Follow-up care after going home with your newborn

Once home, your midwives and CAFHs will be important in helping with settling in, feeding, and growth checks. Your GP will love to meet your new baby, provide vaccinations and help with concerns. Your paediatrician, as a newborn care specialist, is supported and assisted by your GP and nurses and will see your baby for any concerns that emerge.

The 6-8 Week Check

Your paediatrician will also offer an appointment for an important health, growth and developmental check of your baby at 6 to 8 weeks of age. This check-up should not be missed.

Some paediatricians book these check-ups, but if not, please call to organise the 6 to 8-week check with your paediatrician or alternatively book this with your GP.

Your paediatrician and the Prosper Paediatrics staff love seeing babies for six-week checks.

Follow-up care is offered ongoing for as long as or when your baby, child or adolescent may need specialist care. Continuity of care is a priority for us and is supported by neonatal specialists and paediatricians who are always happy to provide backup for each other if needed. 

Your obstetrician’s referral of your baby lasts for the first three months.  Following that, and if needed, your GP can provide a 12-month referral to your paediatrician. The associated paediatricians aim to see the referred babies referred whenever parents have concerns. 

Your GP, local CaFHS, and midwifery services also help to ensure your baby has the best start.  They can advise about and resolve many normal and common concerns. They are also able to identify concerns needing my care.

Other check-ups and care to schedule:

18 to 24 months check of health and developmental check usually with your local CaFHS (but your Paediatrician can do this if needed. CaFHs will not do this check past 24 months.)

Other health and developmental checks are advised in the Blue Book, including between 6 and 9 months, which can be done with CaFHS or the GP

If CAFHs, the midwives or your GP have any concerns, they can refer for or recommend a review with your paediatrician.

Immunisations

Your paediatrician can provide information about immunisation.

Meningococcal Disease Vaccination: Your paediatrician will probably discuss this option during your stay in hospital, write a prescription for the vaccine and advise where to have the vaccine given to your baby. They recommend commencing Meningococcal vaccination from 6 weeks of age.

Scheduled Immunisation is available for your baby at:

  • Your GP’s clinic

  • Council immunisation clinics (usually free)

  • CaFHS centres (some)

Other concerns that may arise from time to time

Tongue-tie or oral tie?

The associated paediatricians will generally be happy to reduce tightness in the frenulum in the newborn period if they are confident it is an issue for feeding. If your paediatrician becomes concerned about tongue tie and feeding for an older baby they will refer to Dr Chris Kirby for a tongue tie release. The associated paediatricians are happy to assess any concerns and take a careful, evidenced-based and generally conservative approach. Lactation Consultant Christine Belletti can help with concerns related to feeding and will advise your paediatrician of her findings. Further information about tongue and oral tie concerns, reflective of the associated paediatricians’ approach, is available here and here.

Acute or urgent concerns:

Parents should act on concerns or instincts that their baby is very unwell or deteriorating quickly

The Blue Book p, 61 provides a list of signs that can indicate the need for medical care and urgency.

Some signs of a possible need for urgent care are summarised here.

 If you have serious concerns, contact the rooms to arrange an appointment with your paediatrician. If your paediatrician cannot see you quickly, alternative options, depending on the level of urgency, are:

  • another Prosper Paediatrics paediatrician can see you as a locum.

  • your GP (or GP locum or GP walk-in clinic) can be very helpful and can relay their findings to me or provide some reassurance if appropriate.

  • Paediatric Emergency Department(PED).  Taking your baby to the nearest PED is always the best option if you are very concerned and your baby seems to be very unwell or becoming very unwell quickly.

 Other services and resources:

  • New Baby Resource Pack -See https://www.cafhs.sa.gov.au/resources/new-baby-resource-pack

  • Hospital midwives’ post-natal follow-up service checks health and weight and helps with feeding or other concerns.

  • Home-visiting midwives are available for visits every 1-2 weeks for the first 7 weeks to weigh baby, and help you with feeding and settling issues with referral from your obstetrician.

  • Lactation consultants and midwives, Mama First, led by the very experienced Christine Belletti, can see you at home or in Prosper Paediatrics North Adelaide. Mama First also organises enormously popular Mum’s and Bub’s groups to help mothers build confidence, have fun and share their new mothering journey.

  • Child and Youth Health (CaFHS) provides two free home visits, usually around the third & seventh week to check your baby’s feeding, weight and general progress. You can also visit a CaFHS centre for additional check-ups, weighing and advice.

  • Moments to Milestones’ Family education in infant neurodevelopment & communication. This is offered in two home visits centred around you and your newborn to assist parents in growing in their understanding and attunement to their baby’s needs and communication.

  • Further resources and links such as for Tresillian, a video about your baby’s cues and behaviours, Emma Hubbarb’s Your Tube Channel, swaddling and hip care, breastfeeding, normal baby poo, Parent Helpline SA, etc, are available on our website here.

  • The Blue Book provides a guide about health and development from infancy through early childhood and various available developmental check-ups