How do you find a ped?

do you have any local moms type meet up groups? especially something like an Attachment Parenting International or even a LLL chapter might be likely to have some ideas for you! not sure what your prenatal care is like, but if you are close to your provider, they might know of someone you might fit with or you could also call local midwives or doulas and see who they recommend.

good luck -- i am notoriously unhappy with my pediatric care and am on my 4th ped (in the just less than 3 years since we've lived here). i think i've got one now who will argue with me, but in the end, doesn't insult or demean me, which imho, shouldn't be too much to ask for.

You can most definitely interview them!! We are stuck with whoever we are assigned to (military hospital) but all my friends who have civi health care have said they have interviewed peds

my midwife gives several recommendations, depending on what we're looking for (no vax, homeopathic, western med., etc) then from there, we grilled certian ones

if you are seeing an ob, then i'd recommend talking with other moms, or just calling around and setting up interviews. compose a list of questions about what you expect out of a care provider for your child. do you want evenings and weekend care if needed? do you want to see the same doc everytime, as opposed to peds in a group working together? what is their stance on vaccines? extended breastfeeding? do they use the WHO height and weight chart for breastfed infants, as opposed to formula fed ones? how quick are they to prescribe antibiotics?, etc. make sure you notice how they are when they answer your questions; are they trying to rush you outta there, or are they actively listening?

my dd's doc will do a cranial/facial adjustment for an ear infection rather than prescribe antibiotics (the adjustment works like a charm, too), and he hands out homeopathic 'kid kits' instead of recommending tylenol or ibuprofen :

it's all about what you hope to get out of a provider. word of mouth certainly helps, but getting a sense of the person yourself is a good thing to do before deciding for certain.

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Thanks, I'll definitely ask my midwives if they know of any in my area! That reminds me that I wanted to go to an LLL meeting soon also.

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That'd be great!

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I want your doctor! That'd be awesome if I could find someone like that, but right now I'm just hoping to find one that doesn't tell me I'm killing my baby for not following mainstream.

You can definitely interview them, I remember reading that on the website of the group we use for our older kids. I really like ours, but it's a large group and in an emergency it's rare that we've actually seen here and the others are very mainstream. Our ped has been totally fine with us only minimally vaccinating our older kids (they are now nearly 4 and nearly 6, we've been with her since we moved 2.5 yrs ago), totally supportive of us continuing to use cloth diapers when DD had a SEVERE diaper rash.

However we've decided to go out on a limb (for the US system!) and have this baby have the same family doctor that DH and more importantly I have. This would be the norm in the UK, where our other kids were born and though I didn't give much thought to it then, I realised that really a nursing mum and baby are a pair, so it makes sense for them to be seen by the same doctor. We'll have to see how it goes though, as I think things may not be so speedy for something urgent, though when something has been urgent for me, I have always got in with my doctor, which I prefer.

I actually nixed the pediatrician we had chosen and went soley to a CPNP (certified pediatric nurse practitioner) who practices out of her home for anything we needed. We haven't been since my son was 8 months old though. We're fortunate he is healthy! We tend to be diy type of people and don't rely on standard medicine for routine stuff, only big stuff and we haven't had any "big stuff" needs. If all goes well, this new little boy won't be seeing a doctor for a very long time

Going to an LLL meeting is a great start. You'll probably find some crunchy folks there too.

I got recommendations from people at LLL and other local crunchy groups. My problem was that when my first son was born early, I called up the ped to let them know he was born (I'd already talked to them earlier in pregnancy to say "Hey, I plan to use you."), and the ped herself answered. She said she was moving to FRANCE the next week!!! Another ped was taking over her practice and all her patients. Of course, this ped I had picked out was incredibly knowledgeable about breastfeeding, anti-vaccine, pro-natural stuff. She's even written articles for a popular baby carrier as their "consulting pediatrician".

I interviewed the ped that was taking over, and she was "ok". I needed someone quick, since DS would need lots of visits (for weight checks and anything that might come up), so I gave her a try. Ended up sticking with her for only a short time. She was not horrible, but some stuff I was a bit "eh" about, and her waiting room was horrible. WAY overbooked. And I didn't need my preemie son sitting in a waiting room of sick people (they had separate rooms for sick kids, but of course the packed well kid area always had coughing people . I switched to a ped that a friend of mine was using, and that friend was doing what I do with regards to vaccinations... going slow, not doing certain ones, and just getting the required ones by school age (and not doing preschool, so we had plenty of time). Well, I liked that ped for a long time. She was great. Then the AAP memo about pressuring parents to vaccinate came out, and she started putting more pressure on me and even lied to me. So I switched to another ped that's much closer to me and will let you not vax at all. Problem with him though was that a) he's WAY overbooked like my first ped (same city - apparently we don't have very many peds here!), and b) I had some question about his competency in general.

So I recently switched the kids to the GP that I've been seeing for years. She's great with kids, and I've always loved her. The only reason I didn't take my kids to her initially was because it's a 40 minute drive. But now I am ok with that, plus my mom lives close to there, so she can watch the kids that don't need to go to the doctor, and I won't have to take all 3 to the doctor everytime! Taking 2 at a time wasn't so bad (my kids are pretty good), but it's so much easier to just take one!

Anyway, all that said... look at peds, GP/FPs, CNPs if your insurance covers them (mine doesn't), DOs, NDs... Don't think that you *have* to have a ped specifically.

Also, if you're birthing in a hospital, usually your ped will do the newborn check, but if they don't have hospital privileges, the hospital will assign someone to do that for you, so it's not TOO big a deal, except if you're wanting to refuse eye goop and such, it'd be easier if you've already discussed that with your ped who is doing the newborn check. You can still refuse regardless, but it's easier if you and the ped are on the same page.

My first son is the only one born in hospital (and he got his newborn check by the NICU neonatologists, so it wasn't really an issue for me), but the others are out-of-hospital and don't need to see a doctor right away. My midwife will check everything and keep checking baby up to 6 weeks, do the PKU, etc.