When to take baby to see pediatrician....

[green_momma2007]

I'll be having my first homebirth in May and I had a few questions for you ladies. How soon after the birth do you recommend that a patient take their baby to see the pediatrician? How much does the midwife do in terms of checking the baby and what else is left for the pediatrician? Thanks.

[sevenkids]

We are required to tell mom to take baby in by 5 days old, but we take care of baby until 6 weeks, unless there's an issue a ped needs to take care of. A LOT of our Moms don't take the baby in at all......Depends on what you want a ped to do. Vaccines? Hearing screen? Just weigh the baby? Most of our moms don't vaccinate in the first year or not at all. If your midwives don't do the metabolic screen, you might want to bring baby in in a couple of days if you choose. We don't offer the hearing screen, but recommend it, so the ped needs to order it.

We do the newborn exam, revisit mom and baby at 24 hours, do the metabolic screen either then or by the third day, see mom and baby again by 1 week and weigh baby, again at 2 wks, 4 wks and 6 wks. Of course, we're available 24 hours a day for calls and concerns.