Make use of her time with any queries you might have, already compiled in your notes on your phone, so you can check off one by one and ease your mind. When it’s time for the examination, prepare Baby with the reassurance of your voice.

“I am going to lay you down on the cool, crunchy tissue paper. I’m going to unsnap your onesie, and Doctor Gordon is going to feel your belly…” Explain to him, before the pediatrician makes an intimate move toward his precious body. “She’s going to put her cold stethoscope on your chest to listen to your beating heart…” Stay close, within his eyeline, so that he can always see you, hear you, smell you.

If your pediatrician is good, she will also talk to your baby with a calm gentle voice, moving slowly and gently.

Dr. Emmi Pikler® was innovative in her patient care, she would address the baby or child within her care, rather than the parent. Explaining to even a newborn, what she was intending to do with them. Always respectful of the child, moving slowly, with kindness. Naturally her interest was wellness – preventative wellness, and would instigate such by making sure the baby was at ease, not dis-ease. If a baby was obviously upset with tears, screams etc. she would wait, patiently, calming the baby down before an examination, so that the psychological, physiological, emotional imprint of a visit to the doctor was not an unpleasant one.