FAQs

After Hours care is available at several locations with extended evening and weekend hours:

• Monday – Thursday: 5:00pm – 9:00pm (Carnes Crossroads & Sam Rittenberg) and 5:00pm – 8:00pm (Mt. Pleasant)
• Saturday: 9:00am – 5:00pm (Carnes Crossroads) and 9:00am – 1:00pm (Mt. Pleasant & Sam Rittenberg)
• Sunday: 9:00am – 5:00pm (Carnes Crossroads) and 9:00am – 1:00pm (Mt. Pleasant & Sam Rittenberg)

We also offer “virtual visits” or Telehealth appointments for appropriate conditions during the following times:

• Monday – Thursday: 5:00pm – 8:00pm
• Saturday: 9:00am – 1:00pm
• Sunday: 9:00am – 1:00pm

After hours services are available at the following Sweetgrass Pediatrics locations:

• Carnes Crossroads
• Mt. Pleasant
• Sam Rittenberg

These locations are staffed to provide convenient access to care outside of typical weekday hours.

Extended hour appointments can be scheduled in a few ways:

• During regular hours: Any Sweetgrass Pediatrics office can help schedule an after hours visit, and appointments are also available to book online or by text
• During after hours: Call any office and follow the prompts to schedule
• When closed: You can still reach our pediatric nurse triage line for medical guidance

You’ll be seen by Sweetgrass Pediatrics providers you know and trust, ensuring continuity and high-quality care—even outside of regular hours.

To get your child started with counseling services, the first step is scheduling an initial evaluation appointment. During this visit, our team will learn more about your child’s needs and recommend a personalized care plan.

During a counseling session, our team creates a safe and supportive environment where your child can express their thoughts and feelings openly. Sessions are tailored to your child’s age and needs and may include conversation, play-based activities, or skill-building exercises. To get started, schedule an evaluation appointment by contacting one of our locations or booking online.

Counseling sessions are confidential, helping create a safe and trusting environment for your child to share openly. Our team respects your child’s privacy while also keeping parents informed when it is important for their safety and overall care. If you have questions about confidentiality or would like to learn more, please contact one of our locations or speak with our team when scheduling your visit.

It’s common for children to feel nervous about attending counseling, especially at the beginning. Our counseling team creates a warm, welcoming environment and uses age-appropriate approaches to help your child feel comfortable and build trust over time.

Wellness visits are recommended regularly throughout childhood to monitor growth and development. Infants and toddlers are typically seen more frequently during the first few years of life, while children over age 3 usually have a wellness visit once a year.

Your pediatric provider will follow a recommended schedule and let you know when your child is due for their next visit.

If your child is sick on the day of their wellness visit, it’s best to contact our office. Depending on their symptoms, the appointment may be rescheduled or changed to a sick visit so your child can be properly evaluated and treated.

This helps ensure the wellness visit remains focused on preventive care while your child receives the appropriate attention for their illness.

Yes, sports or school forms are often completed during a wellness visit. Since these visits include a comprehensive exam and review of your child’s health, they are a convenient time to fill out required forms for school, sports, or camp participation.

Be sure to bring any necessary paperwork with you to the appointment so it can be completed at that time.

Wellness visits start shortly after birth, often within the first few days after your baby comes home. From there, visits are scheduled frequently during infancy and early childhood to closely monitor growth and development, then continue regularly—typically once a year—as your child gets older.

Vaccines are important because they protect your child from serious and potentially life-threatening diseases. By helping your child build immunity, vaccines reduce the risk of infection and prevent complications that can affect their long-term health. Additionally, they help protect others by limiting the spread of illness within your family, school, and community.

The vaccines your child needs are based on their age and follow a recommended immunization schedule designed to protect them at each stage of development. These typically begin in infancy and continue through childhood and adolescence, covering illnesses such as measles, mumps, rubella, polio, whooping cough, and more.

Your pediatric provider will review your child’s immunization record at each visit and let you know which vaccines are due. If your child is behind, a catch-up schedule can be created to safely keep them up to date.

If your child is behind on vaccines, your provider can create a safe and effective catch-up schedule to get them back on track. These schedules are designed to provide protection as quickly as possible while following recommended guidelines.

