Help from current moms

[meggos1988]

How did you go about picking a pediatrician for your kids? This was on our "To Do List" and I know I have time but how did you go about picking the one that was perfect for your family?

[Nittany]

I read reviews online and got recommendations from family/friends/word of mouth. Our pediatrician's office encouraged a "meet and greet" while I was still pregnant so we could see the practice and meet a doctor to see if it felt like a good fit.

You may not pick the perfect pediatrician right off the bat. Things might come up later that make you want to switch, and that's ok too.

Good luck!

ETA you can also look at who has privileges at the hospital where you'll deliver. Our pedi didn't have privileges so the hospital doctor saw him in the initial hospital stay, and then we followed up with the pediatrician we had chosen.

You also might want to ask about things like weekend walk-ins or after hours phone help, and their philosophies on anything else that might be important to you.

[valigrl21]

I found a list of pediatricians in our area that were covered by my insurance. I looked at their reviews and ratings until I found a few that looked promising. I called the first one to see if there was anything I needed to do ahead of time, they said just to call back once baby was born.

That was it. I love our pediatrician. She is very patient, sits down to really talk through things with us, she will explain in detail how and why things are happening and gives us options for treatment. I love the office because we hardly ever have to wait long, but they do have the waiting room divided into sick/well sections.

As you can see, I didn't spend a lot of time picking ours. But I know some people call the office to ask some basic questions like "what is your stance on vaccinations?", "what are your views on breastfeeding/formula feeding?", etc. And other moms have just asked IRL mom's in their area for references. So those are some options, if you want to be more in-depth than I was.

[doctaco]

My OB practice had a meet and greet night with a bunch of local pediatricians. I also got recommendations on a local mother message board.

[brummy14]

Definitely recommendations from friends who live nearby and have a similar philosophy that I do when it comes to raising kiddos. Ultimately, for me the important factors were: Pro-BFing (ours even has an LC on staff), docs on call 24hours, VERY pro-vaccine (I think they turn away everyone else, now), and middle of the road on illness treatment (i.e., not going to write scripts left and right, but I don't have to shake them down if my child has been ill for a week or so and isn't improving), and a large enough practice that we can get in day-of for ill visits without much issue.

We lucked out with a pediatrician we just click VERY well with -- and it was doubly confirmed for me when our neonatologists expressed a LOT of admiration of that doc when they asked who we intended to see upon discharge. He apparently had done a NICU rotation back in the day, and many of them knew him.  

[3timemom]

I picked the my pediatrician from when I was a kid. I would ask any friends/family in the area who they use and then see who your insurance covers. Read reviews online, see if they have a website with any information. Also it's nice to see if they go to the hospital you will deliver at, it's not a necessary thing but it's nice if they can come look at baby immediately after birth.

I like checking the hours, do they have any weekend hours? Can they get you in same for a sick visit? Do they have nurses that can answer any questions or concerns immediately without waiting for a call back? Do they have an after hours answering service? Some will do a meet and greet, but they tend to tell you who you want to hear. How do they feel about breastfeeding/formula feeding? They may push their like on you even if it's not what you want.

[luckystar]

I got word of mouth recommendations from friends and from DH's retired pediatrician that he saw during his childhood since he knew a lot of doctors locally. Then I visited on "Meet the Doctors" night which occurs once monthly at that practice and we selected one based on who was accepting newborns and who we liked.

When we moved, I went to my new local branch of the same practice. I didn't really pick anyone until we'd seen a few of the doctors, and when I finally saw a doctor who we loved, I made him our permanent doctor.

You'll want to make sure that if you have any specific concerns about the way things are handled (i.e., delayed vaccination schedule, how to manage certain health issues, etc.) that the doc you choose supports that.

[lynnyloo]

We picked our daughter's ped based on the recommendation of a co-worker and we also went to a meet and greet night.

