What Our Family's Annual Health Routine Actually Looks Like
- P. Murray
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 5 hours ago
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E had her well-child visit last month. She's 7½ now, and she has opinions about everything including, apparently, blood pressure cuffs. (The cuff was, she informed us, "too squishy." I explained to her that this is exactly how a blood pressure cuff is supposed to feel. She remained unconvinced.)
As a physician and a parent, well-child visits are genuinely interesting for me. I'm sitting on the parent side of the table, watching a pediatrician do the exact thing I do in a different context, and I notice both how much I trust the process and how much I still feel the parental anxiety underneath the clinical understanding. The two things coexist, constantly.
Since Z and E's health routines come up often when I talk to other physician-parents, I wanted to share what we actually track — not as a prescription, but as one family's honest example. The data on preventive care is compelling: a 2022 RAND Corporation study found that only 8% of American adults receive all of the recommended preventive services — meaning the vast majority of families are leaving evidence-based health protection on the table.
What We Do for the Kids, Age by Age
Z just turned 10. This year his annual well-child included: growth tracking (he's shooting up), blood pressure check, vision and hearing screening, a routine CBC, and a conversation with our pediatrician about his food allergy program and whether his other screening intervals needed adjustment. The answer was no, which was a relief. His follow-up RAST panels happen through FAI now, not through our regular pediatrician, so there's a little coordination involved.
E's visit covered similar ground plus: formal developmental screening (we track this carefully given her ADHD diagnosis), a check-in on how the NeuroSigma device is going, and an update on her therapy progress. Our pediatrician and her therapist are in communication, which I pushed for and which has been worth the extra coordination.
Both kids are current on vaccines. I want to say this plainly because I know it's a topic: we follow the CDC schedule, and we've never deviated from it. The research is clear and the stakes are real, and we feel strongly about this.
Recommended Pediatric Screening Intervals
Here's what the major guidelines recommend across the well-child years — this is what we use as our reference:
Screening | Age/Frequency | Who Recommends |
Well-child visits | Annually ages 3–21 | AAP |
Blood pressure | Annually starting age 3 | AAP |
Vision screening | Ages 3–5, then annually | AAP / USPSTF |
Hearing screening | At birth, then as needed | USPSTF |
Blood lead level | Ages 1–2 (high-risk) | CDC / AAP |
Anemia (CBC) | Ages 9–12 months, then per risk | AAP |
Developmental screening | 9, 18, 30 months + ADHD screen 4–18 yrs | AAP |
Cholesterol | Ages 9–11 and 17–21 | NHLBI |
Depression screen | Annually ages 12+ | USPSTF |
What We Do for Ourselves
My husband and I both have our own primary care physicians — this is something I feel strongly about for any physician. The cobbler's children problem is real. Studies consistently show physicians are less likely to seek care for themselves: a 2018 survey found that 1 in 3 physicians doesn't have a regular doctor. We're not in that group.
I have a formal annual visit, fasting labs, and the screening intervals that apply to my age and family history. My husband does the same. We made a rule a few years ago: the first thing we schedule each new year is our own physicals. Everything else fills in around them. This has been hard to maintain exactly, but the principle holds.
The Thing I Remind Other Parents Most Often
Preventive care works best when it's boring. The appointments that feel routine are the ones doing their jobs. A well-child visit where nothing dramatic happens is not a wasted afternoon — it's the system working exactly as designed.
And if your child has a chronic condition being managed by a specialist: make sure your primary care pediatrician knows what's happening in that parallel track. We've had to be proactive about this with Z's allergy program. The integration doesn't happen automatically; someone has to hold it. That's us, usually. And probably you too, if you're reading this.
This post reflects my personal experience and is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice. Please consult your own physician before making any health decisions.
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