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Tryingtogetpregnant
member
What to ask a pedi?
Tryingtogetpregnant
member
Sorry.......I know this has been asked, but can you give me some questions to ask potential pediatricians? We have our first appt tomorrow and next one next week, and I have no idea what to ask!
Thanks
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Re: What to ask a pedi?
We actually didn't interview pedis. I intended to but in the end decided that without an actual baby I wouldn't really know the most important thing, how they interacted with my baby. I did want a physician who was flexible on vaccinations so we did some research to figure out who those pedis were but then just picked one and hoped for the best. I also preferred a younger pedi, but again that was info I could get from webpages and the like.
If I had interviewed it would have been more office policy based anyway - saturday hours, sick/well waiting rooms, cancellation fees etc...
But you may want to ask things about solids introduction timelines, vaccinaction schedules, breast feeding support, well child visit schedules, and maybe just ask for some basic "new parent" info - I think you can tell a lot about a pedi in how they talk to you. FWIW, I didn't want parenting advice from my pedi, just health information. So had she started talking sleep schedules I would've been out of there. YMMV.
I'm curious about this, because I hear people on The Nest say this all the time. I consider sleep habits a HUGE part of a child's overall health. You don't?
I do understand if you don't want your pedi telling you exactly how to sleep train your child, etc, but I can't imagine any pedi not being concerned about how your child is sleeping.
I discuss H's sleep habits with my pedi every time we see her, and she has been very helpful in helping me figure out what is typical for his age and when my expectations are too high, etc. I think that's part of her job.
And I hope I'm asking this respectfully...I swear I'm not trying to pick a fight, but you know how tone sometimes doesn't translate here.
Do they have an LC on staff - lifesaver - ours is the baby nurse/LC of the practice, so your very first appointment at 3 days or whatever is with her and then the pedi. She checks the latch, does a weight check, will bring you back for a feeding check, loans out pumps, etc.
Do they check for tongue-tied babies in the hospital - very first thing our pedi did the first morning that she was born.
Our pedi has all electronic records (so does my OB), which is super nice.
Hours - I didn't even think about this until we visited, but our pedi has AWESOME hours. They are open until 7 pm every weekday evening in case the kid comes home from school/daycare all sickly, and they are open for half days on both Saturdays and Sundays for sick kids. The only days they are closed are Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Years. And if you call the after-hours line and it's something that can be done in office (like simple stitches), they will often just have you come into the office and a doctor will meet you and stitch them up so you don't have to go to the ER (all the doctors live very close by). The pediatric practice at my old hospital was closed on the weekends, so any illness had to go to a minute clinic/urgent care or the ER.
vaccination schedule
Our office has a female pedi who also has a masters in public health focused on adolescent gynecology, so girls can have their first annual exams starting at the pedi instead of having to go to a new gynecologist right away. I know that I would have started with the exams earlier and perhaps even gotten on BCPs earlier to control my PCOS and acne (instead of the waste of time and money at the dermatologist) if someone knowledgeable was at my pediatrician. I didn't go to the gynecologist until I was in grad school.
After 7 years trying to concieve, 3 failed IUIs and 2 failed IVFs, my third IVF was a success!
My Christmas baby turned into a turkey bird! Dillon Richard was born at 34 weeks, 5 days on November 28, 2009 after 10 weeks on bedrest for preeclampsia.
<a href="http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v705/arriinthere/PJ/?action=view
Oh! And since you are having a boy...
If you plan to circumsize you'll want to know if your pedi will do it for you. Mine doesn't, but another doctor in our practice does. This was fine with me, but if I hadn't asked and not found out until time to do it I might've been upset.. I was hormonal.
doesn't the OB usually do this?
and if you are considering not doing it--i'd feel them out on their opinions about that, too.
One more!
This may seem obvious, but it wasn't to me.
Make sure you ask if your pedi has privileges at the hospital where you deliver. If not, your baby will still be seen by a pediatrician after birth, just not yours. I had never stayed in a hospital before I gave birth to Henry and never had any idea how doctor/hospital privilges work, so I would never have thought to ask this if one of my mom friends hadn't clued me in.
We delivered at the "baby hospital" in our city, so my pedi does rounds there four days a week first thing in the morning.
Honestly, I think it varies by region. Around here it's traditionally the pedi. But neither my pediatrician nor my OB do circs.
Fight fight! Haha j/k -- no disrespect taken at all.
Seriously DD's pediatrician has never asked. Not once. Now I suppose were we walking into her office in a daze wearing pajamas and everyone looked like they hadn't slept in years she'd ask and I suppose I'd expect her to. To be clear, extreme lack of sleep is most definitely a health issue. But what I didn't want, and I think what many mean when they say sleep = parenting not health (to paraphrase in the extreme), is that unsolicited advice at our 2 month appointment about how I should be training my infant. And it's not because I'm anti-CIO (which I am) but because at 2 months pp I was tired and I was vulnerable and so it was important to me to have a pedi who would support me (again so long as DD's health wasn't suffering). And what I've learned is that if I'm not bothered by her night waking, and she's otherwise on her growth curve, healthy and happy I don't want a health professional suggesting that I should alter my parenting style to fit with their version of a good nights sleep. And I say this with a baby who takes 45 minute to 1 hour naps and very regularly refuses to go to bed until after 10 pm. But...she sleeps until 9 or 9:30. Again, if she were suffering from lack of sleep I'd be all over asking my pedi for help but I just don't want pedi unsolicited advice. So anyway...that's my take on it.
FWIW, because your food post made me think about it (it was yours right?) we don't talk to DD's pedi about foods either. And all she said at 6 months was that DD could start solids and for now it was just practice, most nutrition should still come from nursing. And again, for me that's a perfect fit. I don't want a "intro this food, wait 4 days, pick an orange food next, wait 4 more days" type of relationship with my pedi. If I had a question about it I know she'd answer it but I feel really comfortable and confident with our approach to feeding DD and barring feeding her I don't know...raw sushi or something I see introducing solids as a parenting choice, not health issue.
My pedi trained at Vanderbilt and pedis did circs there. Here it is OBs.