Our ped didn't have privileges at the hospital I delivered at, but we saw her on d2. Things I have realized that are important to me now are:

- limited wait time (we have never waited more than 5 min)
- same day sick apts
- a LC on staff (where I also rented a hospital grade pump)
- never feel rushed during apts
- separate waiting areas and rooms for infectious patients (I'm assuming any patients with measles, not flu/cold)
- no toys in the waiting room (resists the temptation for little ones to have their hands all over toys that the last tot may have mouthed while sick or such)

[catahoulatte]

We used the hospital's list of who had privileges there and cross checked it with friend references. Struck out on our first pedi because the office staff was TERRIBLE (she was nice though), but we like our current pedi.

[teresawe]

We picked our first set of Pedis based on friends and coworkers feedback and who accepted our insurance. It was a practice of like 7 doctors with same day appointments and weekend appointments available as well.
Having that many doctors we met all of them for one reason or another. Some I liked better than others.
They had separate waiting rooms for sick vs. Well visit and even took my friends preemie in through a separate entrance directly into the exam room.

Here in Cali, we are with Kaiser and have met 2 pediatricians so far and neither of them have impressed me or my husband. I think I'll be getting opinions from coworkers again and finding a new pedi for the new one.

[ashiscute]

I started by checking recommendations with practices that were covered by our insurance. I also checked to see if they had privileges at the hospital where i delivered and our local children's hospital.

What made me choose our practice was I felt they had a good website, extended evening and weekend hours, and the general ease of getting appts. The office is pretty close to our house which is also a huge plus.

[laurawaller]

Sorry to like hijack your thread.... But are you American? How come you have to choose a paediatrician? Here in England we just get referred one...

[imavera]

Jan 27, 2015 16:31:35 GMT -5 jnetx said:

As far as philosophy goes, remember you are the parent. You want somebody that generally supports your parenting style, but that doesn't mean they have to agree on every issue. If they advise you to sleep train or bottle feed or start solids and you don't feel that is right for your kid, you get to make the call. You do want to be on the same page as far as vaccinations and medication goes though because you can't really do anything if they disagree with you. And like someone else said, remember it's not a permanent choice. You can change at any time if you aren't satisfied.

YES! This was our main factor when we interviewed pedis. My requirements were pro-breastfeeding (not all of them are educated; it's only if they choose to), gives alternative to antibiotics when possible, and, most importantly, respected that I was their mother. Oh, and they needed to be okay with home birth babies.

I got to our pediatrician for medical knowledge; she doesn't offer any parenting tips/suggestions. Nor should she. They're not experts on sleep (unless they are, lol)

We used our want of an alternative vaccination schedule to see how they felt about parent choices; it was pretty clear that one we interviewed didn't care at all about the parent perspective.

[meggos1988]

Jan 27, 2015 16:18:08 GMT -5 laurawaller said:

Sorry to like hijack your thread.... But are you American? How come you have to choose a paediatrician? Here in England we just get referred one...

Yes I am in America. 

Thank you all! 

[lukyduky7]

i love and trust my OB..he provided a list of local pediatricians and i went with his top recommendation. i looked up yelp reviews and googled any articles that came up under his name also. *stalker mama* haha. i believe my OB provided the list around the half way pregnancy mark, maybe 20ish weeks. like previous ladies have said you can always change provider if you wish at any point

[erlizamac]

I googled local pedis and found a group that's associated with the local children's hospital. I went in for an "interview" with the office manger, asked lots of questions, and met the doctors. I liked them all and loved that if anything ever happened, all of the medical records were right there for the hospital (and vice versa) so I chose that practice.

[bookitup]

Jan 27, 2015 16:18:08 GMT -5 laurawaller said:

Sorry to like hijack your thread.... But are you American? How come you have to choose a paediatrician? Here in England we just get referred one...

That's how the American health care system works. You choose a provider at a place that accepts your insurance. You can switch providers as much as you want until you are happy. 