Help prepare your child for vaccines by staying calm, positive, and reassuring before the appointment. For younger children, bringing a favorite toy, book, or comfort item can help distract and soothe them during the visit.

For older children, it can be helpful to briefly explain what to expect in a simple, honest way—letting them know it may feel like a quick pinch but will be over quickly. Holding your child, offering comfort, and praising them afterward can also make the experience easier and more reassuring.

Most children need a physical once a year. Many schools, sports teams, and camps require an annual exam to make sure your child is healthy and safe to participate. Even if a physical isn’t required, yearly visits help monitor growth, development, and overall health.

If your child has a medical condition, our pediatric care team will carefully review their health history and current status during the physical. We will assess whether it is safe for them to participate and provide guidance or any necessary restrictions to ensure their safety. If needed, additional evaluation or follow-up may be recommended before clearing your child for activities.

If your child is not cleared during their physical, it means the provider has identified a concern that needs further evaluation before safe participation. Our pediatric care team will explain the reason, provide guidance on next steps, and may recommend additional testing, treatment, or a follow-up visit. Once the concern is addressed, your child can be re-evaluated for clearance.

It’s best for your child to be feeling well at the time of their physical. If they are sick, symptoms like fever or fatigue can affect exam results and may prevent accurate clearance for participation. In most cases, the visit may need to be rescheduled once your child has recovered.

At Sweetgrass Pediatrics, we accept same-day appointments to ensure your child is seen in a timely matter. Additionally, our Sam Rittenberg location offers walk-in appointments. To schedule your child’s sick visit, please call one of our locations (hyperlink to locations page) or schedule your child’s appointment online (hyperlink to schedule button).

For your child’s sick visit appointment, it’s helpful to bring a few important items so the provider can ensure the best care possible:

• Insurance card and identification
• List of your child’s current medications, vitamins, or supplements
• Record of symptoms, including when they started and any fever readings
• Your child’s medical history, if you are visiting a new provider

You should consider urgent care instead of scheduling a regular sick visit if your child’s symptoms need immediate attention or occur outside normal office hours. While most common illnesses can be managed during a sick visit, urgent care may be more appropriate in certain situations.

• Seek urgent care if your child has:
• Difficulty breathing or rapid breathing
• High fever that will not come down with medication
• Severe vomiting or diarrhea causing signs of dehydration
• A deep cut, possible broken bone, or significant injury
• Severe ear pain or sudden worsening of symptoms
• An allergic reaction with swelling, hives, or trouble breathing

If your child is experiencing life-threatening symptoms, such as severe breathing difficulty, unresponsiveness, or seizures, you should call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room immediately.

Yes, your child can usually return to school or daycare after a sick visit once their symptoms are improving and they are no longer contagious. Your child’s provider will give specific guidance based on diagnosis and treatment.

In general, children can return when they:

• Have been fever-free for at least 24 hours without fever-reducing medication
• Feel well enough to participate in normal activities
• Have improving symptoms such as cough, congestion, or sore throat
• Are no longer vomiting or having diarrhea for 24 hours

Some conditions—such as strep throat, pink eye, or certain infections—may require 24 hours of treatment (like antibiotics) before returning to school or daycare.

Our “virtual visits” or telehealth services are available weekdays and with extended evening and weekend hours:

• Monday – Thursday: 8:00am – 12:00pm and 1:30pm – 8:00pm
• Friday: 8:00am – 12:00pm and 1:30pm – 4:30pm
• Saturday: 9:00am – 1:00pm
• Sunday: 9:00am – 1:00pm

Telehealth is a convenient option for many non-emergency concerns, such as mild illnesses, rashes, allergies, or follow-up care. It’s a good choice when your child’s symptoms can be safely evaluated through conversation and visual assessment.

To participate in a telehealth visit, you will need a smartphone, tablet, or computer with a working camera and microphone, along with a reliable internet connection. It’s also helpful to be in a quiet, well-lit space so the provider can clearly see and hear your child during the appointment.

Yes, prescriptions can be provided during a telehealth visit when appropriate. After evaluating your child’s symptoms, one of our providers may send a prescription directly to your preferred pharmacy and give clear instructions on how to use the medication safely.

