Why do you have a pediatrician? - Page 2

[Artisan]

Family practitioners are trained to see patients of all ages -- I have never heard of one treating a child as a "little adult".

[amnesiac]

Pediatric practice is different from adult practice in many ways. Unless a FP doc sees an awful lot of kids it's not terribly likely that his/her pedi clinical skills & knowledge will be stellar. What I mean when I say kids aren't just little adults is that you have to approach their care with two different skill sets. I was trained to care for patients of all ages in school, but since my work for the past many years has been pedi there are things specific to adult practice that I'm not so skilled at anymore. Nothing wrong with that, that's just the way it is - if you don't use it, you lose it. Our FP docs here just don't see many kids so it doesn't really matter what they were taught in school.

[RubyWild]

I have a pediatrician because I had just moved here and my midwife suggested a pediatrician for me, one who was open to no vax and extended BFing.

I later moved to another pedi in the same office. She is a good doctor, really good with my daughter. Why would I want to move her to an FP who has a lot less training identifying childhood diseases? We haven't been to the pedi since she was less than 2, but we might go someday if there was something dire.

[Stevie]

Our FP has a lot of babes and kids in her practice, but if my kids get sick and I am not comfortable with my own dx, I would call our ND or chiropractor for advice. I did a reduced batch of WBCs to comply with the adoption agency's requirements and I do like the idea of having the trail just in case... so we'll keep going. I had to take a letter in for the kids' files re vax; she was getting pretty insistant, so once DS's adoption was finalized I made it clear that vaxes weren't an option for us any longer

eta: she does have DC of her own, so isn't completely cut off from the experience of children :LOL she selectively vaxes; advised getting vaxes that she admitted she didn't get for at least one of her DC :