Pediatrician vent

spinsoffresonance

Who wants to vent about their pedi with me?

I really like our pedi when we started going to him when DD1 was born. He was always super thorough, explained to us what milestones to expect at each check up and the office is great. But since DD2 was born, I'm annoyed. He's been 1 hour late at all her appointments. That alone doesn't bother me too much because I know when my kid is sick I can always get in right away, so healthy patients are bound to get delayed. But he has rushed through every appointment, asks if I have any concerns, but does not take the time to explain what to expect at this age, what is normal and what isn't. Today he examined DD2 for 5min, said she's doing great and rushed us out. The whole thing was so quick that I completely forgot to ask about solids and whether we're okay waiting til 6 months. I'm thankful I have such a healthy baby the doctor doesn't see the need to spend any time with her, but I feel like I deserve to get my full 15min appointment after I waited one hour for it.

letal316

Almost the same thing happened to me. She asked us almost no questions and only said things if I prompted her. I totally forgot to ask her to listen to LO's lungs (she's sounding very congested) so I made a second appointment for this weekend. I guess I better start bringing in a list of questions. At our 2 month appointment she had a list of questions for us to see if DD was hitting her milestones, this time nothing.

flockofmoosen3

That is very annoying. Is the practice big enough to see a different doctor or NP instead? And maybe he just assumes that you already know what to expect with your second baby. Not that that is an excuse...

I write down all my questions on my Trello app so i have them on my phone and just add new questions as I think of them and delete them if I get an answer.

ns1

Ugh. Annoying.

I'm beginning to think well checkups are a chance for the doctor to make sure we're not abusing our neglecting our kids. I feel insulted. The questions I get are do you have working smoke detectors? Are you giving him honey? Is the carseat rear facing? Thanks for having faith in me guys. Can we talk about the baby's actual development now?

And I think giving a diagnosis of colic is bs. Maybe that's just me.

gutsysneakers

ns1 said:

And I think giving a diagnosis of colic is bs. Maybe that's just me.

Yes! At DD's 1 month appointment, a pedi (who I never saw again) asked I'd DD was cranky in the evening. I said more so than the AM. She I'm the spot diagnosed her with colic and that I should use gripe water every day. Ummmm. What?! No. Just no. I asked about the 3 hour rule and that DD wasn't crying just fussier than she normally was - she didn't want to hear about it. Never saw her again. Personally, I think the NP are better at our practice.

pistolpackinmomma

Kimbus22 said:

ns1 said:

Ugh. Annoying.

I'm beginning to think well checkups are a chance for the doctor to make sure we're not abusing our neglecting our kids. I feel insulted. The questions I get are do you have working smoke detectors? Are you giving him honey? Is the carseat rear facing? Thanks for having faith in me guys. Can we talk about the baby's actual development now?

And I think giving a diagnosis of colic is bs. Maybe that's just me.

Those questions are not an attack on your parenting ability.  Pediatricians see all ranges of people/parents and they have to cater to the lowest common denominator to be sure that kids with parents less informed than yourself are being taken care of properly.  Don't take it so personally.


This. Luckily I was shopping in BRU a while back because I ran into a guy I graduated with and his wife. They were arguing about car seats and he asked my opinion. She wanted to get a seat that is forward facing only. Their son was 6 months old. Some people just don't know about that stuff. It's not that they are horrible parents, just misinformed. If it hadn't been for these boards and my pedi telling me, I wouldn't have known about the whole no honey thing.

ns1

Kimbus22 said:

ns1 said:

Ugh. Annoying.

I'm beginning to think well checkups are a chance for the doctor to make sure we're not abusing our neglecting our kids. I feel insulted. The questions I get are do you have working smoke detectors? Are you giving him honey? Is the carseat rear facing? Thanks for having faith in me guys. Can we talk about the baby's actual development now?

And I think giving a diagnosis of colic is bs. Maybe that's just me.

Those questions are not an attack on your parenting ability.  Pediatricians see all ranges of people/parents and they have to cater to the lowest common denominator to be sure that kids with parents less informed than yourself are being taken care of properly.  Don't take it so personally.



Yeah. True. I just wish they would address more how my kid is doing.

MerryLove

comicsans said:

I like our pedi for the most part. It just seems like she checks babies against standards and doesn't look at the individual. Of course that's fine for the regular milestones and physical development, but she's twice given me a hard time about sleep.

At 2 weeks it was taking an hour to get dd back to sleep in the motn. Pedi really emphasized that I needed to work on that. Well duh of course I don't want to be up for an hour every time she eats throughout the night, and I was already doing dim light, no talking, no eye contact. It just added stress to those times for me thinking I was doing something wrong that she wouldn't go right back to sleep.

At 4 months she acted like it's totally abnormal for a baby to be up multiple times a night and we need to work on not feeding her. Now I know from tb and reading other sources that it's pretty common especially for EBF babies, but she's in my head every time I get up to feed DD. She also told me by 6 months babies should be doing 12 hours straight through. Try telling that to the BF board, lady.

My pedi told me my baby should be sleeping 12 hours straight at 4 months! Yeah right. Ha. I just move the conversation along when she asks about sleep; we definitely aren't on the same page when it comes to that.

flockofmoosen3

My NP told me that baby girl shouldn't be getting up every couple of hours a night at our 2 month appt. I ignored that shit thanks to this place. Other than that I like her and our pediatrician.

ho11yday

ns1 said:

Ugh. Annoying. I'm beginning to think well checkups are a chance for the doctor to make sure we're not abusing our neglecting our kids. I feel insulted. The questions I get are do you have working smoke detectors? Are you giving him honey? Is the carseat rear facing? Thanks for having faith in me guys. Can we talk about the baby's actual development now? And I think giving a diagnosis of colic is bs. Maybe that's just me.

I've never had these questions even with my first. I think the only time I've ever had anyone "question" us was the physical therapist when she asked if she could see how we put DS1 in the car seat (she wanted to make sure we were doing it correctly). TBH, I was actually appreciative.

dp1320

I'm looking to change pedis after having at least an hour wait at every visit (well and sick visits) as well as feeling rushed out the door at each appointment. This evening at our 4 mo checkup when I said I had a couple of questions she said "you can always call" as she's trying to rush out the door (we were the last appointment and she had no other people there at the time)... I get this happening once and awhile but not every appointment. I think it's time for us to move on!