The US pension scheme: the half-year check
Preventive medical check-ups are an important topic for parents. When it comes to the U5, the child is six months old and they already know some of the key elements of these appointments.
As always, we start by determining the child's height, weight and head circumference, because these growth measurements are simply very important at baby age. Then we ask whether there are any particularities in everyday life, how the child sleeps, how stressed or burdened the parents are - if it seems necessary, we are always happy to refer them to support services (early help, Wellcome).
Another item on the agenda is the topic of nutrition. The vast majority will have already started complementary feeding at U5. If not, you should start after the sixth month at the latest.
An essential part of the U5 is the physical examination of the child. This includes listening, palpating the tummy and checking their motor skills. At six months, children should be able to support themselves freely on their hands and move their head around the room.
Many people think that little ones absolutely have to turn back and forth - but they don't have to. Although you can already see how motor skills are developing in the direction of turning, turning at six months is not a developmental milestone that a child absolutely has to have mastered.
What they should already be able to do, however, is to take things from one hand to the other and to cross the centre of the body when grasping. This is an important developmental step that the child should have learnt by this age.
Finally, as always, there is room for questions and to discuss how to proceed with immunisations and preventive care.
Further interesting tips
Hives
The technical term is urticaria, the common word is nettle rash. This is appropriate because the children look as if they have fallen into a bed of nettles.
Meningococcus I
Infections with meningococci (bacteria that can cause dangerous meningitis, for example) are fortunately very rare and fortunately we can also do a lot to prevent them with vaccinations (more on this in Part II).
Meningococcus II
Fortunately, meningococcal infections are very rare, but they can cause dangerous meningitis, for example. Everything you need to know about the clinical picture in Part I, here we look at what you need to know about vaccination.