Related to below: do I need a pediatrician?

JaiMacreiberts

Or can I go with a family practice doctor?  I ask because the only pediatricians in my area are terrible and are part of a clinic that generally does not care about its patients.  Instead, I'd rather go with a family practice doctor at the hospital I'm delivering at.  Anyone have any experience with this?  Will a family practice doctor generally take on an infant or do I really need a pediatrician?

 TIA!

AlabamaMamma224

Our GP doesn't take kids, I would love it if she would!  Though we have found a pedi I like, I'm not terribly keen on her location or some of the other clientele.... I'm sorry if that came out as snotty, I didn't mean it to be.  The Dr. is very thorough and the waits aren't terribly long.

526SadieSadie

Our baby's doctor is a family practitioner.  I asked my OBGYN's office if they had a list of referrals and his name was at the top of the list. 

weezie825

Yes, you can go with a family practice as long as they have a doctor willing to accept infants.  At the family practice where I go only some of the doctors treat infants.  Some of the doctors take kids 4 and up and others specialize in geriatrics.

I love using a family practice.  My entire family, including my parents, my sister and her children all see the same doctor.  It is wonderful that they know so much about our family history, especially since there are some unsual quirks. 

madhatter2003

I've always used a family prac doc, in fact my doc also does/did ob so he delivered the kids and takes care of them as well as DH and I.

JLG95

Our family doctor started seeing my son right after we left the hospital.  All we had to do was ask if he was willing to see newborns. 

We live in an area with lots of pediatricians, but DH and I like the idea of bringing the whole family in when we all have the same cough, etc.

med380

You can go with either.  Some people prefer pediatricians because they are specialized in children so may have more experience with more unique situations/issues that might be specific to children.  But I do know lots of people go family practice and are happy with that.

We go to a pedi because that's who was recommended to us.

ae4245

We are using a family practice, the only pedi in my town have commuter days so one work in my town about 2 days out of the week and of course LO will never need to go the days they are there which would mean a 45+ minute drive to the next "big city". Our FPD is great - he saw me and my sister when we were babies too! (wait...I just realized how old that makes him lol)

pinksweetpea2

One of the things I like best about family Drs is that they are required to get re certified every 7 years, so you know that they are up to date on all the current trends and information.  That is not the case for pediatrics or other GPs.

alwaysduke00

That is misinformation.  There is re-certification for pediatricians...  If you do not believe me, check out the website for the American Board of Pediatrics and you can learn all about the re-certification process which is very complex (and time consuming and expensive) but involves an exam among other things.  Like almost every other medical specialty, there are some people who were certified before recertification became mandatory to maintain certification and are grandfathered in to permanent certification...but no one who has become board certified recently (past 10 years, perhaps?) would be in that category.

Flowerdot

I think seeing a family med doctor is fine, although I think it helps to see one who sees a lot of kids. All family med docs are trained in well child care, but their training is more broad than a pediatrician's, so it's up to them whether they've developed their skills and knowledge in caring for kids or not.

 I am a pediatrician, and I would say if your child has a serious chronic illness (Down syndrome, heart disease, cystic fibrosis, etc), it might be reasonable to see a pediatrician instead, since they usually have more training in childhood diseases specifically. For generally healthy children, any family med doc who sees children should be just fine.

 And I'm pretty sure the recertification process is very similar for the two professions. Pediatricians definitely have to do a lot and know a lot to keep their board certification up to date!