Paediatric clinic

In paediatrics, the rule is that a child is not a small adult. The same symptom means something completely different in a two-month-old baby than in a twelve-year-old. Signs of illness in small children are often non-specific – refusing food, crying or unusual sleepiness may be the only things you as parents notice.

The paediatric clinic carries out both preventive and curative examinations. We see pre-school children from the age of one month both when they are ill and for prevention, which includes monitoring of growth and development, routine preventive check-ups, vaccination and advice for parents. Schoolchildren are seen only when they are ill. With teenagers, the conversation often moves to other topics – sleep, mood, skin, physical activity and how they feel about their bodies.

Parents often say they feel unsure whether a problem is serious enough to need a visit to the doctor. That decision is not your burden. When in doubt, ask for advice.

Fever without a clear cause, cough, runny nose, earache, vomiting and diarrhoea, rashes, colic in babies, nappy rash, feeding and sleeping problems. Childhood infectious diseases, for example chickenpox, are also common.

Another group of common visits is not related to illness. This includes check-ups before starting nursery or school, certificates, monitoring of growth and body weight, questions about introducing solid food, and advice on vaccination.

Some signs need immediate emergency care, for example fever in a baby younger than three months, laboured or rapid breathing, a child who is hard to wake or unusually floppy, signs of dehydration (dry mouth, far fewer wet nappies, crying without tears), a rash that does not fade when pressed with a glass, or seizures. In these cases, call 112 or seek emergency medical help.

The examination starts with the parents. The paediatrician will ask when the problems started, what the highest measured temperature was, how much your child is drinking and passing urine, how they are sleeping and how they are behaving compared with usual days. With small children, the parents' observations are often the most useful part of the medical history.

This is followed by a physical examination: listening to the lungs and heart, examining the ears and throat, feeling the abdomen, looking at the skin, and in babies and toddlers also measuring weight, length and head circumference and plotting them on a growth chart. If needed, a blood test, rapid test or urine test follows.

Bring your child's vaccination booklet and any previous results to the examination, including those from A&E. If your child takes medicines, bring the boxes – the name of the active substance matters more than the brand name, which is hard to remember.

You can book your child in as a self-paying patient, without a referral. Part of our care is also provided under the public health insurance scheme of the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia (ZZZS), so when booking, say whether your child is registered with us and check what can be arranged for them under compulsory health insurance.

A child is brought to the examination by one of the parents or a legal representative. An adolescent who comes alone should have parental consent arranged at the first visit, except where the law provides otherwise.

When booking, tell us what the problem is. A check-up before starting nursery and seeing a child with a fever need appointments of different lengths, and sometimes a separate route through the waiting room.