The U6 examination of your child – that is done
Your baby will soon be celebrating its first birthday and a lot has definitely happened in your child’s development since the last check-up appointment. Now the U6 is due, the so-called “one-year examination”. You can find out more about the U6 schedule and key areas here.
It has been a while since the last check-up and your child is now between ten and twelve months old. So shortly before his first birthday you should visit your pediatrician again for the U6 examination. Do not forget to take the yellow preventive booklet with you, in which all the results of the examination are recorded.
What is examined during the U6 examination?
In U6, the focus of the examination is on the development of gross and fine motor skills . Maybe your child can crawl by now or walk a few steps with help. Language development has also started in some children and they can say their first simple words. Otherwise, the standard examinations that you already know from earlier appointments take place at the U6.
As usual, height and weight are measured, organs, respiration and heart checked, and head circumference and fontanelles examined. By now the smaller and side fountainelles should have closed. It takes about two years for the large fontanel to close.
Even if your child is not that far along in some respects, you don’t have to worry. The “specifications” about what your child can do at a certain point in time are only guidelines.
Gross and fine motor skills
The advances in gross and fine motor skills are particularly exciting with the U6. The doctor will check whether your little one can already crawl. Some children skip the step and go straight from the seal to the run. Can your child sit with stretched legs and a straight back? From the sitting position, it is easier for many children to pull themselves up on the edge of a table, for example, and take a few steps.
In addition to these gross motor skills, the doctor also checks fine motor skills. Many babies are now using the tweezer grip, which involves picking up small objects with their index finger and thumb.
Language development is checked during the U6 examination
Exactly when children start speaking varies , but it is often at this age that children are making their first attempts at speaking. It starts with words with syllable doubling, such as “ma-ma” and imitating familiar sounds, such as “wau-wau”. Language comprehension is also developing. Your baby may already be responding to his name or looking at objects that are being named.
social behavior
Increasingly, the emotional and social development of your child is also taken into account in preventive medical check-ups. At the U6, the pediatrician checks how your baby reacts when you are briefly out of sight? How do you behave towards strangers? Can it play alone for a while? The doctor will talk to you about everyday situations, but maybe also carry out smaller tests himself, for example send you out the door to observe reactions.
You should notice the U6 at the earliest in the ninth and at the latest by the fourteenth month of the baby . Otherwise, you will be billed as a so-called iGel service (individual health service).
If you have no further questions for the doctor, the U6 is done. The next check-up, the U7, is only due shortly before the second birthday.