How do you "pick" a pediatrician?

el_twirpo

in the past, i've either been referred to a dr or just made an appointment through the ARC website. so how do i go about picking and assigning a pediatrician? are there forms to fill out? do i call the main desk number and ask to speak to them or just go through whoever's answering the phone? i'm sure these sound like really dumb questions.

ali-1411

I start on our insurance's doctor search feature.  Then you're sure to get doctors that are in your network.

I call and speak to whoever answers the phone, ask if they are taking new patients.  Make an appt.  They ask you to show up early to fill out insurance forms and sign the privacy thing.  

That's pretty much it.  

I pick my doctors through trial and error.  We've lived in this town two years and we're on our 3rd pedi's office.  We like this one

el_twirpo

ali-1411:

I start on our insurance's doctor search feature.  Then you're sure to get doctors that are in your network.

I call and speak to whoever answers the phone, ask if they are taking new patients.  Make an appt.  They ask you to show up early to fill out insurance forms and sign the privacy thing.  

That's pretty much it.  

I pick my doctors through trial and error.  We've lived in this town two years and we're on our 3rd pedi's office.  We like this one

 what do you do at that first appointment if the baby's not here yet? 

HSartteach

Some offices have a meet and greet monthly.  That way you can meet the doctors and get a feel for them.

Personally, I asked my ob for recs.  She gave me a few.  We met the 2 docs at the hospital.  I lucked out and really liked one of the docs.  I know I should have done more research, but I'm the type that has to try before I can make a decision--does that make sense?  I figured if we were unhappy, we would switch docs.

Duckie07

HSartteach:

Some offices have a meet and greet monthly.  That way you can meet the doctors and get a feel for them.

Personally, I asked my ob for recs.  She gave me a few.  We met the 2 docs at the hospital.  I lucked out and really liked one of the docs.  I know I should have done more research, but I'm the type that has to try before I can make a decision--does that make sense?  I figured if we were unhappy, we would switch docs.

Yup, I also asked my OB and she gave me several recs.  We then attended one of the monthly Meet and Greets given by the group of doctors we selected.  We really liked the doctor we met and put her on the hospital registration form.  Now, it was another set of pediatricians that saw DD in the hospital (which we ended up liking too and were also rec'd by my OB), but DD's first out-of-the-hospital appointment was with the pedi we picked.  We still really liked her and continued to see her.  Like PP, if we hadn't liked her after the first visit, we would've switched.  Good luck!

balihaigirl

most recently we went with a recc we got off of here.  we are so happy with our new pedi.  what part of town are you looking?  our pedi is central (near mopac and 35th).

BoxerMomma

i honestly wouldnt worry too much about it. like a pp said, you can always switch if you're not happy at a practice. i'm also of the belief that a pediatrician is there to help with medical concerns. I don't rely on mine for advice on my parenting concerns, such as sleep, starting solids, breastfeeding, etc. i value her opinion, but i also do my own research and consult others, like a lactation consultant, when i have concerns. now if i had a medical concern, i would for sure want to be sure that i was confident in my pedi's abilities, but how can you really tell that from a five minute interview? you have to see how he or she interacts with your child and handles a stressful situation. 

ali-1411

BoxerMomma:

i honestly wouldnt worry too much about it. like a pp said, you can always switch if you're not happy at a practice. i'm also of the belief that a pediatrician is there to help with medical concerns. I don't rely on mine for advice on my parenting concerns, such as sleep, starting solids, breastfeeding, etc. i value her opinion, but i also do my own research and consult others, like a lactation consultant, when i have concerns. now if i had a medical concern, i would for sure want to be sure that i was confident in my pedi's abilities, but how can you really tell that from a five minute interview? you have to see how he or she interacts with your child and handles a stressful situation. 

Ditto all this.  I never interviewed pedi's before hand.  We're on our 3rd office in this town but I liked them all well enough the first couple visits.  It wasn't until a problem came up after a few months that I decided to switch.  

Switching doctors isn't a big deal at all.  It can be a minor annoyance to get the medical records transferred but it only takes a phone call. 

