There are two things which a trained pediatrician checks for more frequently than possibly other physicians.
Congenital Dislocated Hips (CDH) and Amblyopia (lazy eye). Congenital dislocated hip occurs when the hips of a new born infant are either inadequately or inappropriately developed at birth.
The head of the femur (large leg bone) does not seat well in the acetabulum (socket).
This is really no problem for an infant because infants don't substantially put weight on their legs.
If, however, the hips are still loose and easily dislocated from their sockets, by the time the child starts to walk, problems an arise.
An infant, of course, does a lot of growing in the first year, and hips which do not have very good socket can develop one if given time and the legs are held in the correct position.
You can probably sense that if this problem is not picked up early, the child can have substantial problems with walking and correction becomes extremely difficult.
If, on the other hand, this dislocation is noticed early, correction is most often an easy matter.
the child is placed in a "jumpsuit" harness with straps that attach to her shoes, keeping her knees flex3ed in a frog-leg position.
The child wears this jumpsuit 24 hours a day for several months, which forces the hip bone to seat in the socket in the correct position.
The socket, then, merely grows around the femur in a normal manner as the child grows.
Amblyopia can affect one in 20 infants, and is the leading cause of visual loss in children.
Early detection and treatment can, in most cases, correct the problem.
Every year, however, there are around 100,ooo children who pass the "point of not return" where the visual problem can be helped.
If the muscles in the eye are "lazy" and do not allow the eye to focus cor4rectly, the bra8in sees double vision.
As the child's brain develops, it learns to "shut off" the out-of-focus eye.
If the problem is noticed early, the the ophthalmologist merely occludes (patches) the good eye which forces the bad eye to work and the brain to register its image an therefore no shut it off.
Without treatment, the lazy eye fails to develop central vision, therefore, treatment is recommended before the age of four.
If lazy eye is not treated before a child is seven years old the central vision may not develop, ever; even with glasses, eye exercises, or eye surgery.
Most pediatricians examine for both problems during the well-baby visits. He spreads the legs apart a the hips and feels for any "pop or click" which indicates that the hip bone is not seating correctly in the socket.
If the CDH is noticed, the diagnosis usually is confirmed by x-ray and orthopedic surgeon is consulted for treatment.
An eye examination is important for every child during their routine well-baby visits.
The doctor checks for light reflexes in the eye as well as tracking and any evidence of "wandering".
This eye examination is important because half of the children who are amblyopic are asymptomatic and seem to see normally without problems.
If the child has crossed eyes, he should be examined by his pediatrician and possibly an ophthalmologist. If "nothing wrong" is found, he should be re-examined several times during the next few years to make sure that nothing develops.
The National Society to Prevent Blindness also has preschool screening programs. They have developed a free home eye teat in either English or Spanish which can be obtained by writing to the society at: box A-B, 79 Madison avenue, New York, New York 10016.
Now, be sure and check the index (menu bars above) for: other related articles on this topic: or, recently answered questions, which are sometimes more specific.