Do you go to regular checkups?

[lucy4]

For those who are not vaccinating (or delaying), do you still take your babies for their regular checkups (6mo, 9m0, 1 y, etc.)? My husband seems to think that there is no reason to go. Our pedi, although didn't say it, made it sound like--what are we doing here, if we don't need vaxes. What do you do?

[mumofboyz]

You'll probably get responses all over the place on this one. I think it is all a matter of the parent's comfort level.

We went at 6 months, 1 year, 2 year. I just wanted the pedi to be familiar with our baby and have a relationship with us in case anything came up down the road. Plus, I like to just have another set of eyes on my LO. I think he is just perfect, but I don't mind getting reassurance from someone else that he is progressing just fine on his own.

[fruitfulmomma]

No. Well, I did with my oldest through his 9 month I think, but after that we quit. I was paying OOP and really didn't see any point since I could see he was growing well. Now we only go when there is an issue, which means they've all been in at least once but not more than 2 or 3 times.

Oh, and my midwife does nb checks at 2 and 6 weeks.

[NaturalBirthGoddes]

We take the kids once a year for the annual check-up (we do not vaccinate). The "well baby visits" are for people who get their children vaccinated on schedule. If you aren't vaccinating on schedule, there's no reason to go.

My oldest hasn't been to the doctor outside of her annual visit since she was 4 (she's 8 now) and my older son for over 3 years...my youngest has never been to the doctor outside of his annual check up. I just don't see the need.

[carriebft]

I know many people who had a diagnosis happen at a well baby visit-- I know there are things that can be noted and that they are not "just for vaccines." I would have never noticed my daughter's "volcanic formation" on her skull (it seemed the same as the other kids to me....) if not for a visit. We are keeping our eye on it now and definitely taking precautions if she ever gets headaches or the like. A friend of mine had another skull issue diagnosed recently at a well baby check even though the skull, to her, seemed to be normal. That child will probably have to have surgery.l

We go to annual visits with the kids now at a general practitioner. it's always nice to have a relationship with someone for when we need something like a test done.

We had whooping cough go around my moms' group and I was glad to have a "homebase" with which I could go and easily get tested if I wanted with no hassle. Others did not have this kind of ease it seemed.

[DreamsInDigital]

I do, simply because I want a good relationship with my ped. if any of my children should ever be sick and need to see her, they're already comfortable with her and she knows what they're like when they're healthy. I also like to have someone else to check with to make sure they're growing and developing on track, especially in the first year.

[jammomma]

We have taken our son to the same ped for all his wbv's since he ws born. We do not vax at all. I like to have him looked over, weighed, measured, and just to chit chat a bit with the Dr about how he's growing and get any questions answered. I think it's important to have a good relationship with the Dr. in case my son becomes sick and ever needs to see her for an illness, and at least we have a relationship with a good ped that I feel we can trust and my son has seen her many times before and is comfortable with her.

[lizajane30]

We go to *most* of our WBVs with our homeopath/MD ped who doesn't offer vaxes. We do it for the reason PPs have said, which is that I like for my kids to have a comfortable relationship with the doc in case we have to go in for illness. We also do it for another reason: call me paranoid, but because we don't vax I think it's a good idea to have a record that we do take our kids to the ped, and we are not just negligent parents who can't be bothered to seek medical advice when needed.

[karanyavel]

We did, up until DD was about 2 y/o, then we canceled her Medicaid because they were insisting on some things I preferred not to do. Since then, she's only been to a doctor when there was an actual problem (only once, actually).

I have yet to meet a pediatrician I could stand, so we always took DD to a family doctor. (Had several peds w/older DD, all of whom made me pretty angry.. heh).

--K

[javilu]

We've gone to all the WBVs. We have an awesome, gentle, supportive ped who says he would make the same vax decision we've made if he were us. We go because my son is a bit small and we like to keep an eye on his growth, but mostly because we love his doctor and want him (my son) to feel comfortable there/with him in case he ever gets hurt or sick and has to see him under more stressful circumstances. Also, we have state insurance and it looks good for us to keep up on these visits. We've never had a single problem with the doctor or his office due to our current non-vaxing (might end up doing some shots years from now).

