Pediatrician, how to select one and then what?

Ylvelill · January 2014

My OB says we need to pick a pediatrician. I am a first time mom and not sure how to go about it. I have been searching the web, reading reviews and talking to people. I have it narrowed down, but then it hit me...

Do I go see them before the babies are here? Do I just tell them I have picked them? Arg, I feel so unprepared to be a grown up

runrinserepeat · January 2014

We're just using the pediatrician we use with our daughter. I chose her by looking at the available pediatricians at the closest clinic to us, and I decided I like her name best. I picked her a few days after DD was born, because I needed to schedule the follow up appointment with somebody.

It's worked out well. I trust her opinion and she's good with our DD. I could have switched if we hadn't liked her but it didn't come to that.

I will say, it's been nice to be able to ask questions this time around about things like circumcision.

Allison546 · January 2014

When I was pregnant with my DS, I just picked one in my area, called and said I was pregnant, and they had me come in and meet one of the pediatricians. She just gave me some info about the practice and answered any questions I had. She was friendly enough and I liked everything I heard, so I went with them. It's a practice of 5 female pedis, and they do visits at the hospital I was delivering at, so they came to check on DS each of the three mornings we were there.

And yes, I think at the hospital they just ask who your pediatrician is, and the hospital calls them when you deliver.

My biggest criteria were flexible hours and convenient location. They take appts in evenings and on Saturdays, so that's been a huge plus.

AKbadwolf · January 2014

I interviewed a few. Asked what their position was on breastfeeding, how long to wait before treating colds, how to handle colds (do they do any homeopathic or is it straight to meds) ect. Also you want to know if they are accepting new patients. Some wont be or they wont accept your insurance. Once you do you can put your insurance on file, fill out tentative due date, and let your OB know.

mcvgal · January 2014

I picked the one my sister used. An added bonus was the great hours as well. If you do not have a word of mouth recommendation, try to schedule an interview so you can meet them beforehand. DS' first appoint was 2 days after he was released from the hospital so you difinately want to try and pick some one beforehand.

dmellis02 · January 2014

I have a question that relates to this. Does the pediatrician you choose have to have privileges at the hospital you are delivering? I live in Northern Kentucky, but will be delivering in Cincinnati. There is only one pediatrician in Northern Kentucky that has privileges for my hospital.

AKbadwolf · January 2014

DM- No, you just may have to have your first apt sooner. My pediatrician does, so we essentially had our first apt in the hospital and they didn't see us again till 2 weeks later.

dmellis02 · January 2014

Thanks @AKbadwolf! That helps a bit.

singingirl96 · January 2014

They won't let you leave the hospital if you don't have a pediatrician. At least that's how it was at my hospital.

Things I would look for would be availability. Are they open early or late (if you're a working parent, it helps if they're open outside of 9-5). Are they open on the weekends? Are they available by phone 24/7? Do they have a nurse hotline you can call?

When you're baby wakes up in the middle of the night throwing up and you have no idea what to do, do you have someone at the office that you can call? At my pediatrician, if something like this happens, you can call and a nurse will call back within minutes. Sucks to be the nurse, but it helps to have someone you can call.

You also want to look at years of experience. Are there many doctors in the practice? In case you need to bring your child to a sick appointment and your doctor doesn't have any availability is there another doctor you can see? Or is this a one man operation?

Do they have a lactation consultant in the practice? Though this is not as important, for us it was a lifesaver. When my son was having latching issues, there was a lactation consultant at the pediatrician's office and I was able to meet with her. She didn't push me to move to formula like most pediatricians would, she helped me and we were able to breastfeed exclusively.

Also, think about how close your pediatrician is to your home. Try to find somewhere close, with close parking. Lugging a sick baby can be cumbersome if you're by yourself, so a close drive and a close parking space is very important as well. This is a little thing, but you'll be happy if you have this.

Those are all things I'd look for in a pediatrician.

Then, once you get to know your pediatrician, you can get a better feel to see if this person is a right fit. If you don't like them, and this is a multi-doctor practice, you can always see a different doctor till you find one you like.

Congrats and good luck growing up

seells · January 2014

We had a pedi come to our birthing class and DH and I liked him so much we ended up going with him. When we moved we checked who was in our network and went with a recommendation from my MIL who is a receptionist for a big healthcare facility around here and knows ALL the doctors.

He has been excellent and we will use him with this baby as well. DD has her yearly check up in May so we will let them know then we are expecting.