I asked my OB who she recommended at our local clinic. We set up a meeting and asked her a few questions. I've been happy with our choice; she rocks!

[cookiesandwine]

I asked around for recommendations; friends on fb and my mom is an RN so she asked around at work. H and I needed a new GP too so we ended up with a family practice dr. H made an appt for a physical and I went along. We didn't really "interview" him but liked him at that first appt.

[chasity08]

Honestly I just used the one she saw in the hospital because I knew I'd only use him for a year. After that DD moved to our family Dr who is an Internal Med Dr so he treats us for everything. They just don't take babies under 1 yr as they don't stock the ped vaccines. I'll probably do the same with the twins. I wish I could take them to our family Dr, but alas, I cannot.

[wells2010]

We read reviews online- Angie's list, yelp, google, etc. They have privileges at our hospital and were recommended by a friend. We took one of the online questionaires to our meet and greet (there were about 3 other couples there too that also asked q's). They had flexible office hours, a large staff, an emergency line, and had a separate waiting room for "sick kids." I really love our pedi and I'm a bit sad since we are moving about 30 minutes away. I'm not sure if we are going to end up switching or if we'll bite the bullet and make the drive. I think 30 min is a long way to travel with a sick kid in the car, so, unfortunately, we'll probably switch.

[laylamamma2013]

I went with other moms and a recommendation from our Ob who I LOVE! I absolutely love our pedi and my family thinks she is way over cautious but so am I so we mesh well together

[natalie115]

I knew what office I wants to go to because we needed one that could do same day appointments and had evening and weekend appointments available if needed. I asked my OB who her kids saw and read reviews online. DS' pedi office has a lot of different providers so I knew I could see different ones until I found one I liked. It just so happened that I loved the first one he saw and we have going to her ever since. The office also encourages new moms to do an office tour and meet and greet before their baby is born. 

[kissandglow]

From the list of available practices covered by my insurance, I researched locations and hours for their practice. Generally, each pediatric practice will do rounds in the maternity ward of their affiliated hospital, so you just indicate the practice with whom your doctor is with, and their on-call doctor came each day I was in the hospital.

If you're still unsure, the hospital will just have your child seen by a pediatrician doing rounds, and if you like him/her, make your kid's 2 week appt at their office. If you're unhappy at the two week appt, you can always change. This is an important decision, but I feel like unless you plan on interviewing people, this decision is easier to make when your LO is here.

[andindria]

I was extremely lucky when I picked the pediatrician for my son. He was actually my pediatrician. Since I moved back this way before meeting my hubby all worked out. My aunt also works at the practice and gets me in to see the cool doctors I like and not the ones I don't.

[beachy]

My OB gave me a list of recommended ones when I hit 3rd tri. There's a big children's hospital here which has a lot of pediatric branches throughout the area. I looked at the websites of the ones closest to me, and picked based off locations, hours, etc. They offer meet & greets once a month and we were scheduled for one the day I went to the hospital, so we didn't meet them until after DS was born. It's a big practice though so if you don't like one Dr you just don't book with that one again. I absolutely love DS' ped and made sure he would still take this baby on (when we still thought there was only one).

[junebug0611]

I knew I wanted a doc with the pediatric group practice associated with our local (which is a major national) hospital. I get all my care through that hospital, they have all my records, I delivered there, etc., so it just made sense. I got some word-of-mouth recommendations for doctors there, and only one of them was accepting new patients so I went with him. It was great. He visited DD during his morning rounds at the hospital when she was a couple hours old and has been her doctor ever since. We love him. Good luck!

[chelseamp11]

I haven't read the previous replies but recommendations are the best thing you can go off of. Bonus points if you know the people personally giving the recommendation. We lucked out and chose the "good" one where we were at, and I'm so thankful we did. But, in hindsight, I wish we had asked for recommendations because if we had chosen one of the others, we would have been stuck with a crappy doctor.