[hapersmion]

We usually go. It usually feels kind of like a waste of time, and I feel like we get exposed to germs, but it makes my mom happy. I can tell her something isn't a problem, but it just doesn't count for as much as a doctor saying it. So with the current baby, even though I knew we couldn't do anything about his clogged tear duct and baby acne but wait for them to go away, it was nice to have the doctor confirm that everything was okay. *shrug* Plus, we do have a really good pediatrician, so we don't have to fight about vaccines and breastfeeding and intactness, etc, etc.

There's also the "insurance" idea - if ever some crazy person were to accuse us of medical neglect because we don't vax on schedule, we'd be able to show that we had regular doctor visits.

[Kmama2]

I go to some of them... My son was born at home.. I took him in at 4 m, 6m and 12 m.. The 4month time was the first time he had been seen by a doc. I did want to establish a relationship with the doc. The main other reason I go is my kids are super tiny teeny and I want to make sure they are growing. I can't get an accurate measurement on my own scale at home of them. I take my kids to a family pracitce DO and she is cool with no vax or selective vax. It does feel like a waste of time though...
So to answer your question I take my kids to some appointments but not all. My 3 year old I tend to take in once a year... although she sees her asthma specialist 1-2 times a year as well.

[JBaxter]

We selectively vaccinate and did not start until Jack was 12 months. I did go to his well baby visits. I wanted to establish him with the ped. In the event someone takes issue with your vaccine stance and tries to cause you problems you can refer to your ped visits as a healthy child and resposible parenting. As one of the pp's said other things are caught at well baby visits like heart murmurs growth issues etc.

[HRJ]

I absolutely take my child to all their visits. My son has been VERY sick (had pneumonia at age 2 - was very scary) at times. I would much rather take him to a doctor that I am established w/ for things like pneumonia and strep throat than to urgent care which is a yucky place.

Our current ped does osteopathic manipulative therapy/cranial sacral and has found some significant issues for my son like a severe vitamin D deficiency and zinc deficiency.

It's also really imporant to have babies screened for lead exposure when they are 12 mos and check things like iron levels.

I don't think that not vaxxing means declining all health care. And to be honest, I think if I did decline well child visits, I would be setting myself up for someone to report me to CPS if they found out.

[soso-lynn]

I don't do regular check ups. I would like anyone to show me credible evidence that regular check ups have a positive impact on a child's health.

[starface]

I DID regular check-ups with my DS (who is 2.5) and up until now with my DD (she's 1 in Jan) and I, like PPs, thought that building a rapport with our family doctor would be a good idea just in case the need arises to visit her in the future.  I've since realized that she is far too busy to remember who we are, much less check the kids' charts before making a comment like "lucky, 9 months no vaccines today"  Ummm... shouldn't you know my DD isn't vax'd?  Do you EVEN LOOK at the chart before coming in?   I'm so done with WBV.  We will be going to the doctor when we are sick enough to need one from now on.  I don't feel I'll receive any more personal care if we visit a doc at a walk in clinic vs our regular "family doctor"

[mcgee]

Yes, we've done the regular well baby visits. It's a great opportunity for me to be able to talk to our pediatrician and ask any questions I have, rather than save them up and try to remember to ask if I'm there for a sick visit. But then, our insurance covers the well child visits, and it's just the cost of a copayment for us, so it's not a big deal to go. If I did not have insurance, I'd probably cut back on the well baby visits. We did skip some of the newborn visits/weight checks because my midwife came to the house and did all of that for us.

[littlemizflava]

my ds has not seen a dr. he has not been sick the last check up he had was by out midwife at 7 weeks. he is vax free. he has been dragged around to dr's, xrays, tests and the er for my dd. she has asthma & allergies. i did the well baby visits for dd but i did vax her (regret it everyday).

if i have a question i search it here or online. if i still have a question i will ask it here. i feel better having the advice of many then just one dr.

[PlayaMama]

i took my ds to all of his and my dd hasn't gone to any of hers. when my dd was younger we lived really far from town and had a local clinic we could use if she presented any issues. we've since moved back to civilization and i took both of them in for a check-up to establish care and to start the vaxes i want to get.

if i'd lived closer to a ped then i would have taken her in even though i wasn't doing vaxes. though, i probably would have started her vaxes sooner if we'd lived in civilization!

my reasoning is that there are things that i can't assess, a heart murmur or ear issues come to mind, that could potentially be harmful to my child.