The U9 screening - is it going well?
Our series on the U examinations continues with the U9 - which is almost like a repeat of the U8.
At the U9, the children are five years old and, as always, weighing and measuring are part of the examination. We also measure the blood pressure, check the urine and check the immunisation record. Of course, as always, there is also time to discuss any questions that parents may have had since the last check-up.
All in all, however, the U9 is not very different from the U8; the same aspects are examined, namely motor skills, fine motor skills and speech. And the developmental differences that we would like to see in comparison to the U8 are relatively small in some areas.
Two examples: A child should already be able to hop on one leg at U9, at least three to five hops per leg should work. There should also have been a small "hiccup" in speech. For example, if the child is still saying "Dinderdarden" and "Sule", you could consider speech therapy.
Another common topic for parents at U9 is the question of school enrolment: When will the child be ready? There is a separate tip with a video about this.
Further interesting tips
Addicted parents
If a mother or father suffers from an addiction problem, this is not only a burden for them, but also for their children. There is also a high risk that the children will later suffer from an addiction problem themselves. There is a model project in Baden-Württemberg to deal with this issue: "SALTO".
Infant formula
There's no doubt about it: breast milk is the ideal food for every infant. But please don't put your baby under pressure, don't stress and above all don't panic if breastfeeding doesn't work or doesn't always work.
Sneezing (photic sneeze reflex)
Do you know this? You step into the sunlight and - whoops - you have to sneeze. This phenomenon is called the photic sneeze reflex. Around a third of all people have this reflex.