Pediatrician

ahare2009

How and when do you go about finding a pediatrician?  I have been told we can't leave the hospital without one. 

earbride

I would first determine what things you are looking for in a pediatrician.  There are plenty of articles online that could help you out with that part.  Next, I called around to different pedi offices in the area and asked them some general info, especially the things I really wanted in a pedi.  For example, our pedi has an after-hours nurses line that we can call if LO gets sick or is running a fever, etc. and the doctor's office is closed.  As far as when, I think I started making calls near the end of the 2nd tri.

boogerbearoriginal

Told by whom? I've never heard of that before.

We picked a Pedi off a list from our insurance co that was nearby and accepting new patients. They didn't "do" anything prior to birth though, so I'm not even sure how a hospital could enforce a rule like that. It's not like we had any proof or anything. And he didn't work out of the hospital I delivered at, so LO was seen by on-call Pedis for the routine postnatal checks. We called after LO was born and set up his first appointment.  FWIW, I'm not sure that was the best method since we didn't care for him/the office and have since switched Drs.

Most people recommend word-of-mouth from friends/family, asking your OB, asking your general dr. Worst case scenario you can always switch if you don't like the Dr.

I can't recall when in the pg we started asking around, but it was much later. Around 7-8m.

ahare2009

Booger+Bear:

Told by whom? I've never heard of that before.

My SIL delivered through the same network and that is what she told me.  I am going to ask my OB at my next appt.  

I'm sure I'm jumping the gun, but I really research things before making decisions, so I need time. 

MamaVantobe

ahare2009:

Booger+Bear:

Told by whom? I've never heard of that before.

My SIL delivered through the same network and that is what she told me.  I am going to ask my OB at my next appt.  

I'm sure I'm jumping the gun, but I really research things before making decisions, so I need time. 

The hospital I delivered at required us to have a pediatrician.  I'm sure we had to write down who it was on one of the millions of papers we filled out.  

I asked local family and friends for the pros and cons of their pediatricians.  Some have meet and greets or allow you to come in and ask questions, but we never did.  We also didn't pick one until later in 3rd tri. They were accepting new patients, so it wasn't a problem.

JordyInIndy

I asked family and friends for recs and then asked my OB for a rec. I ended up using my OB's rec because she had also been mentioned by some of said family and friends.

Tally06

Our hospital requires that you arrange for a pediatrician to come to the hospital to give your child a checkup before you and your child are discharged. I go to a practice with multiple doctors. We called when we were on our way to the hospital and one of the doctors showed up the next day.

We asked friends for recommendations and set up a prenatal visit to ask questions and interview the doctor.

boogerbearoriginal

ahare2009:

Booger+Bear:

Told by whom? I've never heard of that before.

My SIL delivered through the same network and that is what she told me.  I am going to ask my OB at my next appt.  

I'm sure I'm jumping the gun, but I really research things before making decisions, so I need time. 

Interesting. I wonder how they would even "enforce" that. I mean, say you said "Dr Smith" on whatever paperwork, there's nothing that will force you take your baby to the Dr after you leave.

Anyhow, I found actually using the Dr makes a big difference vs. talking to friends/etc. Because sometimes you just don't click for inexplicable reasons. Also, I found the office staff/nurses can sometimes make a difference even if you love the Dr. One big problem we had with our first pedi was the rest of his staff.

You definitely have plenty of time to research though!

kvlrn

In AL, you have to give the name of the pediatrician you plan on using so that the state can deliver PKU results to them. We have all of our patients give the name of their pediatrician because we actually fill it in on the PKU form.

Noethola

We got a recommendations from a lot of friends in the area and our OB agreed with the one mentioned most. (He even had his own children go to him.) We interviewed at about 32 weeks and decided we liked the practice. They also were one of the only pedi offices that kept privileges at the local children's hospital. If something were to happen, we wanted our children to children to know the dr who would visit them and be in charge of their file.

MrsL32

We asked friends for recs and researched online.  We wanted someone with convenient hours, weekend/evening access to a doctor, and somewhere without long waits when making appointments...so those were the types of questions we asked when we called around.  I have heard of a lot of people going for interviews with potential pedi's as well, but that doesn't seem to be the norm here, none of the Dr. offices around here did that.

ETA: We also had to have a pedi before leaving the hospital...they came to do a first checkup before we even left the hospital. 

slwprincess

DS came 3 wks early. I was scheduled to do my first pedi meet n greet that very day. Obviously, that didn't happen. So when they asked if we had a pedi, I told the nurse that we were supposed to visit that practice but never had a chance. She said they were all great Drs and shed have the on call doc from that practice stop by. OMG, I couldn't have picked a better doc! He was so calm and proBF but not pushy. We clicked right away. DS was in the NICU so he checked on him daily and also referred us to ENT to have his tongue clipped as soon as we left hospital. Now he has moved on and we see his wife she's equally awesome. Anyway, my point with this ramble is not to stress yourself out. Visit a few and see which one fits you best, but if you have to see the on call doc, don't panic. Sometimes it all works out!

BlueEyedDreamer

At my appt last week, mmy OB told us to set one up ASAP! We knew we wanted to go with the same one that SIL uses for our nephews, so we got her to make a call for us since this pedi doesn't accept many new patients. MH called yesterday and set up a pre-birth appointment for us toward the end of October.

Depending on the demand in your area and the doc you choose, you may want to go ahead and find one... I've heard of some pedis who only accept new patients 5-7 mos ahead of the birth!

rackecrew

Most hospitals do require it because they have to have someone to release your child to.

Some pedi practices come to the hospital to see your child and others have them released by the hospital
Pedi and review their chart.