Non-Vaxers - When do you see pediatrician?

[bumblecat]

My baby (my first) is 10 days old. We had a fantastic home birth and I have a very close relationship with our excellent midwife. (I was her nanny for 2 years prior to our birth.) So I feel I can call on her for certain things and advice for the infancy period. We have not made our final decisions about whether to refuse all vaccines or whether there will be some we should do or may have to do since we will most likely be doing some international travel at some point in her early childhood. I have more research to do but would like to avoid as many as possible. We have not even started looking for a pediatrician for her, but it's on my mind to do soon, or figure out what sort of doctor we would like to establish regular visits with. My question is - if you don't vax, then do you even do routine ped. visits? Do you do them on the same schedule that you would if you were vaxing? Or do you just schedule visits when you suspect a problem? What do they even do at a routine ped. visit when you're not vaxing?
TIA

[nataliachick7]

I only take my son in for serious things; severe constipation, severe reflux in infancy. He hasnt been to the doctor much (3 yrs old)
We also made sure to look for a doctor that is ok with non vaxing. I am NOT ok with going into a doc office and being told what a terrible parent you are for not vaxing (this happened several times when he was an infant). D.O.s are usually more open to non vax than M.D.s. Some people only use naturopaths or chiropractic for their families. I found out about our doctor on this very website, in the finding your tribe area, and she actually happens to be an MD that is ok with non vaxing.

[mommy2jonah]

We had a hospital birth with DS #1 and we found our wonderful ped that way. He does not pressure to vax and is not a drug pushing doc. So we see him when there is a problem and we did some well baby checkups. DS #1 had neonatal mastisis and we saw him then, plus a couple very severe ear infections. Other than that we are able to email him and get advice rather than having to come in and be exposed to sickness. I think because he was our first child we were a little more concerned to make sure he was growing and all that. I am much more realxed this time around. I feel more secure in handling illnesses and such.
I am going to ask our ped if he will still have us as a patient even if we don't want to well baby visits. I think he will not have a problem with it, I just want to make sure. They just weigh, do the measurements and we ask our questions.
This time we are having a hb and our midwife is very knowledgable on illnesses and such and I think we will be calling on her a lot rather than rushing to the ped. She has had some great suggestions for our 23 month old, so I think she will be useful for childhood illness as well.

[chaoticzenmom]

I take mine at 1 or 2 mo (unless seeing the midwife then) then at 6mo, 1yr, 2yr and after that, anytime my child is sick or if we have other stuff come up where we need established care (heart issues).

I see naturapaths though, so they know I''m not going in a lot. We pay cash since our insurance doesn't cover naturapaths.

[PhilsBabyMama]

My son will be 2 in January and has been to all well baby checks. We don't vax at all, and since my husband is military we see doctors on post. Really, if you're not vaxing they will just weigh and measure baby, check hips and muscle tone, etc. They will also see how baby is doing developmentally. IMO, if you have a scale, measuring tape and a baby book most if that you can do yourself. The reason we go to all appts is so later down the road if I'm accused of being negligent for not vaxing I can at least say he was receiving regular care.

[Martha83]

Olive is 13 months old...completely unvaxed...the last time she went to the docs it was at 4 months. Our doctor said "do you have any questions" (no she's #4) so I said "No"...she said "are you worried about anything" me: "No" her: "why ARE you here then"...LOL...

It was my awakening that I didn't neeeed to be there...it was our first visit with her (we had to find a new doc cause of our vaxing decisions)....and anyway...it went great...I will set up a 1 year one soonish....nothing really is going on though..I"m not worried about anything..she's doing great....and I dont want to pay for just a weigh and measure...*I* can do that

[Daisie125]

Originally Posted by PhilsBabyMama

My son will be 2 in January and has been to all well baby checks. We don't vax at all [...snip...] Really, if you're not vaxing they will just weigh and measure baby, check hips and muscle tone, etc. They will also see how baby is doing developmentally. IMO, if you have a scale, measuring tape and a baby book most if that you can do yourself. The reason we go to all appts is so later down the road if I'm accused of being negligent for not vaxing I can at least say he was receiving regular care.

This exactly. I like to have the paper trail. Our doc is awesome about non vax, never had an issue, but I like to keep a good relationship that way if one of my kids has to go in for something serious (they have) they know the doc.

[sunanthem]

We don't vax. My kids are 4 and almost 7. They get yearly checkups (now it's required for school) but before that we'd only see the pedi if we had a serious issue that required a doctor. They were both homebirthed and dd didn't see a doc at all until she was 3. I did, however, take them to the dentist starting at 2. Most minor illnesses I feel I can handle at home, so I really don't think it's necessary to see a doctor. I really distrust doctors.

Oh, wanted to add, I've also taken them for chiro and massage appts waaay more then pedi appts. to treat minor ailments.

[Cristiaz]

We see a naturopathic medical doctor (NMD). DD has been about 4 times, she's 3 now. She had reflux at 6 weeks old and it turned out it was cuz I was drinking orange juice, so I stopped all citrus. Well baby checks are to make money and give vaxes...you don't have to do that. You can tell if your baby is thriving and happy. My NMD lets me email her questions for free so that's cool.

