Good pediatricians in St. louis area? - Page 2

[Amy@STL]

Originally Posted by ValerieDH

I have an appointment with Webster Family Physicans tomorrow. I hear good things about them as well as Dr Hollie.

In general, I would recommend a family practitioner over a pediatrician. I think you'll find providers more open to natural care. Plus the whole family can have the same provider which I think it convenient and nice. Wouldn't it be nice for your doctor to know about the health of all family members?

Good luck in your search!

I agree with you. But I was under the impression that unless a doc is a certified ped (opposed to general MD/family doc), they can't do the new born check and other well-baby stuff later. I think I have wrong information.

[claddaghmom]

Originally Posted by Amy@STL

I agree with you. But I was under the impression that unless a doc is a certified ped (opposed to general MD/family doc), they can't do the new born check and other well-baby stuff later. I think I have wrong information.

Dr. Wessling saw all my mom's babies (that were born in the area) after their UCs.

He saw DD 3 days after she was born. Did all the checks and started a little growth chart for her.

We aren't big on the idea of WBVs but I wanted to have the records.

I highly recommend him. He can seem short/curt but I think it's more of a language thing. After being my FP my whole life, I've come to find him humorous and pretty cool...like Sherlock Holmes.

He seems to have the majority of the HB, MW, hippie demographic in his practice. It's become almost hilarious to bring up his name at a LLL meeting or HB meeting...everyone says "oh yeah that's my doctor!"

[Amy@STL]

Originally Posted by claddaghmom

After being my FP my whole life, I've come to find him humorous and pretty cool...like Sherlock Holmes.

This reminds me that when I first saw my ob-gyn, all I could think of is Santa claus

[springtime]

Amy,

I'm in the same boat as you. We're having a baby in April and looking for a good pediatrician who will be supportive of our decision to wait on vaccinations. Thanks so much for asking about this, and thank you to everyone who responded! This gives me a great list to go off of. Amy, let me know who you end up going with.

Anne

[greenmagick]

wessling as far as I know does not come to the hospital for newborn checks....I just used whoever was on staff at the hospital.

[Amy@STL]

Originally Posted by springtime

Amy,

I'm in the same boat as you. We're having a baby in April and looking for a good pediatrician who will be supportive of our decision to wait on vaccinations. Thanks so much for asking about this, and thank you to everyone who responded! This gives me a great list to go off of. Amy, let me know who you end up going with.

Anne

Congrats!! I have couple of meet and greet appointments lined up. Once I find the one, I will definitely update.
Let me also know if you find any new names!

[Amy@STL]

We liked Dr. Amato

Just wanted to update - We have decided to go with Dr. Amato on Watson road. We liked her from her our meet-n-greet. I have to make sure the my insurance works for her, but otherwise we liked her a lot.

[jessicacw81]

Amy- How do you like Dr. Amato? I've just moved to the area, and I'm considering her. How did she react to your vaccination plan? Thanks!

[kadas33]

Originally Posted by jessicacw81 

Amy- How do you like Dr. Amato? I've just moved to the area, and I'm considering her. How did she react to your vaccination plan? Thanks!

We go to Dr. Amato and really like her.  My ds was fully vaxed til 12 month and then we haven't had any since and he's just turning 4.  I never did sit down and plan out a vax plan with her, I just declined the ones she offered.  She was okay with my decision but still told me about the possible consequences of my decision, but not in a preachy way.

[Amy@STL]

She is ok. I chose her because I believed she would be very pro-BF. She has done her thesis on BF and says Bfed her 5 kids out of 10. However, I didn't ginf her that helpful. But I may be biased, because my BF problems seem to not the norm. I am still breastfeeding but at 7 mo, my DS still can't nurse without causing me pain. Anyways, she was not of much help beyond the initial recommendation of going to a LC. So, I think she is good but not great to promote BF.

About vax, she si fine with what we refuse and as PP said, just informs us of the concerns. She is otherwise laidback and pleasant.

[SallyN]

(keeping this thread up to date... as of today, 12/7, Dr. Minchow-Proffit is not accepting new patients.)

[starbuckmom]

Does anyone have any comments about Dr Hartenbach?  He is in Creve Coeur.  I have 3 boys and would like to find a male ped for them.  I really like our ped at St Johns but would like to find someone a bit closer to home. 

[bbbbaby]

When trying to find a no-vax (or delay/selective vax) doctor, do you set up interviews or just ask over the phone their stance on vax?  Thanks.

