I am due June 14th. I am told I need to find a peditrician. Do I make an appt now before the baby is born or wait? I am not even sure how soon I am supposed to take her in after delivery.
Our midwife recommended a few peditricians or family doctors and we choose one, (a family doctor) located in the hospital. Otherwise, I am told that if you do not choose a doctor that one will come to see you after the baby is born anyways. I also just had my first baby April 4th and the doctor needs to come and see the baby just after it is born. That doctor also needs to release your baby from the hospital so whether you choose one or not, one will be there. Perhaps you could ask your midwife or doctor to recommend one?
I went to several local ped offices and asked for an information sheet from the front desk when I was about 8 1/2 months along. Most had them, and it gave information about the doctor/s education, how long they had been in practice, and other information. I chose my doctor partly because his name (Dr Coco - figured as DS got older he would like Coco - HA!) and because there were 3 other ped in his practice that DS could see if his regular Dr wasn't available. I actually didn't even meet him until after DS birth in the hospital. We took DS back to see him a week after we were released from the hospital (DS was about 2 weeks old). We sure lucked out because he is wonderful.
At my hospital they had to have a name of a ped. before I left the hospital. My Ped. didn't come to the hospital and do DS shots or circumcision but I heard that some will if you have one lined up. THere is always a ped. that works in the hospital. You might want to visit a few offices beforhand just to see if you like the place rather than just picking a name, ask people for suggestions too. Good luck!
Oh yeah, I was told to call the ped. office as soon as ds was born to make an appt. he went in for his first appt. when he was about 4 days old.
Interview your pediatricians like you would an employee. They work for you, right? We pay them to do a job. I searched and interviewed until I found one I liked, and you will usually know when you have found the one right for you. If you call and set up a brief meeting, most doctors are happy to speak with you for a few minutes, and it really gives the doctor a sense that you want the best for your baby and they see that as a good thing. Another way would be too tag along with friends or family members if they have children when they go to see their pediatricians.
I also reccomend asking the nurses at L&D who they would reccomend. I lucked out the 1st time and got a great dr. When I had my DD they asked who my ped. was and when I told them a girl said, "oh good we really like him he's a good dr." A child at the babysitter is one the the nurses at L&D and she said the same thing.
I asked my lamaze coach, and she was a good bet, because he was great. We have since moved, and I had to interview all over again. Think about the things that are important to you.........do they have weekend and night hours, what hospital are they affiliated with........( that way they can see your baby in the hospital) what types of things do they believe in ( vaccinations, co-sleeping etc) It was really important for me to find someone that advocated breastfeeding, since I knew I was going to nurse. I would make sure thay have a newborn room, or at the very least a well baby section. I also think it's important that they are not the only doctor in the practice. If they are not, meet all of them. Word of mouth is best, but keep in mind what is most important. Fist impressions are key!
For us, it was based on our HMO insurance, so we had to pick 1 out of 6 Peds in the network. I loved my OB, so I asked him if he could recommend anyone who had similar theories & personality type as he did. He recommended 2 Peds who were in our insurance network.
I didn't do any interviews because if we don't like a Dr, it just takes a phone call to get it changed.
When I pre-registered at the hospital, they asked who the Ped would be. I told the hospital, and it was a done deal.
We never met the Ped until after DD was born.
I went as far as to stop at the Ped. Dept while still pregnant to let them know I had selected my Dr. They said fine...it was very normal and common we didn't meet or see the Ped until after the baby...and it shouldn't feel weird to meet the Ped for the first time while you're in the hospital.
Actually, I never met our Ped until DD's 2 week checkup. While in the hospital, the Ped's took turns making rounds, so I met 2 others in our network who would be backups if our Ped was unvailable.
The Ped in the hospital was the one who told us how & when to make appt's for DD. I called & made DD's Ped appointment a day or 2 after I came home from the hospital.
We saw the Ped at:
2 weeks.
2 months with shots.
4 months with shots.
6 months with shots.
9 months...no shots, but bloodwork done (stick on finger)
12 months is the next scheduled visit.
We choose a family doctor instead of a ped and I feel fortunate because he is a younger doctor and he has an infant daughter 4 months older than our daughter so it is really easy to talk to him about our daughter and we usually ask him what he does with his daughter and kinda base our decisions off of that.
Yes!!! Find your pediatrician before you give birth if possible!!!
I'm due June 25th and this past Friday my husband were able to meet with our potential pediatrician. We called the ped's office and they offered a "new mommy" tour/question/answer session at no charge. We met up with the doctor--she gave us a tour of the facility and we were able to briefly meet the other doctors. She sat down and talked to us and answered all of our questions for about 10 minutes. And if we like her (which we do), all we have to do is put her name down at the hospital before I deliver and the hospital will notify her when our baby is born. She will then make her rounds to my hospital and give our baby his first initial exam instead after he's born instead of the "on call" pediatrician etc.... and she will monitor the baby everyday after she see's her regular clients at her clinic for the duration of my stay at the hospital to make sure the baby is doing OK---if for some reason she can't make it due to conflict, one of the other pediatricians in the clinic will make the rounds to check on our baby. I don't mind the other ped's monitoring the baby--as I met them all and they all seemed very nice and it's a clinic of 7 docs (including the one we met with) total---very busy and popular clinic.
Basically---you should find one that you like and you don't want to use a pediatrician who won't take at least 15-30 minutes or so to talk to you and show you the facility. I know I don't want assembly line service for the care of my baby.
