Pediatricians-Updated

[ahdoula]

I called my pediatrician's office to make a two week check up appointment for Eliot. They asked where she was born and I told her that she was born at home. The nurse then said that they would need to see her tomorrow because she was not seen in a hospital. I informed her that Eliot had a thorough newborn exam at birth and 2 weight checks, and that we were not willing to take her out and expose her to a doctors office until sometime after the 25th. The nurse said she would need to check with the doctor and call me back to let me know if they will be willing to see us at all in that case. They may refuse us care!! As outraged as I am, somehow I am not surprised. Probably should just say screw them and find someone else anyway. I was going to put off calling until later, but dh really wanted the appointment set up in advance to make sure she got in when she was suppose to. Now he is as fed up as I am. I had heard rumor that there were some peds that refused care to homebirthed babies, but didn't really think I was going to encounter it personally.

I guess my best bet is to not answer when they call back, and either call them back in a couple of weeks and try to make the appointment again, or just transfer care all together. Let's just hope no one at the office gets too worked up and decides we are negligent parents for not taking her in sooner, and calls child protective services. I am sure that's just postpartum paranoia though.

[rosadesal]

would it be so bad to transfer care? maybe you just got a nurse/receptionist who was rude and had a biased opinion not reflecting that of the office.


i havent found a pediatrician yet. i havent really looked. im 42 weeks today. i just dont feel like making phone calls

[Panthira]

Wow, that sounds ridiculous! Why would a PED refuse to care for a baby just because she was born at home? That doesn't make any sense. Sorry you have to deal with that load of crap. I would totally find another Ped, although it could just be his/her staff being this way and not the ped?

I'm lucky we have a very progressive pediatrician who homebirthed her own children, doesn't push vaxes or well baby visits, etc... but she's in Berkeley, 20 minutes from me. I met with her briefly just to make sure we're set-up for the new baby and she said she was cool with the midwives doing the newborn care unless there's a problem of course.

[2much2luv]

How freaking wrong.

[pwit]

we found our pediatrician through our midwife's referral. I live in KY and I'm pretty sure there are lots of pediatricians that wouldn't see us because we selectively vax and homebirth. I love the pediatrician group we go to though, we have seen several of the doctors and nurses in the practice and they have all been great. If you don't love the ped. see if your midwife knows a good one!

[Shelsi]

Honestly I would answer the phone when they call back. You were just talking to the nurse, not the actual doctor. Many times the nurses don't know office policy and such. Heck, she could be brand new for all you know. I would give the ped the benefit of the doubt until you hear otherwise.

[phathui5]

My vote is for talking to the ped directly.

[manitobamama]

Oh Thank You! You just re affirmed why I am not taking Emerson to any ped! I hate hate hate doctors and unless it is a true emergency I don't take any of my children to the doctor. Some days I wish that I could find a really good doc that was in line with my beliefs but alas that is a dream world! I have only done homopathic remedies for years now... the last time I saw a doc personally they didn't have a clue anyway and I took the right homopathic remedy and cured myself anyway!

[Dreamer]

I wonder if they want to see her before 2 weeks because of the PKU test? I know it's supposed to be performed between like days 3 & 8 or something, for the best accuracy and ability to intervene if something is 'off' with the test. Were you guys going to do the PKU test at all? If not, I would just tell the doctor that you guys were planning on forgoeing the PKU test altogether and see what they say. They probably wouldn't need to see you at all (before 2 weeks) if you're going to decline that procedure. The only other reason I can think of for them to want to see you immediately is to check bilirubin levels.

We'll be taking baby day 3-5 (depending on when he's born) for his PKU and a bili check, we'll be skipping any WBV because we don't plan to vaccinate (but of course, they wouldn't start vax's until he was 8 weeks anyway)...

Anyway, OP--I totally understand your concern for not wanting him infested with germs unnecissarily but at the same time, the doctor's office may have a good reason to see the baby before 2 weeks... maybe the lines of communication just got crossed b/n you and the nurse (she probably did scoff at the homebirth, but it's not her place to judge your baby's birth place!!) but try to remember that you, your dh, and your ped all have the same goal in mind: your baby's health!!

I hope you get this worked out!!!

Alayna

[ahdoula]

Well, we talked to the ped and she said that our philosophies are different and it would be best if we transferred our care to another doctor if we were not willing to come in right away for a well baby visit.

It wasn't about the PKU, either, I explained to them she had a complete exam by a CNM along with vit K and the PKU and 2 weight checks. They wanted to see her right away because she was a homebirthed baby and if we didn't agree, they wouldn't see us at all.

I called a few like minded friends and got names of other peds. But that battle wasn't exactly what my postpartum hormones need at the moment. Funny how easily they can make you feel like a rotten nad irresponsible parent.

True I could have given in and just taken her in, but if it wasn' this than it would have been about delaying vaxs or co sleeping, or extended breastfeeding. Might as well find someone out there who gets it. She has seen my two older children before, but like most of you, we don't do routine visits and we have only gone a handful of time in the two years we have lived here. We hadn't encountered issues until now.

[marziechar]

You don't want to see a doctor who has differing philosophies from your own. This will just start a never-ending battle between your ideas and theirs. It's not their fault nor your own. Find one that you can see eye to eye with....

[aileen]

i accidentally skipped this battle by not calling until my babe was two weeks old, the earliest i was willing to bring him in to be seen. i just called to schedule and when i said he was born at home they requested to see him at 48 hours and i told them he'd be two weeks the next day. so we went in the next day.
BUT - our ped. is great (not that we see him very much). i think that you really do need to find a doctor who accepts your view (if you want to see one at all...) and we need one who is open to complemetary care with our naturopath (who we see all the damn time).
i brought my baby in to establish a relationship. the doc asked if we'd made any decisions about vax (awesome, huh?) {not doing it}, and asked if we'd decided to do vit K {nope}, and eye goop {nope}, told us to never try and retract his foreskin {yup}, said he doesn't believe in giving flouride supplements to infants as is recommended here (even though it's in the water! not that we don't filter it out ) and he doesn't think breastfed babies need supplemental vitamin D except in extreme cases. he's super.
you'll find one who's WAY better than the one you had - and you'll be so happy you did.

[bdavis337]

I can't believe we've all gotten this far and haven't had a thread about finding a pedi yet!! Shame on us that have already done this and know what a pita it can be!!!

I'm quite fortunate. I have a VERY limited selection of docs my insurance will cover, so I had to fight to keep our pedi when Tom's company switched insurance carriers. He's definetly a mainstream doc - he'll circ if you ask, he assumes you're vaxing unless you state otherwise and he's passes all bf questions off to his nurse or the associated lc. BUT, we're months and months "behind" on vaxxing, and he's not said a word. He doesn't push abx, and spends as much time as we need with us when we do visit (which is a good bit, and you have to think in the long run - I never expected MT to have asthma and allergies, so I never expected to be in my pedi's office so frequently).

Definetly find a pedi that fits into your lifestyle! And be prepared for the unexpected.

[phathui5]

I'm sorry to hear that they chose to give you a hard time about it. Let us know how it goes finding a new one.

I bet you could get recommendations in your FYT area if you haven't yet.