[bbbbaby]

I just wanted to add my two cents about finding a good pediatrician. When I was pregnant with my son, my husband and I interviewed several peds.  The main issue that was important to me was vaccinations. While I was not very educated on them, I had my concerns and definitely felt like at least a couple of them were not necessary. So I wanted a ped (at the time) that would be open to skip or delay some vax.  We ran into a few peds that said under no circumstances would they see us if we skipped even on vax.  That attitude didn't sit well with me.  I am the parent, and I am not going to work with someone that doesn't understand or take the time to listen to my concerns and feels I just need to do as they say.  We then met Dr. Gene LaBarge with Docs4Kidz in South County. He was very personable and funny, and stated he felt the parent was the child's advocate and was fine with whatever we decided about vaccinations.  He even said he had some patients that didn't vax at all. I knew he was for us even though I was going to get some vax for my son.  I still had my concerns but unfortunately vaccinated my son fully until he was 9 months. Then I really began reading more and getting more into natural remedies, etc. I wanted to hold off on vax indefinitely so I could continue researching (and get my husband on board which was a different story).  The first time I told Dr. LaBarge I didn't want to vax, he was fine. He even said if I thought there was something he should know about a particular vax to tell him so he could share it with his other patients.  The second time I declined vax, he was fine still. The third time I declined vax (why was he even still asking me), he had a totally different tone. He was quite rude and said if I was not going to continue vaxing, then I needed to find a new ped. I was angry, hurt, and shocked. We interviewed peds prenatally to avoid a situation just like this!!!  He had presented himself entirely different in the interview and was even denying he ever said such things at the time. I don't know if his opinion about vaxs changed or he had to yield to his insurance companies like the other doctors in town, but this really was devastating for me.  I am searching for new ped that will let me make the decisions regarding what goes in my child's body.  End of rant.

[bbbbaby]

No one has posted here again, but I thought I would ask if you aren't vaccinating, do you still go in every 3 months for check ups?  Also, we met with Dr. Amato.  I really liked her.  She was knowledgable about breastfeeding.  Maybe she wouldn't replace an LC but much more informed and passionate than most peds.  She also seemed very flexible and fine with parents decisions regards vaccinations.

[starbuckmom]

The first year I think I took my twins in every 3 mos but after that, I stopped.  I only took them in when they were sick and I needed to know what was going on.  I am a pretty much hands off mom.  I don't take them in for every sniffle or cough or even fever.  When I took Jon in 1 1/2 weeks ago b/c I thought he hurt his arm (he indeed had a buckle fracture) the receptionist chided me for not bringing them in for the well baby visits.  Don't need to when I know they are healthy. 

We will start up the vaxes again in a few weeks. I am going to get them one at a time.  We quit a year ago b/c the kids reacted to the vaxes so bad I just couldn't do it anymore since they were so little.  Which reminds me, I need to find out which ones we need to get.  Off to do some research!

[Amy@STL]

I am glad you liked Dr. Amato. May be I need to interact with other peds to realize how BF is NOT encouraged by everyone. That being said,I am a die hard BF mother. I went to extreme length to be able to BF because if running to several challenges(another sotry), but since no one could help us in the end, I think I was wrong to undermine her BF stance. What else could she have done anyways. She tried to be supportive of me by telling how should could BF all her babies and for one she had to EP.

We are selective vax, and she has always been fine. Just tells us about the consequences. Our son will be joining day care soon, so we are uptodate on most vax. That being said, I do think few of her patients don't vax at all.

I am sorry to know about the terrible experience you had. How pathetic! Maybe his situation with insurance companies changed.

Good luck finding a good ped,

Amy.

[bbbbaby]

@starbuckmom  Thanks for the info.  I will go in for checkups but don't feel like I need to go in every 3 months if I feel everything is fine with DS.  I too don't take him in for everything little thing, and sometimes I find he would get sick if we had to take him in during cold & flu season.

@Amy@STL Thanks.  The situation with our ped was unfortunate but you live and you learn, and I feel Dr. Amato will be better fit.  As soon as I walked in, she started going & on and on about breastfeeding, which I thought was just awesome!  I'm sorry you had challenges breastfeeding.  There is such little support for breastfeeding mothers in my opinion.  We had troubles too (7 weeks of it)!  Unfortunately, it was due to bad advice from doctors and LCs, but due to persistence and Kangaroo Kids we overcame and made it 17 months before he self-weaned.  I don't know your specific issue, but is it latch-related or something more?  (You don't hare to share if you don't want to or PM me if you'd like)

[jessicacw81]

I just wanted to update... We've been going to Dr. Amato for a little over 6 months and love her. She definitely gives the standard warnings about vax, but doesn't push or act like we are bad parents when we decline. My ds has gone for well visits at 15 and 18mos and had 2 sick visits. Each time she has been great. We're really pleased with her. My dh and I go to Dr. Wessling, but I like having someone who specializes in kids while the kids are still really little.

[IngaAnne]

I was surprised to log on here and see so many people who go to "our" doctor :)  Before my now 2 year old son was born, we interviewed several doctors and felt the most positive about Dr. Amato.  She seems very competent, but also is never pushy (like some over-opinionated doctors we came across). We are pro-vax, but anti-circ and pro-bf. She's never had an issue with our decision not circumcise to our son. He was slightly premature and had trouble breastfeeding in the beginning, but she helped us through the process and also helped reassure me. My son also ended up with a ton of food allergy reactions through breast milk which led to a restricted diet for me. She never once pressured me to wean him. My son ended up breastfeeding for 23 months, so I'd consider us a success. My only issue with Dr. Amato is the wait time when you're at the office. I would strongly recommend taking the earliest appointment available.