Advice on picking a pediatrician? - Page 2 « Back to Group Discussions

[hippiekangaroo]

Originally Posted by ilovetchotchkes 

We went with someone who my pretty crunchy midwives recommended. :D The words "he's very breastfeeding friendly" were all I needed to hear. ~We vaccinate- DH works in a hospital scratch that ~ he's in 5 different hospitals on a weekly basis with his job and we go to visit ALL THE TIME (his long hours mean if we don't he never gets to see Mr Squish). Had he had a coding from home job, we would have definitely delayed most and turned down some of the vaccinations. But with all the nasty stuff HE is exposed to (he has to go up to patient rooms DAILY) we didn't want to risk that. But our situation is unique. So finding someone who was ok with not vaccinating was not a priority with us. He didn't have us issue with us delaying a few of them. The chicken pox one comes to mind. 

That's a good point about vax that I hadn't considered... I'm a nursing student and should be working as an R.N. by the time this baby is 9 months old.  I will probably be exposed to all sorts of stuff and bringing that home... hmm...... more fodder for my husband's pro-vax stance.  Must think about this!

[CCoello]

I am also starting to look at pediatricians (we want to have the option of early discharge from our hospital birthing center, and you need to have the ped lined up in advance for that). Like many have suggested, I am including family practitioners in my search. I think it might be easier to get my DH to actually see a doc occasionally if it's our family doc. Here are some of my criteria I have planned for the interviews:

- Office close enough to my house (as a friend put it, the last thing you want is to drive all the way across town during rush hour with a sick baby in the carseat).

- Old enough to have some experience but young enough that they aren't imminently retiring (35-50 would be perfect)

- Very BF supportive

- Won't bitch at me about co-sleeping

- Considers nutrition as a factor in overall health

- Knows not to retract a non-circ penis

- Office design with separate waiting rooms for sick and well patients would be a plus

I think we will vaccinate on schedule with few exceptions - maybe deny the Hep shot at birth, maybe separate the Pertussis since myself and my two brothers all reacted badly to that shot as infants (high fevers). So there needs to be a little flexibility there, but not much.

Good luck!