How did you find a doc that was ok with not vaxing/being selective/delaying?

[liberal_chick]

I was fired today by ds's brand spanking new doctor. :

He got sick and needed to be seen (ear infection, FTR) and since we are new in town I looked up which family practice clinics our insurance covers. I really didn't want to see a ped.

There were 2 offices, the first of which didn't take kids as young as my ds. The next office was able to get us in this afternoon.

I get there and it turns out this guy is a ped and internal medicine doc, but he was really nice and friendly so I was ok. Then he asked about ds's vaccines and when I said we only did them through 6 months he told me they don't keep kids in the practice who are not getting vaccines on schedule. I told him we were considering getting some at a later date, but not all of them. Not good enough ("I've seen kids die from stuff like HIB!"). He told me he'd get us through this but then I'd have to find ds a new doctor.

Honestly, he was very nice about it, stated repeatedly (sp?) that he wasn't judging our parenting or getting preachy about it (which he didn't), but it still made me feel like crap.

So it seems like now I'm stuck with finding him a ped, at least until he's older, but how do I go about that? I do not want to be fired again and I don't know anyone here who doesn't vax, so they won't be able to recommend a doctor.

Do I just call around and ask a million questions? How did you find your doc?

[ZoeyZoo]

I found my practice through a list kept by the HB MWs in my area. When someone takes their baby in they ask how things went, would they recommend them to other HBers, etc. I found a ped nearby that was on the list and that my insurance takes. Didn't guarantee that they would be OK with no vax but I know that since most HBers in my area are AP, EBF, etc. I thought it was the best list I to start with. If you have a freestanding BCs they usually have lists of MWs, peds, etc.

I only went in for some initial checkups. Haven't done and WBVs but he never even brought up vaxing once I mentioned dd was a HB.

There are also some lists in the FYT foumns.

I had tried calling a few DO practices in the area but they were like... "um... I don't think we would not see an unvaxed patient.... really haven't come across that before..."

[tanyalynn]

Places I look: Finding Your Tribe here at MDC, yahoo groups (AP, holistic moms, LLL, baby wearing, native nutrition (Weston A Price folks), homeschooling groups, anything along these lines tend to have a higher-than-usual proportion of non/selectively vaccinating parents), local chiros and/or midwives, if push came to shove, I might ask around at a local health food store.

Our old family practice, when I called and asked if they saw unvaccinated kids, said "Of course!" in the same tone as if I'd asked "Do you see blonde children?"

Sorry it didn't work out, but I'm glad it wasn't an ugly confrontation.

[k9sarchik]

I've been lucky with my Kaiser FP's. They say nothing really about it.

I found my other FP through Holistic Moms Network. He doesn't recommend vaxes for his patients.

I'd recommend looking for an FP rather then a Ped. Usually they are more flexible.

[Emmeline II]

Go to the attachment parenting international site and see if there is a group in your area and ask for a rec. Check your tribe as well.

[Pyrodjm]

Our ped was mentioned in a post in the Finding your Tribe forum for our area. I love her.

[liberal_chick]

There is only 1 person on FYT in my area (unless more join one day *sigh*), so I'll shoot her a PM and see if she has a recommendation. I feel like this is my punishment for moving to the boonies. We had the most awesome doc when we lived in the city.

[leila1213]

When I originally called our old ped's office (recommended by FYT, LLL & acupuncturist), I flat out asked if she was ok with non-vax. The receptionist said she would tell us why she thinks we should get them (she never did), but that about 50% of their patients don't. That was good enough for me!!

[zinemama]

You might want to go with a Family Practice MD instead of a pediatrician. I hear they are a lot less hyper about it.

I found one just by asking around among the people I knew who don't vax.

[MyBoyAramis]

I found my ped on AP Doctor Referral on Yahoo groups.

[angie7]

I would try and find a FP rather then a ped. That is what my completely unvaxed twins see and I her! I was lucky and was referred to her through another non-vax friend. She has never made any comments or anything negative about us not vaxing.

[MsGrizzle]

I think many of these have been mentioned already but this article discusses finding a practitioner.

[janellesmommy]

My Bradley childbirth instructor recommended her kids' doctor, a family practice doctor.

[~Megan~]

Ask around. Ask at La Leche League. Ask a midwife or doula.

[ZoeyZoo]

Dr. Sears also have a small list of peds accross the country on his website.

[Stephenie]

I started taking him to a naturopath instead of a Ped. Works much better for us.

[xmasbaby7]

Just to remind that it is much easier to present yourselves as delayers and instead of declining vaxes.

We will delay until our dd is 38 at least. : )

[liberal_chick]

I tried presenting us that way ("we just wanted to wait until he's a bit older") and that got us nowhere.

Family practice is what I set out to find (and what I thought I was scheduling with), but this specific group apparently had one ped and that's who they put us with.

No naturopaths or holistic docs here.

I'll check out the various sources that people recommended. Thank you!

[chaoticzenmom]

I considered changing from my naturapath last year and just made some phone calls.

Hello, I'm looking for a new dr. for my children and had some questions about your office. Do you take patients who do not vaccinate? No, it's not up for discussion. Oh, ok, thank you for your time.

Nobody said "no" but some said "you can discuss that with the dr." or something along those lines. One homeopath I called asked me if we could discuss it at the appointment. (this was in France)

You can also ask over at your tribe for referrals, then call them and ask to be sure.

[chaoticzenmom]

Ack! You're in Arkansas! I lived in Jonesboro and DeWitt. You're right, there isn't much of a choice. You may have to go to Little Rock or Memphis if you're close enough to either of those places.