Pediatrician/friends/etc - Ft Meade area

[Calladona]

Hi, I'm not on here much, but we're getting ready to move to Odenton MD and I'm in particular looking for a pediatrician for my kids...  Ideally this ped would be ok with no/limited vax and also on board with the Feingold Diet (which is no artificial dyes/flavors, no preservatives, and also getting rid of a certain subset of fruits/veggies considered reactive).  Oh and also un-circ friendly.  And of course, ped needs to take Tricare.

Also looking if anyone is in the area and would like to do playdates or any get-togethers.

And... any recommends on stuff like good farms to source meat/etc, farmer's markets, food Coops, etc...?

[Jenga]

You are lucky! Davids is in Gambrills (right near post) and they have a great natural deli and meat department. MOMS is a great natural store as well. They have one in Columbia but we go to the one in Bowie.

I take my kids off post to Johns Hopkins in Odenton. They have been great to us. Just today was our 9mo's well baby and our ped asked "Now, are you not vaccinating this time or are you going to choose a vaccine? I can tell you which ones I would recommend..."

No pressure for our (really) delayed baby. Our son has behavioral issues and is on a pseudo Feingold diet and they are great with him.

I belong to MOPS off post with my church, MACC, but I would love to do playdates.  I don't do much on post, really. I prefer off post stuff. I don't jump through enough military/DoD hoops to have my kids in ACS/MWR activities. Ha ha! :)

We live in Crofton, about 20 mins away. My kids are 4 (Nov 2007) 2 (feb 2009) and 9mo(Nov 2011). I am not on her regularly but if you PM me I will get a notification and I'll share my info :)

We're PCSing in October or January, but we'll be here until then! Welcome to the area :)

[Hockeygrrl]

Hi,

Check out Annapolis Mindful Mommas on meetup.com. I too currently take my daughter to John Hopkins in Odenton. We are military. You would sign up for US family health plan to go there(off base).  I'm not super impressed with them, so I'm trying to decide if there are better options around here. I also like David's and MOM's.  There are organic CSA's in the area as well, and Annapolis has a Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.

Welcome to the area!

[KatyLinda]

We also have a huge LLL group in Columbia, and you'll find lots of like-minded moms there who can help you find what you are looking for as well!  Welcome!  

[Jenga]

Originally Posted by Hockeygrrl 

Hi,

Check out Annapolis Mindful Mommas on meetup.com. I too currently take my daughter to John Hopkins in Odenton. We are military. You would sign up for US family health plan to go there(off base).  I'm not super impressed with them, so I'm trying to decide if there are better options around here. I also like David's and MOM's.  There are organic CSA's in the area as well, and Annapolis has a Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.

Welcome to the area!

Do you take them to the family practice or peds section? the FP section was not great for us. We see Dr. Dzirasa in the peds practice and she's great. She's told me she's for not medicating if possible (like for low-grade fever, abx) and thinks holistic meds or herbal solutions are a great option. She is not pushy and knows we delay vax.

The practice was really open to my offer of bringing in car seat info (I'm a tech) and the office staff spent about 20 mins oohing and ahhing over my woven wrap and wanted to know how to "make it work" :)
Sorry you had a bad experience! I don't much like the internal medicine part of the practice. :(

[Jenga]

Originally Posted by Hockeygrrl 

Hi,

Check out Annapolis Mindful Mommas on meetup.com. I too currently take my daughter to John Hopkins in Odenton. We are military. You would sign up for US family health plan to go there(off base).  I'm not super impressed with them, so I'm trying to decide if there are better options around here. I also like David's and MOM's.  There are organic CSA's in the area as well, and Annapolis has a Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.

Welcome to the area!

Do you take them to the family practice or peds section? the FP section was not great for us. We see Dr. Dzirasa in the peds practice and she's great. She's told me she's for not medicating if possible (like for low-grade fever, abx) and thinks holistic meds or herbal solutions are a great option. She is not pushy and knows we delay vax.

The practice was really open to my offer of bringing in car seat info (I'm a tech) and the office staff spent about 20 mins oohing and ahhing over my woven wrap and wanted to know how to "make it work" :)
Sorry you had a bad experience! I don't much

[Jenga]

Originally Posted by Hockeygrrl 

Hi,

Check out Annapolis Mindful Mommas on meetup.com. I too currently take my daughter to John Hopkins in Odenton. We are military. You would sign up for US family health plan to go there(off base).  I'm not super impressed with them, so I'm trying to decide if there are better options around here. I also like David's and MOM's.  There are organic CSA's in the area as well, and Annapolis has a Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.

