Ok, it's official, (I think) I'm Maryland bound.

[Moon]

So after some long hard thought and some roller coaster emotions, I am taking the kids and moving into new dp's home in Mongomery County.

School is a nightmare. I'm going to homeschool her, the private schools I'd want to send her to are $14K and $18K, respectively. :jaw

Here's what I'm looking for......a co-operative ped. One who will help me with homeopathics, one who will not report me to CPS for not vaxing the baby.

I'm willing to travel. I know there's an anthroposophic doc in Baltimore but he's got a waiting list and it's not really my speed.

Suggestions?

[mama_al]

We go to an excellent pediatrician in Baltimore City. His name is William Waldman. He is near Johns Hopkins University. Be careful with the insurance companies, though, b/c ours requires that our doctor be within a 5O mile radius of our home. He is the 6th doc we've tried and we will go to him forever! He does believe in vaccinating, BUT he also believes that parents know what is best for their kids and we have refused certain vaccines and he supports my decision. I know there are a lot of his patients who do that. He also is really laid back and doesn't worry about things. I know that in a true emergency, he would take proper action, but for every day illnesses, he is casual, which I like. I don't think my kids have ever gotten a prescription from him. He believes that most things will go away on their own, so why medicate unless you need to. He totally supports that we use homeopathy, although he doesn't practice it. He does not believe in spanking and generally does not get alarmed at children's behavior and wants us parents to be understanding and patient with our children. He talks directly to the kids and treats them with respect. He shares after hours on-call duties with other docs not in his practice, but when he is on call, you can call him AT HOME!!!! He is the only doctor in his practice, but he took on a nurse practitioner last year and she is really wonderful too. His office staff is so cool and friendly. He totally supports extended breastfeeding and so does his staff. When my 2 year old was sick earlier this year, with a stomach virus, I called and talked to Cindy. She asked me what she was eating and I said Natalie was nursing, she said, "Oh good! Keep that up. That is the best thing for her." I don't know if he has a waiting list, but contact me if you want his number.

[Quirky]

:banana Yippee! Another Montgomery MDC Mom!

Two ped suggestions:

June Fusner, Kensington Pediatrics, on Conn. Ave. in Kensington, 301 949 8860. She's our ped, and is fine with non-vaxing, just had me sign the "bad mommy" form for the records, and is somewhat into homeopathy (she's not an expert but has an interest in it.) She takes our insurance and a bunch of others.

Helen Tsitouris, in Rockville. I interviewed her but then decided to go with Dr. Fusner because Tsitouris doesn't take insurance (although I could have submitted as out of network). She's very into homeopathy and non-allopathic forms of medicine, although she is allopathically trained (in Greece, I believe). She is also fine with non-vaxing (probably more so than Dr. Fusner). I don't have her number any more but you could look it up in the phone book or do a search on this forum for it, as I believe it's been posted before.

HTH!

[Walosi]

My husband just accepted a job just inside the beltway that starts sometime in January. I am planning to split my time between SAHM and returning college student, so we are looking for cheap housing within commuting distance of his job. We are moving from upstate NY and talk about sticker shock! I need pediatrician ideas too. I finally found one I like here and now I have to start searching all over again :-).

[Moon]

Thank you, Jane, and MamaAl :D Hi, Walosi! :wave

Thank you for your tips, I will ring the peds soon to make get-to-meet-you appts. I am sure all my kids' appts are going to be out of network, my ex's insurance is a Virginia based policy.

I can't answer your question about schools, Walosi, sorry, public schooling isn't an option for us, so I don't know anything about them..but good luck. :dust

Yay!! I am so glad this is *finally* coming together. Whoooohoooo!!

[Dragonfly]

Hi Moon,

I know of a good homeopath in MD (he's either in Rockville or Silver Spring.. can't remember at the moment as we see him the one day a week that he comes to Arlington). His name is David Wember. There's also another good homeopath that I've heard of that works almost exclusively with children - if you talk to Dr. Fusner, she'll know who he is. They work together sometimes. We started out with Dr. Fusner when we first came here - she's pretty decent, but the rest of her office got to me. If your child is sick, there's no guarantee that you'll get her... and the rest of them can be a little difficult to deal with re: the vax issue. Of course, that was in the Capitol Medical Group practice in Bethesda - I guess she splits her time between that and Kensington? Kensington may be better with the other docs....

Happy moving :)

[Quirky]

Dr. Fusner started her own practice so it's 100 percent her. As far as I know she's completely split from Capitol Medical Group (I had to get my records from them and everything). No other docs in the practice right now, although she is bringing a nurse-practitioner over from her old practice in October. We followed her over from Capitol Medical Group and it's been nice because she's not too busy and has time to spend talking about issues when I bring ds in.

[Dragonfly]

Good to know, Jane - I might consider taking ds back to her. Right now we're going to a practice that's almost an hour away. I became a bit frustrated with her when I took ds to her in the early stages of the development of his mosquito allergy. She took all of 1 minute to barely examine him and diagnosed him with coxsackie virus (Hand Foot Mouth), which it turned out he did not have. It was disappointing because she had originally been so attentive and concerned. I imagine it likely had more to do with the practice being overwhelmed than with any deficiency on her part....