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karinothing
member
Pediatrician Recommendations?
karinothing
member
Anyone have any recommendations they would like to share?
I am in S. Arlington.
I am pro vax on a regular schedule and would like someone that will be supportitive of breastfeeding. I have BCBS - FEP. I will be having a non-hospital attached birth center birth, so idealy someone that is anti-out of hospital births as well.
Thanks!
Also - I assume I need to schedule a meeting with these folks before I pick one? Any advice on questions to ask? Thanks!
Kari
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Re: Pediatrician Recommendations?
Hey Kari - We use Children's Medical Associates in Alexandria - Little River Turnpike - and have been very happy. We usually see a nurse practitioner because they have more time for well-baby visits. They also have several lactation consultants on staff (who are also NPs). We visited A LOT early on, and it was very helpful.
The one thing you'll have to check on is insurance. I'm pretty sure they stopped accepting Caremark BC/BS, but that's different from the federal plan. I'm not sure about the federal plan.
Oh, and we didn't visit before hand. They do visit some hospitals in the area, but not AHC, so we just called when we were in the hospital to schedule our first appt for the day after we were released.
https://www.northernvirginiapediatrics.com/
We see Dr Kelly.
We go to CMA too and love them. We did the visit before DD was born and it was kind of useless. A retired nurse gave us a presentation and she was kind of wackadoodle. I had several friends that use CMA too so I was going with their recommendation because the nurse would have probably made me pick another practice. They don't do any meet the doctors sessions but we have been very happy with everyone we have seen.
I delivered at Sibley (CMA does not visit there) and it was easy to get in for an appointment the day after we brought DD home. We saw Dr. Kishi the first day and have stuck with him because he is very non-alarmist and straightforward but we have also seen several of the NPs and other doctors and like all of them.
Kari,
We use Pediatrics of Arlington, out of Virginia Hospital Center.
https://www.pediatricsofarlington.com/meet-us/
They are amazing. You get same day appointments when/if you need them, they are VERY quick to respond to questions after hours and on weekends, and are all around amazing doctors. Each Dr. takes time to get to know you and your child so when you call with questions or go in for an appointment, they know any past history. They take great care of you, as well!
We asked them questions about how quicky they could see us if a problem arose, if we could email them with questions or call (they don't do email but will call you back very quickly), and just asked questions about what their thoughts were on breastfeeding, vaccinations, the usual. Ask them anything - they are prepared!
Hope this helps - they truly are great doctors!
We see Dr. Baldrate, except I would expect she is out on maternity leave now.
We see Dr. Kelly at Northern Virginia Pediatrics in Falls Church and love her. I've also heard good things about several other doctors there, but we chose Dr. Kelly because we have friends who use her. She was great about being patient when DS was slow to gain weight in the beginning and never suggested supplementing. As long as he was gaining (even slowly), she was OK with giving him three weeks to get back to birth weight. We just had to come for more frequent weight checks and do frequent feedings (even waking him up to try to feed him). A lot of pediatricians would have been pushing formula after about a week.
Northern Virginia Pediatrics does group informational sessions about once a week, and the sessions are led by one of the doctors in the practice. I also went to info. sessions at Sleepy Hollow (one on one meeting with a doctor) and CMA (group meeting with a nurse). I liked all three practices, but Northern Virginia Pediatrics had the edge for us because of our friends' recommendation. All three practices said that they will only do the CDC schedule for vaccinations. They may have made exceptions for some people on here, but that's their stated policies.