Dr. Lara Finnila

wingedbride

Does anyone use her as a pedi? We have a recommendation for her from our primary care doc, who we love, but I just wanted to see if anyone on here had experience with her with their child(ren)?

rayskit10

i used her when my son was 1st born but switched. i am sure she is fine as a pedi for many people but if you want anything like an alternative vax schedule, to do anything like cosleep or not CIO, exclusively BF past 4 mos etc she is not the Dr for you. if you would like more information, feel free to email me

viulasea at yahoo dot com 

wingedbride

rayskit10:

i used her when my son was 1st born but switched. i am sure she is fine as a pedi for many people but if you want anything like an alternative vax schedule, to do anything like cosleep or not CIO, exclusively BF past 4 mos etc she is not the Dr for you. if you would like more information, feel free to email me

viulasea at yahoo dot com 

I actually want all of that stuff so yeah, she would not be good for me.

Would you tell me who you have on here or would you prefer I email you?

rayskit10

sure. i see Dr Michelle Shuman at Thaller/Shuman on I10 and can not say enough good things about her. She was referred to me after my concerns with Finnila reached a point where i needed to change pedis. Since then I have referred Dr Shuman to several people and they are all happy with her- at least from what they tell me. lol. But we do an alternative vax schedule which we decide with her. she is very supportive of us as parents and the decisions we make for our kids. just google her and her contact information will come up

wingedbride

Thanks! I wish she wasn't on I-10 but it sounds like she is worth it.

kat.in.the.hat

You might also want to check out Drs Allison, Ho or Injac at Pediatric Medical Group - Greenbriar & 59.  I see Dr Allison but have also dealt with almost all doctors there and with one exception, have loved every single one of them.

Website

kat.in.the.hat

NM - Just saw Finnila is one of their docs, even though I haven't dealt with her.

I can say that Dr Allison knows we co-slept, but never said anything about it.  He's also open to alt vax, even though it's not his preference.  He's never given us parenting advice, always stuck right to medical advice, which I appreciate.

wingedbride

Thanks kat! that location is better, and it is good to know he is open to alt vax. I will look into him as well!

kat.in.the.hat

I'd check with Injac or Ho first, honestly.  Allison is a bit older and a bit more old school than either of them and a bit more resistant.  Also, don't know if you're having a boy or plan on circ-ing or any of that, but Injac is very anti-circ and knows how to deal with boys that are not circ'd.

wingedbride

We haven't found out gender and are not sure if this is a boy what we will do. We keep flip flopping on circ.

KT120106

Ditto Kat in the Hat-we see Dr. Hogan at PMC and love him. We've also seen Dr. Ho and Dr. Smith and loved them. I have no personal experience with Dr. Finnila so I am not really refuting what Rayskit said, but one of my best friends co-slept, used an alternate vac. schedule and ebf until 6 months (and is still nursing at almost 14 months) and has never mentioned any dissatisfaction with Dr. Finnila, who is her primary pedi. Maybe you should choose another doc, but I seriously recommend the practice as a whole. I am still nursing at 13 months and using an alernative vac schedule and have not felt any resistance at all, although Dr. Hogan says he doesn't see a need for the alternative schedule.

MMS2007

we saw dr. finnila first and switched also to dr. ho at the same office.  dr. ho is very patient and nice.  he knew we exclusively bf until 6mo and had no problems. 

somethingchangd

I use Dr. Shuman (thanks Viula) and have had a good experience.  We're doing delayed vax, EBFing, have an intact boy, etc. and have found her very supportive.

I do know that Dr. Injac is the go-to pedi for "crunchy" Houston mamas.  I don't have personal experience with him, but I know he is very open to delayed (or refused) vax, not circ'ing, etc.  He's on my radar screen in the event I ever need to switch.

wingedbride

Thank you all! I am going to narrow down to a few docs and then should I do interviews? DId you do them? All the books recommmend it!

rayskit10

wingedbride:

Thank you all! I am going to narrow down to a few docs and then should I do interviews? DId you do them? All the books recommmend it!

yes. we did  them and ended up with Dr Finnila. LOL! but she was nice enough and answered our initial questions with good enough answers. it was hard to know where we were really going to go with our parenting style until the baby was born.

in addition to standard questions, i got 2 great pieces of advice from other moms:

make sure the doctor is really listening to you in the interview. not just giving stock answers and not answering before you've finished b/c he or she thinks they know what you are going to ask. i wish i had this advice before meeting Finnila.

feeling is as or even more important than answers. how do you feel when you walk in? how do you feel in the waiting room? what feeling do you get from the doctor? you must trust your instincts 100%! make a note of your initial feelings during the different "phases" of an office visit. 

wingedbride

rayskit10:

wingedbride:

Thank you all! I am going to narrow down to a few docs and then should I do interviews? DId you do them? All the books recommmend it!

yes. we did  them and ended up with Dr Finnila. LOL! but she was nice enough and answered our initial questions with good enough answers. it was hard to know where we were really going to go with our parenting style until the baby was born.

in addition to standard questions, i got 2 great pieces of advice from other moms:

make sure the doctor is really listening to you in the interview. not just giving stock answers and not answering before you've finished b/c he or she thinks they know what you are going to ask. i wish i had this advice before meeting Finnila.

feeling is as or even more important than answers. how do you feel when you walk in? how do you feel in the waiting room? what feeling do you get from the doctor? you must trust your instincts 100%! make a note of your initial feelings during the different "phases" of an office visit. 

Thank you so much for all of your advice. I have really appreciated it!