TTMA Picking a Pediatrician

[tikoberry99]

So I live in the mountains in SoCal and I don't have easy access to a pediatrician. The closest ones are about 40 minutes away. I found a few practices that look better to me, but they are about an hour away. How did you pick your pediatrician and was travel time taken into consideration? I think I'm leaning more towards driving further for a practice I like.


What say the STM?

[cabbagecabbage]

I drive farther for a doctor I like but I'm talking 20 minutes vs 5. I switched when I hated the first pediatrician we had.

I don't mind the extra drive but I might mind an hour one way with a sick kid in the car. You'll have to consider if that's a dealbreaker.

Things I find important: a nurse line who will talk to you, good hours, ability to get same day sick appointments,and a doctor you trust.

[rungirlrun]

It sounds like you don't really have this option, but I personally am a big fan of a close pediatrician (we were able to walk to DS's). You go A LOT at the beginning to check on weight gain and generally just making sure all is ok. I remember going at a few days old, a week, there may have been a visit at 2 weeks, a month, and then every 2-3 months until he was 1. And those were just well visits - not sick visits.

In your case, I'd probably find the closest one with good reviews/word of mouth and start out there initially. If it's not a great fit, it's really not that difficult to switch pediatricians. But definitely make sure you like the practice - as a FTM, you'll have a lot of worries so you want to trust the dr and feel warm and welcomed. Not sure if this is an option for you, but I have heard of pediatricians who do house calls. Never looked much into it, but they do exist.

ETA: Similar to above, necessary items to me are good hours (weekend hours are always nice just in case), a nurse you can call 24/7, same day sick appts, a clean place).

[melody330]

I would personally avoid a pedi 60 minutes away. We were at the pedi every other day for weight checks for two weeks. Once DS dislocated his elbow and I ran him over to the pedi to have her look at it. DNW to drive an hour with floppy spaghetti arm. 10 minutes was too long.

Is there a close walk in pedi clinic closer? Maybe you could have LO's main pedi be farther away and take lo to the clinic for quick emergency visits?

[mcktymck]

FTM so take what I say with a grain of salt, but when I started looking for one distance was really important. I asked my OB for recommendations and decided on one of the two places she suggested, mainly because it's only about 15 minutes away, has evening and weekend hours, an on call nurse, and several pediatricians on staff. I requested our specific pediatrician after I looked up their staff online for patient reviews and he had all 5 star reviews, but it's nice to know that if we need to go in on a day he's off that we can be seen by someone else!

[willow]

Not a STM but I agree that driving the extra 20 min to an hour away practice doesn't seem the most ideal with little ones. 40 min is already pretty far. That sucks that those are your only options.

I am no help because baby is going to have the same pediatrician that I had, lol. My whole family loved her and she has a practice about 10 min from my house so it was an easy decision.

[ellebelle]

Sorry you don't have any options closer! We also went with the closest pediatrician. They also round at the hospital I delivered at so it made sense.

[lostinfaith225]

I also would find one at 40 mins. The nurse line would be super helpful for you!

[beebe918]

For me the difference between 40 mins and 60 mins would be worth for a pedi that offered more like better hours, walk-in hours etc. If there's not much difference between the closer and further pedis I would choose closer. For us we didn't have to go to the pedi that much in the beginning, no weight checks or anything. I think we went at 4 days, 2 weeks, 1 month and then once a month until 6 months.

[roccobabyk]

The closest pediatrician for us was also 40 minutes. I'm going to assume you are used to driving a bit and 40 minutes and 60 minutes are not a huge difference. That's how it is for me because we have to drive at least 40 minutes for everything, except bare essentials. Anyway, I would go with the office/pedi that you are most comfortable with. Meet with a few of them. See if they agree with you on important things. For example, it was realy important for me to find a pedi that was very supportive of breastfeeding. My DD had slow weight gain ad the first office I went to really pushed supplementing on us. When we found her pediatrician she uses now, she assured me she was following her curve and we were fine. I felt that she supported us a lot more and to me THAT is one of the most important things in that first year.

[sarcaztic10]

I will also go on the assumption that you are used to driving farther for certain things. That being said when you have a sick baby/kid that may be screaming bloody murder and crying the entire time because they feel bad that extra 20 minutes might not seem worth it then.

