1ST YEAR OF LIFE CARE

Baby in Arms

About the First Year

This is a very busy time in your and your new baby’s life. This year is very much about ensuring your baby thrives by getting off to a great start. At the same time, as babies get themselves established in this world there will also be things that need more urgent appointments. The year is characterised by a mixture of routine and more urgent appointments, along with quite possibly telephone advice too. You’ll see quite a lot of your paediatrician and that is completely normal. However, it does reinforce the importance of someone you get on with and feel confident in.

I love the first year of life and am passionate about helping babies thrive. I also pride myself on my support of parents as this is quite a scary time too.

If you wish to make an appointment: Appointment Booking Form

If you want to meet me, without charge, antenatally, in preparation: Antenatal Appointment Form

My credentials in newborn and 1st year paediatric medicine: Summary and Detailed

Guide to Choosing a Paediatrician – Choosing a Paediatrician in Cayman

Care Needs & Services

There are things to organise, such as immunisations, and many milestones to monitor. Babies pick up bugs and find certain things make them irritable. They have their feeding foibles and a mind of their own sleep pattern. Everything is new and many things are firsts. You’ll spend time worrying whether everything is going OK too – all perfectly normal. One of the greatest challenges for parents is that babies have very limited ways of communicating all is not well and so it is tough sorting out the minor from the more important. If you’ve had a child before, you’ll know just what I mean and if this is your first, you’ll be amazed how fast you grow in confidence too, especially with reassurance and some guidance.

Services I provide, or areas I cover, include:

Immunisation and vaccinations
Advice around breastfeeding and then feeding & nutrition generally
Growth advice and concerns
Developmental follow up and milestones
Skin, spots, rashes and other blemishes
Fevers, viruses etc
Ears, noses, throats & eyes
(occasionally these require referrals to ENT or eye specialists too)
Allergies and intolerances e.g. Cows Milk Intolerance & nut allergy
Urgent or emergency care
(I have a close working relationship with George Town A&E and full admitting rights to the paediatric wards)

In the UK I ran a feeding and growth clinic weekly, both for our neonatal unit graduates and with referrals from GPs (family doctors). Here in Cayman, parents usually refer directly to a paediatrician without going through a GP (something us Brits take time to get used to). It’s difficult to have specific clinics in Cayman, due to our compact size and numbers but at TrinCay, you can pop in at any time to have your baby weighed (which we encourage) and its growth chart plotted. It’s a great way to pick up issues early and we do not charge for this service.

I also ran developmental follow up in the UK but this was predominantly for ex-preterm infants as normal, routine checks and follows were conducted by health visitors and GPs. However, here is Cayman, most follow up for babies and children is conducted by the paediatrician. You’ll find I want to schedule certain visits for this purpose, to ensure your baby is developing and thriving as he or she should.

Safe sleeping is another important issue. Did you know we primarily grow when we are asleep? Also, parents worry about SIDS – Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Great strides have been made in reducing this through better advice. A good start is the latest guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics:

https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/pages/american-academy-of-pediatrics-announces-new-safe-sleep-recommendations-to-protect-against-sids.aspx

They have videos too:

Access & Appointments

I think perhaps one of the most important considerations in the first year of life is access, when you need it. I frequently get calls in the evenings, during the night, at weekends etc when parents have concerns. Regardless of how minor something may turn out to be from a medical standpoint, its rarely minor in the mind of a new parent. I firmly recognise this and so you will never be made to feel you shouldn’t have called. I am lucky in that we also have an excellent Urgent Care service for evenings, Sundays etc and they are very good at calling me if they have any concerns. It’s an extra level of cover that you don’t get everywhere.

Access to me directly:

Paediatrics at The Medical Clinic, Grand Harbour Medical, Grand Harbour – behind Healthcare Pharmacy

MOBILE: (345) 326 7827

BY EMAIL: [email protected]

FOR APPOINTMENTS: Please call (345) 949 4309

ONLINE BOOKING: https://instant-scheduling.com/sch.php?kn=245969

MY CLINIC TIMES

Monday to Friday:

0900 – 1300 Morning Clinic
(last morning appointment is 1230)

1400 – 1700 Afternoon Clinic
(last afternoon appointment is 1630)

Alternate Saturdays:

0900 – 1300
(last clinic appointment is 1230)

ANTENATAL MEET ME APPOINTMENT (FREE)

If you are in the process of planning who your paediatrician should be, please feel free to come and meet me. I’d be delighted to discuss birth, baby checks and the first year of care. Just complete the form below:

STANDARD APPOINTMENT BOOKING FORM

Remember you can phone or email but the form below works really well too.