[preggymeaggy]

I have been searching for a new pediatrician ever since my daughter was about 6 months old. She is now 2. We live in Rockland, so we really need someone on the south shore...who is non-vax friendly, pro-attachment parenting.

I just heard about Dr. Smith or Dr. Wood in Pembroke, and they sound great but their office won't allow an interview! This sounds crazy to me, because over the past year and a half I have scheduled SO many interviews with different pediatricians...and none of the offices have ever given me a problem. I spoke with the director of their office for about 10 minutes, where I asked if I could come meet with one of them, have one of them call me, etc. She said they simply "don't do that". So, in order to meet one of them, I would have to get my DD's records transfered and go to an official appointment. Then, if it's not a good match, I have to go through it all again.

My guestion:
Is Dr. Smith or Dr. Woods really worth it? What are they like? Are they totally cool with non-vax? Do either of them have any training in alternative/holistic medicine?

For those of you who have actually seen one of them...PLEASE tell me what you think of them! Thanks

 

[alisonsvw]

:
Good luck, I like you, am awaiting some knowledgeable mamas input !
Peace

 

[BirthMatters]

Hi,

I have heard of them, never met them personally. I have had clients who use them and like them very much. From what I understand, they are OK (not fabulous) with no vax, very comfortable and supportive with breastfeeding, delaying solids, etc. Not sure what they think about co-sleeping or how much emphasis/knowledge they have about nutrition.
Overall, my clients have liked the visits very much. But, what I'm really wanting to let you know is that the new chapter of the Plymouth Holistic Moms group is having their next meeting on May 13th and the topic is "Making Healthcare Choices for your Family" and we have 3 guest speakers. One is a pediatrician from Cohasset, another is a chiropractor, and an accupuncturist. The pediatrician is deemed to be really great. I can't wait to meet these care providers! There are few and far between in this part of the state. By the way, at the kick off meeting last week, there were tons of assorted healthcare professionals there! A bunch of chiropractors, massage therapists, two homebirth midwives (me being one!) and such. Not to mention the huge groups of moms, dads and kiddos.
They meet at the Plymouth Public Library, 6:30, 2nd wednesday each month. Take care!

 

[monocyte]

Quote:

Originally Posted by BirthMatters Hi, One is a pediatrician from Cohasset, another is a chiropractor, and an accupuncturist.

Curious - who do you have coming?

 

[lrpurro]

Hi Preggymeaggy,

We use Dr. Carole Smith for our whole family.

We began using her when our daughter was 1 week old [she's 27 months now]. We have had a great experience with Dr. Smith! The office staff is kind of "hit or miss."

At our first visit, we told her that we were undecided about vaccinating and that if we decided to we wanted to use an alternate/delayed Dr. Sears type schedule. She didn't even bat an eye. She said that if we decided to that we could even bring in separated MMR to be administered there. We told her that there was a family history of post-vaccine febrile seizures and she was completely understood our esire to at least delay. She asked us if we were going to do any shots at our second visit and since then we haven't even talked about it again.

Our daughter had some jaundice and we were awaiting her blood test results on a friday evening and didn't receive the call before office hours were over and called the on-call to ask for them and had a wonderful experience with him as well. He was VERY knowledgable about breastfeeding and didn't give any bogus info!!! I was very impressed.

No one has blinked an eye about DD still nursing at 2+, co-sleeping, etc. Although, to be frank, I don't invite or respoind to those types of conversations. We go there for non-intrusive medical care, NOT parenting advice

Hope this info info is helpful to you! Good luck with your search! It can be really hard!

peace,
Lisa

 

[BirthMatters]

I copy and pasted here-

May 13th
Making Healthcare Choices for Your Family
Join Dr. Arlene Dijamco, MD, Integrative Pediatrician, Dr. John Catapano, DC, Family Chiropractor, and Brian Whidden, M.Ac., Licensed Acupuncturist and Herbalist for a panel discussion to answer your questions about choosing the best healthcare providers
for your family and learn more about the options available to all of us.

These three practitioners are parents to eleven children between the ages of 1 and 11 so they know first hand the joys and challenges of making healthy choices for their children. You don't want to miss this meeting!

 

[lrpurro]

Just thought that I should add:

I have a good friend that saw other docs at this practice and was not nearly as satisfied as we are with Dr. Smith.

Also, I didn't touch on your question re: alternative health.

