How soon did you take your baby to the doctor? - Page 2

[Peony]

DS went in at one week for a quick visit. I do WBV when I feel like it, but always like to have a record of them being seen somewhere. I used to not do them at all, DD1 didn't see a doc for years but then I had DD2 and I swear that every doc in town knows me on a first name basis now. Life goes so much easier when we have a established relationship with someone and every child other then DD1 always ends up with all the injuries and illnesses that warrant medical care.

[FreeRangeMama]

My 6 yo has been once (at the age of 3), my nearly 5 yo has been once (for a referral), and my 2.5 yo has never been. We don't see doctors for our health care unless it is emergent anyway so no point in establishing a "relationship" with one. It doesn't fit with our views on health.

[McMandy]

It's been two and a half years and our UC baby has still never officially seen a doctor. I had a doctor friend look over him a week or so after his birth (after bible study one day), and that has pretty much been it.

I don't believe in "well-child visits", and so, even with my hospital born babies, they only went to their first two check-ups after their births. Since then, they have each been to the doctor twice - once for my son to get stitches put in and then taken out of his finger when he was one, and once for my daughter when she was seemed to get sick (throwing up for a week straight) every month, and then when I thought her lymph nodes might be too swollen. (Both times, they found nothing was really wrong.)

I was brought up in a "natural" home. My mom did mostly natural remedies and whatnot and didn't take us (or go herself) to the doctor unless absolutely necessary (say, for a refill on asthma medication).

My children have visited the chiropractor far more than any other doctor.

I have quite a few doctors and nurses in my family (and among my friends)... and many of them don't think I'm absolutely nuts (although some do). There really is no sense in taking the kids in for "well child" visits. It is likely a doctor won't notice anything in those visits (although, yes, on rare occasion, one might), but since I spent all my time with them, I most certainly do notice changes in behavior and body- so if there is an issue I cannot take care of on my own, I seek medical help. (Often, with my friends and family- unless they recommend I go in to see a doctor.)

We are a medically hands-off family much like my mother and father were. We rely on natural remedies and healthy foods, exercise, etc - and if we need something above and beyond that, we will seek a doctor's attention.

[forthebest]

Well my kids are 12,13 and 17 now and my 2 youngest were uc and they didnt need to go to a doc till they were at least 8 and that was for very minor stuff like ear check and then a fall off a bike. I would have no qualms taking them if it was needed but I'm dubious how helpful most docs are for certain ailments and I tend to not use pharma drugs unless needed so for instance I would use herbs and good nutrition and exercise etc instead of calpol and stuff for colds. They've had the chicken pox, whooping cough which was awful, various childhood stuff. I never used soap, shampoo or talcum powder on my babies I think I bought a tube of calendula nappy rash cream once.If it will reassure a mom to take baby to doc I see no problem with that but I don't tend to think on things going wrong I concentrate on keeping them healthy. I guess there are various tests that could reassure parents if they are worried about something in particular that we have been lucky enough to not have experienced and certainly if something is seriously amiss I'd be looking for advice wherever I could get it but wouldnt be totally confident in just any doctor actually having the knowledge to help my kid so they would have to be a trusted doctor to my family & like I say we've rarely needed one thankfully.

[PreggieUBA2C]

We have a wholistic philosophy regarding our health, so allopathic medicine tends to fit into emergent issues only. Our four boys have never had a wbv, but the two who were not c/s (our freebirthed babies) saw our friend who is a midwife and our friend who is a community nurse the day and the day after birth, respectively because the province they were born in requires a medical professional to validate the live birth for registration and statistical purposes, both of which are legally required.

Otherwise, collectively they've seen a dr under a handful of times- once for issues to do with having been in a collision and twice for breathing issues, both with ds3. Ds2 broke his collar bone, and we went to confirm what I had already assessed, although once we were there, we realised how unnecessary it was because the time it took us to travel there was sufficient for knowing whether there was any reason for further concern anyway; we should have turned around and gone home instead...

Anyway, the new baby will also need a medical professional to sign off on the statement of live birth, but we will be seeking the assistance of a midwife for that purpose. The thing is that the hcp has to also confirm that I was pg, so we haven't worked out how to do that exactly. We'll have to discuss it with a midwife soon though. Our friend lives 2200 kms away now, so we can't ask her to do it again for us.

I think it is completely fine to not see a dr as a matter of course; we're not machines and we don't need check-ups and maintenance like our motor vehicles do. We can just live and meet our needs as they arise, recognising that health is a whole person reality and not an event or even possible to evaluate in the 5 minutes drs give their 'patients' during an appt.