The 6 week check

The appointments to book

Around six weeks there are a few checks to book, and they are not always in the same place. Most families book three:

• A check for you, with your GP
• A full check up for your baby, with your GP, including listening to your baby's heart and feeling the pulses
• A visit for your baby's measurements and six week immunisations, with the child and family nurses at the Community Health Centre, or a nurse at your general practice

Bring your baby's blue book, the Personal Health Record, to the baby visits so growth and vaccinations are recorded in it.

Your check

This visit is about how you are recovering, in body and mind. It is a good chance to raise anything that has come up since the birth, however small. Your GP will usually go through:

• How you are healing, including any perineal stitches or a caesarean wound, and whether your bleeding has settled
• Your bladder and bowel, any leaking, and your pelvic floor
• Your breasts and how feeding is going, including any pain or concerns
• Your blood pressure, and follow up blood tests if you had high blood pressure, pre-eclampsia, anaemia or thyroid changes in pregnancy. If you had gestational diabetes, a glucose tolerance test is recommended around 6 to 12 weeks after birth
• Contraception and, if you would like, spacing your next pregnancy
• Cervical screening, if it was due and was deferred during pregnancy
• Your mood and how you are coping. Around one in five new mothers experience postnatal depression or anxiety, so your GP may use a short wellbeing questionnaire. There is no wrong answer and no judgement. See mental wellbeing
• Sleep, the support around you at home, and returning to exercise and sex when you feel ready
• Any vaccinations you still need, for example measles, mumps and rubella or chickenpox if you were not immune in pregnancy

Your baby's check with the GP

Even when the measuring and the needles are done by a nurse, it is important your baby still sees a GP around this time, in particular so the heart and circulation can be checked. Your GP will usually:

• Listen to your baby's heart and feel the pulses, including in the groin, to check the cardiovascular system. Some heart conditions only show up in the weeks after birth, which is why this check matters even if your baby seems well
• Examine your baby from head to toe, including the eyes, the soft spot on the head, the tummy, the genitals, the hips, and their movements and muscle tone
• Ask about feeding, nappies and sleep, and check development such as starting to smile and focusing on faces

Measurements and immunisations

Your baby's growth and six week immunisations are often done by the child and family nurses at the Community Health Centre, or by a nurse at your general practice. At this visit they will:

• Weigh and measure your baby, including length and head circumference, and plot them in the blue book
• Give the six week immunisations. See injections for baby
• Talk through feeding, safe sleep and tummy time. See keeping baby safe and healthy

You do not need to wait until six weeks

If something is worrying you or your baby before the six week visit, see your GP sooner. For heavy bleeding, fever, severe pain, thoughts that frighten you, or a baby who is feeding poorly or hard to wake, call the maternity unit on 02 6330 5210, day or night, or in an emergency call 000.