Mipla Binna - Paediatrician

Transcript

Dr. Alison Harris- Paediatrician: First you are looking to try and find out what the cause for the hearing loss might be, but then yes, there could possibly be some other medical issues that are going along with the hearing, and so we are checking for any of those and also checking that the child's development's on track and just monitoring that over time.

Parent: With Jacob, his weight gain wasn't up. He was below average in his weight gain and she just wanted to make sure that was, he'd be able to cope with the operation.

Dr. Alison Harris- Paediatrician: Paediatricians look at children as a whole. So yes, we are interested in the ears and the hearing. That's the reason that we're seeing this child, but, we are looking at them as a whole person. So looking at their overall health and development. What we do when we see a child is measure their length and weight and head circumference and plot them on a percentile chart to see where they're fitting in as average for their age or above or below average.

We look at specific things then like, listen to the heart and the breathing and look at their tummy.

Mum: They've had this paediatrician for the last, probably five years. And he's really good. Like he's very good to talk to and he listens to me and understands, you know, that I know Joshy very, very well.

And so when I say, you know, I'm really concerned about something, then he takes note of that. He doesn't just say, oh, don't worry about it.

Dr. Alison Harris- Paediatrician: I think that parents, should come with their own list of questions and not just answer the doctor's questions, but ask some back and make sure that any, issues, any questions I had are answered and that they have a comprehensive understanding of the outcome of that appointment.

Mum: When I'm going off to see a specialist, he'll say, okay, talk to him about this, this, and this, and ask him why they're doing this or if they should be doing that. And then after the appointments, I'll go back and tell him, these are all the answers and this is what they've said and everything and then if he's not happy, he'll contact them and let them know.

Narrator: After all the checks and assessments in the first appointment with the paediatrician, you may need to go for some follow up visits to monitor your child's ongoing health and general development. Around this time, you'll also have an appointment with an ophthalmologist as there are links between hearing loss and some eye conditions. And when your child is about six months old, there may be an appointment with a geneticist to investigate the possibility of a genetic link to the hearing loss and to give a clearer picture of your child's condition.