This Guy (Terrible Pedi)

LJUTCMommy · January 2014

DD has her 6 month shots yesterday. Our usual pedi is still out on ML, so we saw one of the other doctors. He was like all of the things we've ever complained about and offering all the suggestions we've been against. I was like, am I being trolled?

I nodded and smiled through all of his unsolicited advice. He just starts going off with the following gems.

"Parents ask me all the time, how long can I let the baby cry? I say 30-60 minutes. 60 minutes of crying is fine by me.".

"Make sure to put her down awake. She needs to learn independence." Obviously, I need to work on my acting because he could tell IDGAF. He goes on "I know other cultures believe differently, but we are in America. Americans should be independent." Bitch, like I'm not American?

When asked, I stated we haven't given her rice cereal, just fruits and vegetables with blessing of normal pedi, "You really should give her rice cereal, she needs it right now."

Keep in mind, I didn't ask this guy anything about any of these topics.

Then, proudly, he gives me his own written handout about introducing solid foods. Seriously, I want to take a pic and upload it because it is so full of misinformation. It recommends introducing all solid foods at 4 months, dairy at 6 months, eggs at 5 months, and says both breastfed and bottle-fed babies shouldn't be having more than 4 milk feedings per day. WTF.

Edit: Duplicate Paragraph

AprilRaine · January 2014

There are parents that are probably taking their kids to that guy and following his advice because they trust him as a Dr. That makes me sad. :-( He sounds very out of touch.

MommyKristin88 · January 2014

That doctor would promptly be told:

henderson1026 · January 2014

what a quack!

magdalina.h · January 2014

You should hold on to his pamphlet and give it to your pedi when she gets back

LJUTCMommy · January 2014

ITA with all of you. That is what I was thinking. Those parents that just trust their doctor are going to have very hungry, upset babies with lots of digestive issues.

Thankfully he just did one exam. Do you think I should write a letter to the practice of something? Or would it just be ignored? Those of you working in the medical field, WDYT?

LokiLahve · January 2014

Next time kick him in the nuts and tell him he'll be ok after 60 mins of CIO.
(I'm full of rage today)

Millie1984 · January 2014

LJUTCMommy said:

ITA with all of you. That is what I was thinking. Those parents that just trust their doctor are going to have very hungry, upset babies with lots of digestive issues. Thankfully he just did one exam. Do you think I should write a letter to the practice of something? Or would it just be ignored? Those of you working in the medical field, WDYT?

I'm not in the medical field, but unfortunately I don't think writing a letter would do much good. His advice is terrible, and I would never use him as a pedi (or take any of his advice), but I could see some people agreeing with him. The proper way to introduce solids is always up for debate, after all.

As for CIO, I remember someone else on this board not that long ago saying how they don't take parenting advice from pediatricians, and I think this is a perfect example of why. My pedi actually also brought up CIO to me at our last check up. I smiled and nodded and then promptly did not take his advice.

I hope in the future if your normal doc is out, there is another pedi other than this one you can see. Sorry you had such an unhelpful appointment!

Lorjo2022 · January 2014

magdalina.h said:
You should hold on to his pamphlet and give it to your pedi when she gets back

This^^
This scares me for others taking his advice!

V&G101808 · January 2014

Revez · January 2014

Annnnnnd this is why doctors should be giving medical advice and not parenting advice.

I'd for sure be letting your usual pedi know that this is going on in the practice.

WheeLinTheSky3 · January 2014

Is your regular pedi incredibly different from this guy? I just think its strange that she would choose a replacement that is so different from her own ways of practicing.

MommyBolty · January 2014

I kept reading in hopes it was all a joke. I'm seriously worried for all the babies he is responsible for. :-(

jbean1325 · January 2014

That scares me for all the other parents that trust this guy because he's a doctor. I would do everything you can to bring it to the attention of the practice. Definitely show your regular pedi when she gets back. Is this guy from the stone age or something? Glad you knew better. Now take LO and run, run far away from that nut.