Does the one closer have weekend hours, a nurse line, and same day appointments? Have you met any of the Dr's there yet? I think that the weekend hours and nurse line are definitely a perk that could sway me since kids typically don't get sick between the hours of 9-5. Do you have insurance that covers visits to the urgent care closer to you? It might be more of a copay but if you factor I. Cost of gas, time spent driving, and potentially your sanity then it might be worth it to just go with the closer pedi and use the urgent care for when you are in dire need.

ETA: I also want to add that if you want to try out the close one and then decide to switch it's pretty easy to switch.

[jewelsofthenile]

I drive 30 minutes to mine there is nothing closer but i chose mine based on the fact that there was just one dr at the practice so he would see my child at every visit. My other option was a group of doctors so i felt like they would not know my kid as well because you may not always have the same doctor for all appointments. He also had a 24 hr line which i have used a few times so i will say that is good to have.

[tikoberry99]

melody330 I'll have to see if there is a walk in pedi near by. It would prob be 40 mins away.
@rockobabyk I live on a mountain and it takes 20 mins to get down the hill so I'm used to driving far....most things (work, friends, beach, some doctors, fun stuff) are a 1.5 hour drive....but 40 minutes might just be the better option with a sick kid.

[tikoberry99]

Apr 19, 2016 19:12:19 GMT -5 sarcaztic10 said:

I will also go on the assumption that you are used to driving farther for certain things. That being said when you have a sick baby/kid that may be screaming bloody murder and crying the entire time because they feel bad that extra 20 minutes might not seem worth it then.

Does the one closer have weekend hours, a nurse line, and same day appointments? Have you met any of the Dr's there yet? I think that the weekend hours and nurse line are definitely a perk that could sway me since kids typically don't get sick between the hours of 9-5. Do you have insurance that covers visits to the urgent care closer to you? It might be more of a copay but if you factor I. Cost of gas, time spent driving, and potentially your sanity then it might be worth it to just go with the closer pedi and use the urgent care for when you are in dire need.

ETA: I also want to add that if you want to try out the close one and then decide to switch it's pretty easy to switch.

I never thought about the hours and urgent care. I'm def going to look into these things. It's true, I'm used to driving far for everything but the essentials, but have never had a screaming kid in the car.

[harlowjune1984]

I would go with the closer one. My 4 year old has only been to the doctors twice (other than yearly well child checks), and even then, it is nice to have one close. I cannot imagine driving the distance that you have to drive, just to get to your "close" one!

[tootsie]

A 20 minute difference doesn't make a difference to me, I would pick based on the practice. We switched recently to a practice farther away that has an on-call nurses and doctors line, well-child and sick-child waiting rooms, friendlier staff, Saturday hours, and more physicians and NPs to accommodate walk-ins. Our previous practice had none of those things. To me, the drive is worth it for the quality of care.

[TheTuna15]

tikoberry99, Have you taken a look at any general practices that may take babies. You don't necessarily have to go to a pediatrician. Regular family doctors are trained for this stuff too and a lot of them do take littles (in my area). While I would prefer to see a doctor that I mesh better with/like more, DNW to drive with a sick kid in the car for an hour. Driving 15 minutes is bad enough.

[tikoberry99]

Apr 20, 2016 11:46:15 GMT -5 TheTuna15 said:

tikoberry99, Have you taken a look at any general practices that may take babies. You don't necessarily have to go to a pediatrician. Regular family doctors are trained for this stuff too and a lot of them do take littles (in my area). While I would prefer to see a doctor that I mesh better with/like more, DNW to drive with a sick kid in the car for an hour. Driving 15 minutes is bad enough.

I didn't know this! I'll def look into general practices. I'm so annoyed there is a pediatrician on the mountain but he doesn't take my insurance. Grrrr.

[TheTuna15]

Apr 20, 2016 11:52:11 GMT -5 tikoberry99 said:

Apr 20, 2016 11:46:15 GMT -5 TheTuna15 said:

tikoberry99, Have you taken a look at any general practices that may take babies. You don't necessarily have to go to a pediatrician. Regular family doctors are trained for this stuff too and a lot of them do take littles (in my area). While I would prefer to see a doctor that I mesh better with/like more, DNW to drive with a sick kid in the car for an hour. Driving 15 minutes is bad enough.

I didn't know this! I'll def look into general practices. I'm so annoyed there is a pediatrician on the mountain but he doesn't take my insurance. Grrrr.

That's so frustrating. If the pediatricians are that spread apart, it wouldn't surprise me if one or two practices took itty bitties. At least for sick visits.