're going to talk about your pediatrician. So the pediatrician will visit you in your postpartum room within 24 hours of the delivery of your baby. And then the pediatrician will visit you again before discharge. Now this might be your pediatrician of choice that you decided before delivery, or it might be a pediatrician that's on call at the hospital. Some mamas don't decide on which pediatrician they want to use until after delivery, and that's okay the hospital will probably give you a list of recommendations.
But it's very important to also do a lot of research you're on your own to decide on which pediatrician you best fit with. your pediatrician is just like your doctor. You want to relate to the pediatrician. You want there to be commonality you want the belief systems to be similar. If you believe Even vaccinations will then be with a pediatrician that also believes in vaccinations. If you choose to not vaccinate your baby, then you have to find a pediatrician that agrees and is okay with that.
It's hard to find. But do your research, be informed and find a pediatrician that has a common bond with you. So the baby does a lot of growth and development in the first two years of life. And this is why it's important to be visiting a pediatrician within those first two years. You can do a lot of research on your own and know about the developmental stages and is a baby acting appropriately his baby gaining weight is baby eating the right amount of nutrients, but the pediatrician is trained in this field. So he or she is going to know these answers right off hand.
Whereas you might have to do a little bit more digging and that's okay. But again, find a pediatrician that fits with your beliefs. So as I said the pediatrician is going to see baby within the first 24 hours of life. Before discharge, and then you want to make an appointment within the next three to five days of delivery. Baby can lose a lot of weight in this time and a lot changes. So it's good to get into the pediatricians office within three to five days of discharge from the hospital.
After that, the pediatrician will make appointments with you based on their schedule. It's probably going to be the next one at month one, and then month two, month four and so on. But every office is a little bit different. So what does the pediatrician do at the first office visit? Well, the first thing to know is the pediatrician is going to talk to you about vaccinations. If you believe in vaccinations, the baby is going to be given the first dose of hepatitis at the hospital.
Beyond that baby's going to get two more shots of hepatitis B. And there's a lot of other vaccinations that baby will get if you vaccinate your baby. And we are going to provide a list of for you by the CDC below that you can reference, your pediatrician will also have that list, so don't worry about memorizing it, it gets a little complicated. The pediatrician is also going to do a lot of assessment of the baby, measuring the head, measuring length of baby, what is baby's weight? How much weight has baby lost since delivery? Are you breastfeeding?
Or are you formula feeding. They're also going to assess reflexes and how baby responds to stimulation. They're going to assess baby's heart and lungs and also genitalia. At this point, the pediatrician is going to assess behavioral and psychological behavior of baby and this is a baseline so that moving forward and more appointments that pediatrician will know is the baby behaving appropriately for the age and based off of what baby was like at the first visit and so forth. So this Is your pediatrician visits. Again, I encourage you to find one that fits with your beliefs.
This is your baby and decisions are yours to be made. Make sure that you find a pediatrician that respects your beliefs and is not too pushy. Again, your baby your decisions, and I wish you the best of luck and finding a good pediatrician.