We have seen Dr. Smith, Dr. Hartman, Rebecca Graziano, Michelle Connors and I can't remember the name of the on-call male doc [sorry--he was very good!]. None of them were "antibiotic crazy" and most had a more wait and see attitude in keeping with new guidelines. However, no one has ever mentioned alternative tx, either.

Lisa

 

[jessjgh1]

My experience is dr smith will pretty much just do what you want. She's very nice. SHe'll be going on maternity leave at some point this summer.

Do you really need to transfer your records? Can't you just schedule an appointment before transferring? I've had a few doctors that we were able to see w/o our records when I wanted to meet with the doctor before deciding.

I think most people would like Dr Smith, and Dr Wood is also along the same lines from what others have said. I have not had to test her skills as a 'doctor' though, she's pretty much followed our suggestions- which is both good and maybe not so good.

Jessica

 

[phytoangel]

i agree with the other mamas in regards to dr. smith. she has really been a great doc for our 2yo and she isn't pushy or close minded. we have chosen no vax, breastfeeding, cosleeping, etc. and not once has she had anything negative to say to us. she has been very supportive and very sweet. in fact, i have chosen her as my doc now.

i wish that i could say the same for dr. wood, but my experience with her was not a good one. we had her one day when dr. smith was unexpectedly out and dd had a well baby. dr. wood grilled me. i eventually snipped at her and basically told her that she can raise her child as she sees fit, but that we aren't raising ours that same way. she told me that cosleeping was a bad habit and that if we ever wanted to get some real sleep that we would just let dd cry it out. then she made the comment that vegetarian kids are usually underweight that we have to be careful. did she forget to look at what the nurse wrote down for dd's weight? dd is huge! she is in the 95th percentile for weight and around that for height. what the h$%l! then she she pushed the vax issue on me and used the ole, "well, she won't be able to go to school without them. so, you better start now!" so, that is my experience with her in a nutshell. i left there so pissed off that i couldn't have been happier with my choice of dr. smith over her.

good luck and i hope that you get to see dr. smith. she is super sweet and really hands off.

 

[preggymeaggy]

Thanks for your posts everyone!

Jess...thanks for suggesting that I just go and not transfer the records yet! I hadn't really thought of that, as stupid as that sounds.

So, I think I will try to make a "new patient" appointment with Dr. Smith and my DD. She sounds great, and I really want to research all my options before choosing another Ped. that doesn't work for us.

Birthmatters...I am definitely going to come to that meeting in May! Thanks for telling us all about it. I have heard of that group in Plymouth before, and been meaning to check you guys out. The other thing (that is quite ironic) is that I just met with Dr. Dijamco yesterday (right before I read your post). She's in Cohasset, which is about 20 minutes away from me, and I actually really liked her. Although the office where she practices is definitely in favor of immunizations, she said that they will work with any family (non-vax or not). She said she wanted all families to feel comfortable with the decision that they reach, and that as long as they understand the diseases themselves (have done their research) then she is happy to delay or not do vax all together. I felt comfortable with her, and I feel like at least she would not give us a hard time about not vaxing. Also her training in holistic health is really interesting to me, and that would be my big push to choose her over another. I'm not making any decisions until I hear her speak on the 13th.

We'll see how it all turns out! Thanks again everyone!

 

[twirlyfry]

I know this thread is kind of old, but if you do see dr. smith and your baby isn't circumcised, be sure to say you don't want him to be retracted because she retracted my son. She is very nice and I really like her, I just think she doesn't know how to care for an intact penis.

 

[jessjgh1]

Oh, thanks for that warning twirlyfry. Most doctors seem to have that misconception... and attempt to do something. Hopefully most are gentle and don't fully retract... and although that is completely UNnecessary and less likely to cause any problem it could cause a microtear (or worse, especially if the doctor forcefully retracts).

I do have some understanding that doctors are taught to do this in medical school-- but even the AAP guidelines state that retraction is NOT to be done. I had brought some info to my current pedi on that issue-- I wonder if she would be open to receiving something. I also know there is a more forceful letter that can be sent out from a doctor or lawyer advising against retraction (more on the Case Against Circumcision Forum).

I actually was just there, (for me) but I would have been tempted to say something about it. I guess I should be entitled to, since I have referred people to her before and would in the future....
My son was probably 2 or 3 when we were seeing her and she did not retract him or ask if I had done, and didn't say/do anything to make me suspicious (I would have been on the lookout for that). That makes me annoyed/angry and sad. I also believe that she recently (over the summer) had a boy. Maybe I'm wrong about that and it was a girl.

