What health checks does a newborn have in the first weeks?

Within the first days your baby has a newborn physical examination, a hearing screen, and the heel-prick blood spot test that screens for rare but serious conditions. A midwife visits you at home in the first week or so and then hands over to a health visitor, and there's a top-to-toe review again at around six to eight weeks, usually with your GP. Exact timings vary, so go by what your own team tells you.

When are the routine baby checks and reviews?

After the newborn checks and the early home visits, there's a six-to-eight-week review, then health-visitor reviews and immunisations spread across the first year and beyond. The schedule can vary by area and is updated over time, so your health visitor or GP surgery will tell you what's due and when — and it's all recorded in the red book.

Your baby's newborn checks and health-visitor reviews: what to expect

Q: What is the red book?

The red book — the Personal Child Health Record — is the booklet you're given to keep your baby's health history in: weight and growth charts, vaccinations, and developmental reviews. Bring it to every appointment so each check is recorded in one place, and keep it somewhere easy to grab.

In the first weeks your baby isn’t only in your care — a small team of professionals quietly keeps an eye on them too, on a schedule you don’t have to memorise. The checks start the moment they’re born and settle into a gentle rhythm over the first weeks and months. Here’s what they are, roughly when they happen, and why they’re worth showing up for.

The very first checks

In the first days, your baby has a handful of routine checks:

A newborn physical examination (a top-to-toe check of heart, hips, eyes, and more) within the first 72 hours, repeated at around six to eight weeks.
A newborn hearing screen, usually before you leave hospital or in the first weeks.
The heel-prick blood spot test at around day five — a few drops of blood that screen for rare but serious conditions, when catching them early matters most.

None of these mean anything is wrong; they’re done for every baby.

The home visits

A midwife visits you at home over the first week or so — weighing your baby, checking the cord and any jaundice, supporting feeding, and keeping an eye on your own recovery. Then a health visitor takes over with a new-baby review, and becomes your go-to for the months ahead. These visits are as much for you as for your baby, so it’s the place to raise the small worries — feeding, sleep, your own mood — that don’t warrant an emergency call.

The red book

You’ll be given the red book — the Personal Child Health Record — to keep your baby’s health story in one place: weight and growth charts, vaccinations, and developmental reviews. Bring it to every appointment so each check is recorded together, and keep it somewhere you can grab on the way out the door.

The ongoing rhythm

After the early checks, the schedule eases into a steady rhythm — a six-to-eight-week review, then health-visitor reviews and immunisations (starting at eight weeks) spread across the first year. Each visit covers growth, feeding, development, and a chance to ask whatever’s on your mind. The exact ages can vary by area and change over time, so let your team tell you what’s due.

Make the most of them

These checks are for you too. A few things help:

Write your questions down beforehand — the tired brain forgets them in the room.
Bring the red book, and a rough idea of feeds, nappies, and sleep — exactly what they’ll ask about. If you keep a simple log, this is where it earns its keep, and it makes “is my baby getting enough?” an easy question to answer.
Treat it as the place for the non-urgent worries, so they don’t pile up.

But trust your instinct between visits

These reviews are a safety net, not a substitute for it. If something worries you between appointments — a red flag from the first weeks or just a feeling that your baby isn’t right — don’t wait for the next check. Call your health visitor or GP, or seek urgent help if it’s serious. You see your baby every hour of every day; that counts for a great deal.

This is general information, not medical advice. The checks, names, and schedule above describe the UK system and are updated over time — follow the advice of your own midwife, health visitor, or GP, and the schedule they give you.