Yes, telehealth visits are safe and secure. They are conducted through HIPAA-compliant platforms that protect your personal and medical information, ensuring your child’s privacy while receiving care.

You can schedule a lactation consultation at any time, whether you are preparing for your baby’s arrival or already navigating feeding at home. Many families benefit from support in the early days after birth, but appointments can also be helpful later if challenges arise, such as difficulty with latch, concerns about milk supply, pain during feeding, or questions about pumping or returning to work.

Yes, you can still receive support even if you’re not breastfeeding. Our pediatric providers can help with a variety of feeding methods, including pumping, formula feeding, and combination feeding, offering guidance to ensure your baby is feeding well and growing appropriately.

Yes, lactation support can help identify and address the causes of pain or discomfort during feeding. Our providers will assess latch, positioning, and feeding techniques, then offer adjustments and strategies to improve comfort and make feeding a more positive experience for both you and your baby.

If your baby has trouble latching, our providers will observe a feeding and assess positioning, latch technique, and any underlying factors that may be contributing. They will offer hands-on guidance and adjustments to help improve latch, making feeding more effective and comfortable for both you and your baby.

Yes, warts are contagious in children. They can spread through direct skin-to-skin contact or by touching surfaces or objects that have the virus on them, such as towels, shoes, or shared equipment. Children can also spread warts to other parts of their own body, especially if they pick or scratch them, so it’s important to keep the area clean and covered when possible.

Age recommendations for ear piercing can vary, but we offer medical ear piercing for infants and older children with parental consent. Some families choose to pierce ears during infancy, while others prefer to wait until their child is older and able to participate in aftercare. It’s best to check with your child’s provider for specific age guidelines and recommendations.

Care focuses on keeping the area clean, protected, and healing properly. You should gently clean the area with warm water during diaper changes and avoid using wipes directly on the site until it has healed.

It’s normal to see some redness, mild swelling, or a yellowish film as the area heals. Make sure to change diapers frequently to keep the area clean and dry. If you notice significant swelling, bleeding, signs of infection, or if your baby seems unusually uncomfortable, contact your child’s provider.

During a pediatric sports medicine appointment, a wide range of injuries related to physical activity. Common conditions include sprains and strains, fractures, joint pain, and overuse injuries such as tendonitis or stress injuries.

Our providers also evaluate concussions, muscle injuries, and issues related to growth and development that can affect athletic performance. The goal is to properly diagnose the injury, support healing, and safely guide your child back to activity.

Medical Ear Piercing is now available at Sweetgrass Pediatrics! The providers at Sweetgrass Pediatrics are excited to offer this service to our patients. We are currently performing ear piercing only in our Carnes Crossroads and Park West offices.

We have selected the Blomdahl® Medical Ear Piercing System which is available to physicians. Medical ear piercing in our office means that your child will receive professional care from a pediatric provider who has been trained in sterile technique and wound management.

The Blomdahl® Medical Ear Piercing System uses single-use cassettes which minimize the chance of infection at the piercing site and medical grade plastic piercing studs which eliminates the risk of nickel allergy. Using this system also eliminates the possibility of patient-to-patient cross-contamination because only the single-use part of the equipment ever comes in contact with the skin at the piercing site.

Medical Ear Piercing Age restrictions for ear piercing: We recommend ear piercing after age 2.5 months. Waiting until children are 2.5 months old ensures that they have had their first set of vaccines and allows the ear to grow big enough to allow for accurate placing of the earring. All eligible patients should be up to date on all vaccines.

By appointment only: Ear piercings are only done during visits solely dedicated to the medical ear piercing procedure. We do ear piecing by appointment only and not as an “add on” to another sick or well visit. This allows enough time to perform the procedure, explain and answer questions about the aftercare.

Where do we pierce? We only pierce ear lobes and only do one piercing per lobe per visit. At this time we do not perform a second or third piercing. We do not pierce ear cartilage (the upper part of the ear), noses, or belly buttons.

How much does it cost? We charge $75 to pierce up to 2 ears. This price includes the piercing studs, which are removed after 6-8 weeks. • Full payment is due when you check in for your ear piercing appointment. • Payment covers the cost of the procedure, piercing the ear(s), and the ear piercing studs (which you leave in for 6 weeks).