LJUTCMommy · January 2014

WheeLinTheSky3 said:
Is your regular pedi incredibly different from this guy? I just think its strange that she would choose a replacement that is so different from her own ways of practicing.

It's a large practice. There are 8 pediatricians there so it's just a roll of the dice as to who we get while she's out. Everyone else has been great. This guy was just awful.

Speshul · January 2014

Haha...I like how he made it a point that he is American but his food recommendations are not american at all. They are, however, not uncommon in some other countries.

I think all pedis mention CIO in case the patient opts for it. They shouldn't tell you that you should do it, just discuss it as an option. They should be allowed to talk about it and explain a few things. There are rules, expectations, and scenerios in sleep training that should be discussed if the parents decide to do it. Just because your pedi mentions it doesn't make him/her a good or bad pedi, it means they accommodate more than one type of parent.

The guy in the original post sounds like he is trying to tell OP how to parent though. Not cool.

LJUTCMommy · January 2014

@Speshul I just think it's odd to give advice, complete unsolicited. If I asked about CIO or learning independence, then sure. But, I didn't even bring those topics up.

I think it is so weird that people working in real estate and finance have to do constant continued education and pass new exams, while apparently pediatricians do not? Very odd. AAP should do formal re-training and testing for every pediatrician annually.

Luckily, I do not take parenting advice from doctors. However, it does concern me for those that do.

NikkiD522 · January 2014

I agree with you @ljutcmommy - I definitely think there should be some sort of required studies/training every like 5-10 years for pediatricians that addresses new advances in medicine, etc. As for taking parenting advice from the ped, I definitely try to avoid it.. but sometimes parenting advice definitely overlaps with medical advice, IMO. It's like a venn diagram in my head....

MagPie 1986 · January 2014

LJUTCMommy said:
ITA with all of you. That is what I was thinking. Those parents that just trust their doctor are going to have very hungry, upset babies with lots of digestive issues.

Thankfully he just did one exam. Do you think I should write a letter to the practice of something? Or would it just be ignored? Those of you working in the medical field, WDYT?

Im in medicine and I don't think it will change him one bit but if I were the actual pedi, I would want to know what info was being given to my patients. It might help your pedi a great deal. I would also mention that he was culturally insensitive.

Speshul · January 2014

LJUTCMommy said:

@Speshul I just think it's odd to give advice, complete unsolicited. If I asked about CIO or learning independence, then sure. But, I didn't even bring those topics up.

I think it is so weird that people working in real estate and finance have to do constant continued education and pass new exams, while apparently pediatricians do not? Very odd. AAP should do formal re-training and testing for every pediatrician annually.

Luckily, I do not take parenting advice from doctors. However, it does concern me for those that do.

If a parent decides to do sleep training without opening a book, they can do it completely wrong and expect incorrect things. It's not wrong to mention it, or at least say you can start doing X by this month. That's what my pedi did. She just mentioned when sleep training was appropriate and left the topic open for me.

They discuss food because introducing the wrong foods/wrong time can cause medical problems. It's loosely related but they should be following the current guidelines..not their own.

Pedis see tons of kids over their career. No you shouldn't follow them blindly -- they are human beings after all, but they have valuable information from experience.

Whether the child learns independence or not is none of their business though...the guy you saw overstepped, and was also a bit bossy and tactless.

BelhurstBride · January 2014

LJUTCMommy said:

I think it is so weird that people working in real estate and finance have to do constant continued education and pass new exams, while apparently pediatricians do not? Very odd. AAP should do formal re-training and testing for every pediatrician annually.

DH isn't a pedi, but he does have to clock in so many hours of continuing ed before he can renew his license. I'm sure pedis do, too.

He gets to pick the courses he takes, though.

Coconuthead · January 2014

Ugh. He sounds like a real winner.