Are you still seeing dr smith or have you found someone else? I havent' found any dr I can recommend 100% for one reason or another.
Jessica

 

[grumpyshoegirl]

We see Dr. Smith and have recently had some medical issues where she had to go into "doctor" mode more-- and did it well. We continue to be very satisfied, but then, we have two daughters. She's actually the PCP for our entire family. Some of the not knowing the AAP guidelines may actually be due to the fact that she's board-certified in family medicine rather than pediatrics. In fact, one of the things that impresses me most about Dr. Smith is that if she doesn't know something off the top of her head, she won't make something up just to sound smart. She always researches stuff and then gets back to us promptly.

The on-call male doc is Dr. Parker, and we have had a LOT of experience with him. He's absolutely fantastic IMO. When Dr. Smith was on leave we saw the two PAs, and they were both good. I also saw what I'd call a "substitute doctor" (she was an MD, but not a regular member of the practice) and she was terrible.....but I haven't seen her there since Dr. Smith got back.

My husband didn't have a great experience with Dr. Wood. The front desk people are definitely hit or miss. But we have had very good luck with all of the nurses.

 

[twirlyfry]

I'm going to bring some literature on it at his next appointment. She seems like she would be receptive to it and if it will help other baby boys, all the better. We will continue to see her because she is so nice and pleasant. She didn't retract forcibly and he didn't cry, but I also said something before she could have. She backed off immediately. I'm not meaning this to be a negative, don't choose her as a doctor thing, just as a heads up.

Jessica, just curious, who is your pedi?

 

[jessjgh1]

Dr Harootunian in Carver (Plymouth Carver Pediatrics), he's a DO and family practice. I don't believe his breastfeeding information is the best but he is fine with no vax, good with questions and listening. He also would gently retract as standard practice although maybe he's had a few more parents other than me question him on that.

I've just heard some good things about Dr McAllister (Performance Pediatrics) in the Industrial Park. The discussion was that he was accepting of vax refusal. I just looked at the website and they do have a FAX and also links to their vax refusal form- I know the wording is fairly standard, but I still find it off-putting. http://www.performancepediatrics.com/52/index.html

Jessica

 

[jessjgh1]

bumping up... sorry my pm box was full...

 

[MomofMaeve]

Hi! I know this thread is old, but does anyone know if Dr. Dijamco is still in Cohasset? When I googled it I get a practice under a Dr. Belknap that looks like its mostly specialists. I am just looking for a general (holistic) peds doctor in the Braintree/Weymouth/Hingham/Cohasset area. Any suggestions? Thanks!!

 

[jessjgh1]

Hi MomofMaeve,

Dr Dijamaco is not in the area any more.

We've switched to Circle of Life family practice in Norwell after moving out of Plymouth. I had been seeing Dr Smith for just me as and had some issues while she was on maternity leave (the 2nd time) and will be switching to a new practice. I still like Dr Smith, but the practice is getting bigger and busier and I'm uncomfortable getting stuck with some of the doctors.

Dr Chris and Jennifer Pichay are a husband wife Doctor of Osteopathy DO team. http://www.wix.com/drcapichay/circleoflifefma
There were a couple of nice articles about them that do a better job explaining than I do:

Quote:

The physical manipulations is only one way that DOs differ from MDs. They also approach medicine from a more holistic standpoint.

"You think of how one thing affects another, and you're always looking for a cause," Jennifer Pichay said. If a patient complains of a stomach ache, they will examine not only the stomach but look for and treat the root of the pain.

DOs typically embrace integrative medicine from Eastern and Western cultures, including herbal remedies, acupuncture and Tai Chi.

Read more: http://www.patriotledger.com/news/x1452735753/SOUTH-SHORE-ENTREPRENEUR-Jennifer-and-Christopher-Pichay-take-holistic-approach-to-medicine#ixzz1tdgS4GFF

http://www.mdnews.com/news/2011_04/05777_apr2011_circle-of-life

Jessica

PS And, since this thread is old and BirthMatters posted on HMN, I'll give a quick update.. I'm now the leader and we are still hosting meetings, mostly in Norwell and occasionally in Kingston/Plymouth .

If you are interested- check out our facebook page https://www.facebook.com/HMNSShoreMA or pm me or email me at [email protected] I put out an email reminder 1 or 2 times a month - so our mailing list is also a good way to hear about the events.