You can hardly believe how fast your daughter is growing into a young woman, and you realize she’s ready for that rite of passage into the world of specialized women’s health care.
If you can remember back to your first OB/GYN visit, you might remember being a little apprehensive, and you want to do what you can to set your daughter’s mind at ease.
Well, that goal is certainly one that Dr. Fernando Otero and the team here at Women’s Clinic of the Rio Grande Valley also have, which is why we want to review a few strategies for preparing your daughter for her first well-woman exam.
Before we get into ways that you can pave the way for a good first visit, let’s look at when that visit should take place. A great rule of thumb is when your daughter first starts having her period, which is usually around the age of 12, though it can happen anytime between the ages of 10 and 15.
You can bring her in before this happens if you’d like to prepare her in advance or if you know that your daughter is sexually active.
Talk with your daughter about her visit beforehand. Please bear in mind that we probably won’t perform a pelvic exam during her first visit. In fact, we sometimes don’t perform pelvic exams until much later, as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends performing Pap tests starting at age 21.
So, during your daughter’s first visit, we mostly gather baseline information, which won’t be all that different from her pediatrician visits (blood pressure, weight, etc.)
Unlike the pediatrician's office, we dive into reproductive health and use this visit to educate your daughter about women’s health concerns.
Even if your daughter isn’t exactly forthcoming with you about her life and whether she’s sexually active, encourage her to be honest with us.
Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are still very high in the United States, and young adults between the ages of 15 and 24 accounted for 53% of new STIs recorded in 2022.
So, we’re going to spend some time reviewing some safe practices to protect your daughter from becoming infected, and this will be an open, frank, and, most important, nonjudgmental conversation.
During your daughter’s first visit with us, she might be distracted and forget to ask questions. Encourage her to write down any questions before her visit, whether it’s about her periods, her hormones, sexual activity, unplanned pregnancies, or whatever else she’d like to know more about. This is really the point of her first visit — to get to know us and to get educated about the special needs of women.
Rest assured that, from our end, we treat your daughter with compassion and respect. Any time she doesn't feel comfortable, she can let us know so we can change course.
If you have more questions about preparing your daughter for her first OB/GYN visit, please don’t hesitate to contact one of our offices in McAllen or Edinburg, Texas.
