The first weeks home with a newborn are tender, exhausting, and full of questions. This page is a practical guide — what to bring to your first visit, what we'll watch for, and when to call us. You don't have to figure any of it out alone.
The most important thing you can do before your first appointment is grab the discharge summary from the hospital. It tells us your baby's birth weight, any concerns from the nursery, screening results, and what vaccines were already given. Everything else, we can help you with — but that document saves us hours.
This is the paperwork the hospital handed you when you took your baby home. It includes birth weight, length, head circumference, screening results (hearing, heart, metabolic), Hep B vaccine status, and any notes from the nursery team. Please bring it to every visit until we tell you it's no longer needed.
Please bring your insurance card. A $100 payment is due at the time of service for your first two newborn visits — regardless of insurance. Once we have your baby's card on file, we'll submit the claims and refund you for whatever insurance reimburses. See our newborn insurance policy for the full picture.
Anything your baby is taking — vitamin D drops, gas drops, prescribed antibiotics, probiotics. Brand name and dose if you remember. A photo of the bottle on your phone works fine.
Bring a fresh diaper and a feeding (bottle or breast — whichever you're using). Jot down questions on the way in. Sleep deprivation steals them; paper doesn't.
Two sets of ears catch twice as much. If only one of you can make it, that's completely fine — we'll send notes home through the patient portal.
Well-baby visits in the first year are how we catch the small things early and celebrate the big things on time. Here's the rhythm we recommend.
Weight check, jaundice screen, feeding review, your questions.
Should be back to birth weight; we look at feeding and sleep.
Growth, head shape, reflexes, and what to expect next.
Major immunizations begin. Tylenol on hand is a good idea.
Vaccines, milestones, nutrition transitions through year one.
We understand that welcoming a new baby is an exciting and exhausting time for families. During this period, insurance enrollment for newborns can sometimes be confusing.
Many parents are told that their baby is automatically covered under the mother's insurance for the first 30 days. While this may be true in some cases, insurance companies still require the baby to be formally added to the policy. Unfortunately, we have seen many situations where claims were later denied because the baby was not fully enrolled or updated correctly with the insurance company.
To help families avoid unexpected balances and simplify the process, our policy for newborn visits is as follows:
You will become an expert on three things very quickly. Here's what to watch for so you can tell what's typical and what deserves a phone call.
Whether you're breastfeeding, bottle-feeding, or combining the two — your baby is doing well if they're feeding, peeing, pooping, and gaining weight steadily.
Newborns sleep 14–17 hours per day, often in 2–3 hour stretches. Safe sleep matters more than any other single thing in the first months.
What goes in must come out — and the pattern of wet and dirty diapers is the easiest sign that feeding is going well.
Don't wait, and don't worry about bothering us — this is exactly what we're here for.
Trust your gut. If something feels off and you can't name it, that's reason enough to call. New parents catch real problems all the time.
Call 469-581-8115Most newborns leave the hospital with a few important things already taken care of — a Hepatitis B vaccine, hearing screen, heart screen (pulse ox), and a metabolic blood test (the heel stick). The discharge summary tells us what was done.
If something was missed, we'll catch it at the first visit. The major vaccine series begins at the 2-month visit. We'll always explain what we're giving, why, and what to expect afterward — and we'll never pressure you.
The first weeks with a newborn aren't a test. They're a relationship — between you and your baby, and between your family and ours. There is no question too small. The phone is for whenever you need it, not just for emergencies.
Call us to schedule your newborn's first visit. We'll fit you in — usually within a day or two of hospital discharge. Bring the discharge summary and we'll take it from there.