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October 2014 Moms
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Need Advice Please - Choosing a Doctor/Pediatrician

ashleyvictoriaashleyvictoria member
edited July 2014 in October 2014 Moms
As a FTM, I'm super (admittedly probably a bit too) cautious about every decision I've been making for my LO. Having the right pediatrician seems like one of the most important decisions to me, especially since I have had the unfortunate experience of being seen by a few terrible doctors in the past, which ended up having a negative impact on my health. I have been seeing a wonderful family practice physician for about 5 years now and my husband (who usually hates going to any doctor) has been seeing him for a little over a year and says he wishes he had listened to me years ago and started seeing him sooner. We both really like how the practice is run and the quality of care we feel we receive. It's a husband and wife team and they are a general family practice, treating all ages. We really want to be able to take LO there for pediatric care. The biggest problem is that the office is at least 45 minutes from our house (on a good day with no traffic). I'm concerned about the distance in the event LO is sick. I am also not sure if it is wise to take LO to a family practice doctor versus a pediatrician, who specializes in infant care. I'd love some advice here and/or thoughts or points I may not be considering but should be. Thanks!
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Re: Need Advice Please - Choosing a Doctor/Pediatrician

  • persephonerosepersephonerose member
    I would select a pediatrician at least for the first two years, this is the busiest time for well check ups and vaccinations. We have a 2 day, 2 week, 2 month, 4month, 6month, 9month, 1year, 14month, 18month, and 2 yr well check up schedule. So driving a long distance would have been miserable for us. 

    If you love your family practice doctor ask them for a referral. 

    Some other suggestions.
    Make a list of what you like about the family doctor and use that as a standard when interviewing pediatricians.
    Determine if it is important to you that they follow/are up to date with AAP recommendations.
    Figure out if you want to vaccinate on schedule or a varied schedule. Some pediatricians do not allow variations.

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  • bumpuser10309732bumpuser10309732 member
    For some people 45 minutes would be awesome! I live in rural america and it's going to take me an hour and 20 minutes to get to the hospital while in labor. The doctor will be AT LEAST 45 minutes for me after that. That's if I even like her. Otherwise it's back to the 1 hour and 20 minutes! The drive isn't ideal but I feel like if I liked my doctor, and I trusted him/her that's way more important to me to have that relationship. With that being said meeting with a pediatrician doesn't hurt anything!
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  • DaniGrace89DaniGrace89 member
    I'm a FTM too. An important criteria for our pediatrician is going to be distance from our house. I wouldn't want to risk driving 45 minutes with a sick infant, or even a well but cranky infant when a good doctor is within 10 minutes.

    I'd be concerned also about using a non-pediatrician, simply because the nursing staff and doctors may not all be equipped to deal with children and may not be as kid friendly.

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  • ashleyvictoriaashleyvictoria member
    I'm not really concerned about the time spent on the drives; just thinking about if LO happened to be sick...45 minutes might feel like an eternity to him.

    The nearest hospital is probably a 20-25minute drive, in the event of an emergency.
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  • ss265ss265 member

    DH has three doctors in his family and whenever one of the kids is sick, they discuss it with his sister, who is the pediatrician, even though some of the kid's parents are doctors themselves! Kid's health is just different from a regular adult.

    PP have given great advice but I wanted to add that you also want to look for a pediatrician who can guarantee same day sick appointments. When you have a miserable child who has been up all night, you want to see the doctor ASAP. As far as I know, most family practices fit you in the next day and it's rare to get a same day appointment.

    Also look for one with a nurse's line (preferably free) that you can call if your child is ill in the middle of the night.

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  • persephonerosepersephonerose member
    Some of the nice things I like about our pedi is that each room is stocked full of toys, books, and very colorful pictures on the wall. They really help to entertain LO while we wait.  The shot nurse has been doing it for over 15 years and she does it really quick and knows how to distract LO so he rarely cries for more than 5-10 seconds. 

    @ashleyvictoria How far is the hospital drive from your Dr.s office? That was one thing that was important to us. If we went to the Dr and they then sent us to the ER I did not want to have a long drive.  We just happened to find a pedi we loved that is right next door to the hospital.
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  • ashleyvictoriaashleyvictoria member
    persephonerose said:

    @ashleyvictoria How far is the hospital drive from your Dr.s office? That was one thing that was important to us. If we went to the Dr and they then sent us to the ER I did not want to have a long drive.  We just happened to find a pedi we loved that is right next door to the hospital.


    I hadnt thought of that, but luckily there is a hospital with an ER about 5 minutes from this doctor's office. It's not the one I will be delivering at, but another branch of the same company.
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  • AmandaJean12AmandaJean12 member
    I'd also consider things like do they have their own urgent care, so you have a pediatrician/someone you're comfortable with on or just whoever got stuck with the shift? Is there a 24 hour line to get advice and someone on call?

    I know not everyone has access to these things but they were a huge sway for us picking a practice.
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  • AmandaJean12AmandaJean12 member
    And what hospital they have privileges at. Another big one for us.
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  • IrishHoney123IrishHoney123 member
    It really depends on the physician, whether a pediatrician or not. I took DS1 to a pediatric office and was not impressed. I then started taking him to my own PCP office and found my family doc was more up to date on AAP recommendations, listened to me more closely, actually got us in when the child was sick, and we didn't have a long waiting room time. 
    Drive time factors in, but I have at least a 45 minute commute to pretty much any office so I don't have a choice.
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