Welcome to the area!

Do you take them to the family practice or peds section? the FP section was not great for us. We see Dr. Dzirasa in the peds practice and she's great. She's told me she's for not medicating if possible (like for low-grade fever, abx) and thinks holistic meds or herbal solutions are a great option. She is not pushy and knows we delay vax.

The practice was really open to my offer of bringing in car seat info (I'm a tech) and the office staff spent about 20 mins oohing and ahhing over my woven wrap and wanted to know how to "make it work" :)
Sorry you had a bad experience! I don't much

[Jenga]

ugh. I am sorry! I don't know how that happened!

[~Adorkable~]

Calladonna, welcome to the area and welcome to mothering.com!

i want to also encourage you (and all you military related folks) to come join our Military Family Life Group , you'll find a lot of like minds going thru a lot of the same stuff. 

anyway welcome again!!

[Hockeygrrl]

Jenga. I've taken my daughter to the peds side most of the time Siddiqui(her nurse was always pushy about vaccines with me)   and then Saminiego (only once but I felt like she pretty much dismissed me).  I interviewed Dr Davis(internal medicine) last week and she didn't seem ok with delaying vaccines.  I also took my daughter to P.A. Melchiorre this past week I had heard she was ok with delaying but she kept trying to push me into giving my daughter at least one vax that day. She kept adding in at the end "but you can decline".....so I dont' know what I think of her yet. I had her sign my paperwork for the birth center(I'm 30 weeks pregnant).  They do on the internal medicine side have a DO but I don't know if he takes kids. I saw him randomly one time last year and think I'll switch him to my primary care there.  I agree the staff at the front desk in peds has always been super friendly to me.  I think part of my problem is still researching exactly what we are going to do with vaccines and that it will be different than what we did with my daughter and so I prob dont' go in and come across as knowing exactly what I want.

[Jenga]

Originally Posted by Hockeygrrl 

Jenga. I've taken my daughter to the peds side most of the time Siddiqui(her nurse was always pushy about vaccines with me)   and then Saminiego (only once but I felt like she pretty much dismissed me).  I interviewed Dr Davis(internal medicine) last week and she didn't seem ok with delaying vaccines.  I also took my daughter to P.A. Melchiorre this past week I had heard she was ok with delaying but she kept trying to push me into giving my daughter at least one vax that day. She kept adding in at the end "but you can decline".....so I dont' know what I think of her yet. I had her sign my paperwork for the birth center(I'm 30 weeks pregnant).  They do on the internal medicine side have a DO but I don't know if he takes kids. I saw him randomly one time last year and think I'll switch him to my primary care there.  I agree the staff at the front desk in peds has always been super friendly to me.  I think part of my problem is still researching exactly what we are going to do with vaccines and that it will be different than what we did with my daughter and so I prob dont' go in and come across as knowing exactly what I want.

I didn't like either of those peds. Saminiego was really rude to me and dismissive about recurrent blood in my baby's stool. She told me to come back if it happened again and I did. That was why I was there. When exactly do I come back? Dr. Siddiqui was also dismissive to me! She kept telling me that my therometers at home (3 of them) were wrong because theirs at the office was right. Turns out that theirs at the office was broken. It it still broken, as far as I know. My kid was in there at 102 and their thermometer was getting her at 99. Even Dr Dzirasa's nurse said that the baby felt really hot and much hotter than 99. At least she noted it on the chart!

The DO was not good, in my experience. He missed 2 upper respiratory infections and a double ear infection. My little had RSV and he said she was totally fine. Not sick at all. Didn't even do a test. Then he missed a sinus infection with my other kid and my middle's double ear. "They're all healthy! Just little colds" and two days later, I had them all back in because my baby wasn't breathing properly and Dr Dzirasa signed all three in. She took the time to see all the kids and give them meds they needed. The two youngest needed breathing treatments. The boy was working on bronchitis and was only going to get worse. I really love Dr Dzirasa. I feel like the others in the office aren't as awesome. The Nurse Practitioner is ok. I do spend time researching things and I often come in there with an idea of what is wrong with them. I'm usually right, and I know what I'm talking about with the doc. I think that annoys some doctors, like Saminiego. She tried to scare me with "if you keep this up (pushing for allergy referrals for the baby) they'll scope her" and I told her that I had my oldest scoped and he has an eocinophillic disorder. I am familiar with food allergies and problems. She wasn't expecting that! I think that Dr. Dzirasa appreciates that I am knowledable instead of resenting me for it.