[Chloe'sMama]

We don't vax and we have been to all of DD's well baby visits. She is 16 months. We have also taken her to the Doc. a few times for bad colds and 1 UTI. I like that we have an established relationship and doc knows we don't vax.

[just_lily]

My 16mo hasn't been since she was two months. No plans to go anytime soon unless there is an issue, especially with everyone rushing in when they think they have H1N1. I don't need to be hanging out in a room full of sick people.

We are taking her for her first eye exam next week though.

[tamilynn]

I have 3 unvaxed children: 17, 15 and 7. We have only went to the DR when I really thought we needed to for a terrible earache, strep throat, etc over the years. Just yesterday I needed to take my 15 year old son for a sports physical, and since it was a physical at the end the pediatrician said to me, "The state registry is BLANK for vaxes.... do you have his records?". I told him we don't vax and he seemed surprised and asked if we vaxed any of our kids and I told him NO. He is also a good friend of the family, so he didn't give me a hard time.
So over the last 17 years whenever we went in for "sick" visits I was never asked if immunizations were up to date. I was never immunized, and have done so much research on the issue over the years I was ready for a debate with any doctor LOL

[LandonsMom]

We dont do well visits, it doesnt sit well with me to take my well baby into a place filled with germs where I'm bound to get advice I wont follow (even from my pretty good ped)! Alot of people find well visits beneficial though.

We do have a great ped established for sick visits. We met her before we stopped well visits, (ds got sick just days after his 4 mo well visit) and I really appreciated how she handled the sick visit that followed. We've only seen her maybe 3 times since then between ds and dd (obviously we dont go for every sniffle), but I feel I can trust her since she's not eager to diagnose and prescribe. She's very gentle and quiet which works well for my kids.

I did take DD two weeks after her birth (homebirth) for the PKU test and general check in, but dont plan to this time (due any minute now...). I dont feel its necessary and cant see risking running into this whole flu mess.

Good luck figuring out what works for you and your family!

[Mirzam]

The first time my homebirthed, (one a UC) unvaxed children saw a dr was when they were three and need a physical for preschool. We saw Dr Philip Incao so vaccinations were a moot point. Since then they haven't really needed to be seen for a sick visit with another dr, they are now 12 and 9. My eldest is 19 and was vaxed to a point and I did take her to well baby checks, new mom, wanting to do it "right" etc. Anyway, since her babyhood, she has only been to a dr for physicals, no sick visits either.

With my unvaxed babies, DD 2 was a homebirth with midwives so we both were under their care for six weeks. With DS who was a UC baby, a friend who is a midwife, checked him out after he was born and weighed him a couple of times for me. I did use the produce scales at Whole Foods to check his weight on the odd occasion too.

[Delicateflower]

You should take her in now. The doctor will listen to her heart, feel her abdomen, check her hips, do a thorough physical examination to make sure she's got no hidden problems.

I would also stick to the normal WBV schedule. It's not all about vaccines. A friend of mine didn't walk until she was 18 months old because she had a hip that would dislocate and her mother didn't realise it.

[MountainMamaGC]

My DD hasnt seen a doctor since she was 6 months old. She is 19 months old now. I have taken her to the chiro every now and then. I weigh and measure her every 3 months. She is healthy, I dont need a doctor to tell me that. I do plan to take her to the city to see an ND once a year for a physical.

[ammiga]

I took dd to all of her wbv at a regular pedi until she was 15 months. At that point, I realized they were pretty silly. Dd was happy, healthy, and progressing right on track with everything. She is 22 months now, and we just went to see a DO for a random issue. My whole family sees this DO. I don't think we'll ever take dd or any other child to a pedi, and we only see the DO when something comes up.

[katiesk]

dd is 19 months and i have taken her to see the naturopath twice. once was for a sort of well baby thing and the other was for potential concerns about an illness.

i would take her to a ped if i had any questions or concerns that i thought a ped would help us with. but thus far, i have not.

[Sk8ermaiden]

OK, it didn't happen this way, but we did PLAN a homebirth. I lined up the pediatrician ahead of time and she is breastfeeding awesome, homebirth friendly, no vax friendly.

My midwife told me to line up a ped home visit for soon after the birth. Her rationale was, "I can pick up on a lot of potential problems, but I am not a pediatrician." My ped said (of my midwife) "Cathy has really good judgement, and if she thinks something is wrong, I will come that day, but if she thinks things look fine, I will come whenever I get the chance in the first 3 days."

We ended up taking her at 8 days and 1 month. I've got another appointment tomorrow (3.5 months). I am a first time mom and my ped is great, and I just like checking in every few months to make sure the baby's on track. I tend to combine a well baby visit and an issue. At the 1 month it was Thrush. For this one it is Thrush (still) and suspected milk allergy.

[ShineliketheSon]

just got back from 6mo well check today. we see a DO/MW office not ped. they are super supportive of parents choice so no discussions on vaxes other than their initial one that informed us of the pros and cons to both sides. I LOVE THEM! I feel better knowing we have a regular connection to our doc and the paper trail. We see a chiro physician every month so I don't follow the exact schedule.