If you haven't picked out a pedi by the time the baby is born, with DD there were on-call pedis who would come and check out the baby. (You had to have the baby released by a pediatrician befor you could go home) And then we made a follow up with our preferred doctor.

TurtleMonsters · January 2014

AKbadwolf said:

I interviewed a few. Asked what their position was on breastfeeding, how long to wait before treating colds, how to handle colds (do they do any homeopathic or is it straight to meds) ect. Also you want to know if they are accepting new patients. Some wont be or they wont accept your insurance. Once you do you can put your insurance on file, fill out tentative due date, and let your OB know.

If you interview before, that would be a good place to start. If you know anyone with children, neighbors or whatnot, you could ask them. Mine happened to work in a pediatricians office, wish I talked to her before I chose, she had a couple to suggest. Our first pedi was a work of art (my boss used them, I guess he was low cost or something)...seriously demented with his misinformation (on things like breast feeding and our boobs containing gas). We ended up picking a second out of a hat, and lucked out. The hospital also had a list to choose from, I was given in birth classes or at the hosp. At the birth, I told them who I thought I wanted, and they connected us together for the first time.

kmawb · January 2014

This is so strange to me (maybe it's a US thing?), but we just use our family doctor/GP and then if there's a health issue that needs further investigation or is out of the norm for a GP we get referred to a pediatrician or other specialist.

For example, my DD started getting a wierd rash/bumps on her scalp around 6 months old that no matter what we tried with our family doc nothing helped (it wasn't cradle cap, or an infection of any kind that we could figure out). So, he referred us to a pediatrician to take a look at it. The pediatrician thought he knew what it could be but referred us to a pediatric dermatologist to confirm. Turns out she gets psoriasis on her scalp occasionally.

*The kicker to me was that after finally getting a diagnosis after several months, FIL casually mentions "oh yeah, I used to get that when I was younger - it runs in my family". Gee thanks FIL for not mentioning it when we were getting a dermatology history months ago!

ashtonblair123 · January 2014

Check who's available in your insurance network and see if anyone has any recommendations. When you decide call them and see if they are taking new patients and will be able to see your baby. Speaking of I need to make sure he can take the new baby. With Dd I never got around to calling before she was born (no one mentioned it to me this early and I never really thought about it) and I was just lucky the hospital was able to line it up for me.

alyss0nl · January 2014

A family friend suggested our pedi. He's great, and there are 6 doctors in the practice so we always can get in. It's also by our house, which makes it even better. We didn't pick our pedi until about 8-9 months, it still seems super early.

AnotherPreggo · January 2014

I picked the one I went to as a kid (which... I went to until just before my 19th birthday... and I had DD at 21, so it was like I never really left. :-O) Anywho. I went for an appointment with the lead pediatrician to ask any questions I had... I want to say this was around 30-35 weeks pregnant. I had nothing to ask him... it was silly to even go, but they booked it as soon as I called to set things up.

There are plenty of questions you can ask them though. I didn't know what to ask, but now I know what I would want to ask a pedi if we were to switch. Mainly, how pro-breastfeeding they are, their vaccination schedule, hours... etc.

kjskjs · January 2014

We went based on referrals from friends and then met with the doctor before Charlotte was born to ask some questions and meet her. If you think you found one, I would just meet with them and see if you like them and you can ask questions like how they feel about vaccinations and things like that or other things you may want to know.

Ylvelill · January 2014

Boobs contains gas?!

Thanks all for the great advise, guess I will be calling up a few and setting up some interviews!

AMcLaws · January 2014

Word of mouth, for sure. I decided on the same office that my nieces and nephews go to, although they all see different doctors. Ours is completely amazing. DD adores him.

pfeilele · January 2014

Our clinic has little video profiles if the doctor chooses to do so. I didn't even want one who wasn't willing to do that. My OB actually gave me the scoop on who was only part time, who was going to retire soon, who was moving etc so it really narrowed it down.

I know a lot of places will let you schedule a short interview with them. And remember, you can always get a new one if the fit just isn't right!

[Deleted User] · January 2014

I started with word-of-mouth. I chose one that was local and who also does rounds at the hospital I deliver at. They have a monthly information session that we attended. We liked what they had to say so we just went with them. So far we've been content and had no issues.

redhotmama7 · January 2014

I was wondering about this as well... Because we are delivering at a hospital 1.5hrs away from home and I want the pedi that's only 15min from home... Except that I still need to ask their opinions on breast feeding, circumcision (maybe), and vaccine schedule. I guess I will probably wait a little longer and then call to ask about availability etc... It's the same office I see my gp at so I'm hoping since I'm already established they'll take my baby

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