LJUTCMommy · January 2014

msspeedymarie said:

LJUTCMommy said:

I just think it's odd to give advice, complete unsolicited. If I asked about CIO or learning independence, then sure. But, I didn't even bring those topics up.

I think it is so weird that people working in real estate and finance have to do constant continued education and pass new exams, while apparently pediatricians do not? Very odd. AAP should do formal re-training and testing for every pediatrician annually.

Luckily, I do not take parenting advice from doctors. However, it does concern me for those that do.

I'm guessing he knows that your regular pedi gives very different advice than he does, and when he gets one of her patients during this ML, he takes the opportunity to "educate" them. Why are his pamphlets made by him? Wouldn't the practice have something they all gave out? Unless he knows he is giving advice outside the norm?

That's an interesting question. They do have generic pamphlets as well. I'm not sure why he has his own special one that he authored.

I didn't even think about the fact he might know my doctor does things totally differently and he may be "educating" me on his way. I think you could be right.

LJUTCMommy · January 2014

BelhurstBride said:

LJUTCMommy said:

I think it is so weird that people working in real estate and finance have to do constant continued education and pass new exams, while apparently pediatricians do not? Very odd. AAP should do formal re-training and testing for every pediatrician annually.

DH isn't a pedi, but he does have to clock in so many hours of continuing ed before he can renew his license. I'm sure pedis do, too.

He gets to pick the courses he takes, though.

Maybe that's how it is for Pedis too. Maybe I should recommend he takes his next continued ed classes on infant nutrition in my letter? :P

LJUTCMommy · January 2014

Speshul said:

LJUTCMommy said:

@Speshul I just think it's odd to give advice, complete unsolicited. If I asked about CIO or learning independence, then sure. But, I didn't even bring those topics up.

I think it is so weird that people working in real estate and finance have to do constant continued education and pass new exams, while apparently pediatricians do not? Very odd. AAP should do formal re-training and testing for every pediatrician annually.

Luckily, I do not take parenting advice from doctors. However, it does concern me for those that do.

If a parent decides to do sleep training without opening a book, they can do it completely wrong and expect incorrect things. It's not wrong to mention it, or at least say you can start doing X by this month. That's what my pedi did. She just mentioned when sleep training was appropriate and left the topic open for me.

They discuss food because introducing the wrong foods/wrong time can cause medical problems. It's loosely related but they should be following the current guidelines..not their own.

Pedis see tons of kids over their career. No you shouldn't follow them blindly -- they are human beings after all, but they have valuable information from experience.

Whether the child learns independence or not is none of their business though...the guy you saw overstepped, and was also a bit bossy and tactless.

I totally understand what you're saying. I agree that hey might want to mention it, as some parents might think it's totally ok to let the baby CIO all night. He did have the limit on it, so there's that.

And on the food recommendations, I did think it was so odd because he was specifically recommending things that are not recommended, due to medical concerns. It was just so wrong. So wrong.

And yes, I don't think he was originally from America. Which is funny since I am and he was preaching to me about my own culture. Such a weird experience.

mommabmb · January 2014

Peds do have to do CEUs, all docs do. But like you said, they pick the classes.

This guy is just an idiot.

LiylaRae · January 2014

Seriously. Oh man I'm sorry you had to deal with that guy. This is how I feel when people give me unsolicited advice.

photo 79D76891-EDEC-4092-ABA1-92152E1A2526_zpsyaevxatt.gif

Oh and also what an idiot. I really hope people aren't following his advice, but I know some probably are. This is exactly why I switched peds. He was terrible, he told me to cut LO off nursing at a specific time when she was a newborn, to "teach" her to nurse fast. Ummm ok crazy. How about I'll leave the milk stuff to my LC. He was also a fan of CIO. No. Just no.

sfeebs13 · January 2014

I would just recommend telling your regular pedi or writing a letter to the office just so they are aware this is happening.

I think ultimately, it's no one's place to give you parenting advice. You are the parent and you will make the final decision. Despite what "advice" or "suggestions" anyone gives you.

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