Well-child visit schedule: every checkup by age

What is a well-child visit?

A well-child visit is a regular preventive checkup with your child's pediatrician or health care provider. The well-child visit schedule on this page comes from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and Bright Futures. It is called the periodicity schedule, and it lists which visits are recommended at which age, from the newborn period to 21 years.

The AAP updates the schedule once a year. The version on this page is the one updated in February 2025. The AAP also notes that each child and family is unique, that the recommendations are not a standard of care, and that extra visits may be needed if there are concerns.

The well-child visit schedule by age

In infancy and early childhood, the AAP periodicity schedule lists these visits:

After that, the schedule continues with one visit a year, from 4 years through 21 years. The AAP also recommends a prenatal visit for parents at high risk, for first-time parents and for anyone who would like one.

Enter your baby's date of birth to see the dates of the visits up to age 3.

If a visit is missed, or your child starts with a new practice partway through, the AAP says the schedule should be brought up to date at the earliest possible time.

How many well-baby visits are there in the first year?

Counting from the first-week visit, the AAP schedule has six well-baby visits before the first birthday: the first week, 1 month, 2, 4, 6 and 9 months. The 12-month visit follows around the birthday. MyHealthfinder, the federal government's health site, also counts six well-baby visits in the first year.

In the second year, there are visits at 12, 15 and 18 months, then at 2 years, 2½ years and 3 years.

What happens at a well-child visit

At the early visits, your pediatrician measures and weighs your baby, observes development and behavior, and does a physical exam, as HealthyChildren.org, the AAP's site for parents, describes it. According to MyHealthfinder, the provider also asks you questions about your baby's health, behavior, safety and development. Recommended vaccines are given at many visits; your pediatrician will tell you which ones are due.

HealthyChildren.org names four reasons for well-child visits:

• Prevention: your child gets recommended immunizations.
• Tracking growth and development: you can talk about milestones, social behavior and learning.
• Raising concerns: the visit is a good time to ask about development, behavior, sleep, eating or family relationships.
• Team approach: regular visits build a relationship between pediatrician, parent and child.

The AAP suggests making a list of topics beforehand and bringing your top three to five questions to the start of the visit. There are more ideas in our guide to preparing for your baby's check-up.

Are well-child visits covered by insurance?

HealthCare.gov lists well-baby and well-child visits among the preventive services for children. All Marketplace health plans and many other plans must cover these services, and in most cases you won't pay a copayment or coinsurance when they are provided by an in-network provider, even if you haven't met your deductible. HealthCare.gov also notes that $0 cost isn't guaranteed in all cases, so check the details with your plan.

If your family does not have insurance, MyHealthfinder points to Medicaid, the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and local health centers as options for free or low-cost care.

Records and booking

You book well-child visits with your pediatrician's office or clinic. The CDC recommends bringing your child's vaccine record to each doctor visit and asking the doctor or nurse to write down the vaccine, date and dosage. MyHealthfinder also suggests bringing medical records, vaccine records and newborn screening results to the early visits.

How Heia helps with well-child visits

In Heia, you choose your care country once. With the United States selected, the app shows your baby's next well-child visit from the Bright Futures schedule, from the 3–5 day visit to the 3-year visit, and can send you a quiet reminder ahead of time if you want one.

Before a visit, the appointment preparation (your first one is free) gathers your questions and a short summary of your entries, such as feeds, diapers, sleep and growth measurements, into a compact PDF for your pediatrician. You decide what goes in. If two parents or a grandparent share care, a shared baby tracker keeps everyone's entries in one place.