Mrs.Talala

I picked a pedi with the help of this board.  One doctor was constantly reccomended, she is close to our house and takes our insurance.  I called her office and confirmed that she was taking new patients and asked if there was any paper work to do ahead of time.  I was told there wasn't anything to do and to just to call after the baby was born to schedule our first apt.  It was super easy.  I didn't really have the time to set up apts. to interview pedis while pregnant and was pretty confident that the girls on the board wouldn't steer me wrong!  Plus I figured if I didn't like her I could just switch down the line. 

We see Dr. Cepeda at Jollyville Pediatrics and love her! 

brooke152

I asked my OB for references, but I mainly relied on friends.  Most of my close friends have little ones under 4.  A few of them go to one office in particular and how we hope/plan to parent our child(ren) is very similar to these people.  I made sure this office was on our insurance and went to a meet and great (they have them monthly).  I liked all of the doctors but really liked the one that our closest friends happen to see.  I put her down on our hospital registration and that's that for now.  I assume we'll like her after LO is here, but if not we can always change.

This seemed like a daunting task to me, too.  Asking my friends about their pedis was really helpful.

el_twirpo

balihaigirl:

most recently we went with a recc we got off of here.  we are so happy with our new pedi.  what part of town are you looking?  our pedi is central (near mopac and 35th).

anything central to south. i saved a previous post of south austin pediatricians. 

el_twirpo

i had to turn in my registration form to the hospital in april. can i just notify them when i'm there for L&D who i designate as the pediatrician or call the hospital to add it to my registration form before i go in?

balihaigirl

el_twirpo:

balihaigirl:

most recently we went with a recc we got off of here.  we are so happy with our new pedi.  what part of town are you looking?  our pedi is central (near mopac and 35th).

anything central to south. i saved a previous post of south austin pediatricians. 

this is who we see (link).  she came highly recommended by slobina.  we are really happy with her and the entire office.

el_twirpo

balihaigirl:

this is who we see (link).  she came highly recommended by slobina.  we are really happy with her and the entire office.

 thanks! 

kiarox2002

BoxerMomma:

i honestly wouldnt worry too much about it. like a pp said, you can always switch if you're not happy at a practice. i'm also of the belief that a pediatrician is there to help with medical concerns. I don't rely on mine for advice on my parenting concerns, such as sleep, starting solids, breastfeeding, etc. i value her opinion, but i also do my own research and consult others, like a lactation consultant, when i have concerns. now if i had a medical concern, i would for sure want to be sure that i was confident in my pedi's abilities, but how can you really tell that from a five minute interview? you have to see how he or she interacts with your child and handles a stressful situation. 

I'm with BoxerMomma on the medical vs parenting advice.  I'm sure my dr has given me the side eye about some of our sleep decisions and our decision to do BLW.  We butted heads when Kate was a newborn over some breastfeeding issues (he wanted me to supplement and I didn't.) so I sought out a LC to get some advice.  She agreed with me.  I almost switched drs over this, but I stuck it out and I'm glad.  

Kate had a few harmless tremors when she was 5 months old, and I was very pleased with how he and the office handled it.  I've also been pleased with how they have handled some of her allergy issues (seasonal and random hives.)  To me, these are medical issues and I thought he handled them beautifully.  I don't really care if he says to do CIO at 4 months and I don't.  He wasn't pushy about it.

My big criteria for a pedi was that I wanted one that would let me do selective/ delayed vaxing.  I asked for a rec on the board, and called the office.  My first choice wasn't taking new patients, but another dr in the practice was.  We did go in for an interview before she was born.  I still sometimes wish we were seeing the first dr, but mainly because I think he's views are more in line with our parenting views.  For the most part, I'm happy with who we see. 

amyk927

balihaigirl:

el_twirpo:

balihaigirl:

most recently we went with a recc we got off of here.  we are so happy with our new pedi.  what part of town are you looking?  our pedi is central (near mopac and 35th).

anything central to south. i saved a previous post of south austin pediatricians. 

this is who we see (link).  she came highly recommended by slobina.  we are really happy with her and the entire office.

We see her partner who is getting ready to have a baby herself.  I highly recommend them both.