Choose a practice before birth
Contact a family-doctor or paediatric practice serving your residential area and ask whether it will register the newborn. Confirm opening hours, the route for urgent questions, home visits, available languages and holiday cover. Distance is not the only issue: the family should understand how to obtain care. If the baby has already arrived, call as soon as the birth is registered with the child’s identity number and discharge information. NVD can help identify a contracted doctor for the area when the preferred practice cannot accept the child or is unreachable.
Complete registration
A parent can apply for a minor’s registration at the chosen practice or through the NVD electronic service accessed on Latvija.gov.lv. An online application is sent to the doctor, so check its status and wait for practice confirmation. Registration and an actual appointment are not the same; arrange the first review immediately. Save the contact on both parents’ phones. When moving or changing doctor, complete re-registration and transfer essential reports. Do not assume that every private or overseas record is automatically visible in Latvia’s E-veselība system.
Care during the first month
NVD’s child-care schedule includes a family-doctor home examination in the first days after maternity discharge and later in the first month, alongside observation by a nurse, midwife or physician assistant. The practice confirms timing for the individual baby. Discuss weight trend, feeding, jaundice, skin, cord, sleep, urine and stools; the professional assesses the baby’s overall condition. Prepare the maternity discharge summary, screening results and questions. If no review has been arranged within the expected period, call the practice rather than assuming it automatically knows the baby is home.
Preventive reviews in the first year
NVD provides state-funded preventive examinations. During the first six months a child is generally reviewed monthly, with later checks at specified ages, developmental monitoring and vaccination according to the national schedule. Confirm exact dates with the practice because a child with additional risks needs extra follow-up. Before each visit note feeding, sleep, movement, sounds, vision, hearing and family concerns. A review is not a competition to reach milestones on schedule; it is an opportunity to identify support. Ask when the next appointment, vaccine or repeated screening is due and who will communicate results.
Build a home health folder
- maternity discharge and screening results;
- vaccination records, including overseas entries;
- medicines, vitamins and allergy list;
- weight data when monitoring was requested;
- specialist reports and next appointment dates;
- practice, cover doctor, advice line and 113 contacts.
Before calling, measure temperature and note symptom onset, feeding and wet nappies. Do not send sensitive data to an unconfirmed personal number; ask which communication channel the practice uses. Not every condition can be safely judged from a photograph, so be prepared for an in-person assessment.
When the practice is closed and when to call 113
Outside practice hours, use NVD information for the family-doctor advice line, duty doctors, urgent medical points or hospital assessment. Do not wait until morning for a temperature above 38°C in a baby under three months, poor feeding with reduced urine, repeated vomiting, unusual drowsiness or increased breathing effort. Call 113 for unconsciousness, sudden breathing difficulty, seizures, blue skin, serious injury or another life-threatening situation. A practice answering machine is not an emergency service; store alternative contacts before they are needed.
A personal action plan
Information becomes easier to use when it is turned into a small plan. Choose one adult who can help with calls, transport or note-taking when needed. Mark only the next manageable step; the entire list does not have to be completed in one day. This plan focuses on choosing, registering with and reaching a family doctor for the child:
- contact the practice before birth and confirm whether it covers the declared address;
- obtain clear confirmation of registration and the time of the first examination;
- save the practice hours, acute-care hour and out-of-hours contact procedure;
- if a practice refuses or does not respond, ask NVD for an available local alternative.
What to record and ask
Keep the date, key facts, advice received and next review point in one note. This makes it easier to describe the situation accurately when tired and prevents an agreement from being lost. Prepare these questions before speaking with an authority or professional:
- Who covers the doctor during leave, and where should the family go in evenings or weekends?
- How is a newborn home visit arranged, and what information should be provided?
Rely on the written decision and the authority's current guidance, because amounts, deadlines and procedures can change. If verbal advice conflicts with published rules, ask for the legal basis or for a written response.