moms: family doctor or ped?

Who do you take your children/babies to, and why?

The first pediatrician we tried didn't work out so well. She didn't respect our parenting decisions. We thought we had found a family doc for Mason, but turned out we didn't like him so much. He really didn't seem to know what he was doing concerning babies. I would really prefer a ped, but having trouble finding one. After the last family doctor we took Mason to, I'm just a little reluctant to go to another family doctor because he didn't seem knowledgeable on babies. But, I doubt any peds would see Mason. I'm waiting for a phone call back from a receptionist about whether or not that pediatrician will see us.

I really, really hate 'shopping' for doctors. :thumbdown:

Why don't you go off of some recommendations of friends who have children?

I dunno about family vs pediatrician.. I always just went to a family doc as a kid. But I will say this.... you're not going to find a perfect doctor that meets all your criteria, especially since some of your criteria involves being ok with a practice that many doctors don't agree with (no vaccinations). Plus since you seem to be limited by your location, and I'm guessing you're also limited by who will accept your insurance, but.... I guess it doesn't hurt to keep trying until you find one that's tolerable to you. Check out all the pediatricians that will accept you, and then if none of them work out, start checking out family doctors. They're not all clueless when it comes to babies, but it's certainly not their specialty.

For the first 5 years we used a pediatrician..........the same pediatrician that my husband went to when he was a kid in fact, LOL. We loved him, and the kids adored him. He was a practical man, and he'd pretty much seen it all. He wasn't all gung ho to send you out for expensive testing to get referral kickbacks, if he knew an easy solution, he'd share it with you

Sadly, he finally retired. After he did, I went to one other pediatrician for one appointment. She was polite enough, an Indian woman (from India, not native American) but I just didn't like her and the kids didn't seem all too enthused. We just resorted back to a family doctor. Cheaper rates that way too since it's not a 'specialty' LOL

I am a firm believer in pediatricians verses family doctors for babies and young children. Reason being is because pediatricians specialize in babies and young children.. that is what they do day after day. Family doctors may see an occasional baby or child.. it's not their expertise, they are likely to miss something a pediatrician would not miss.

It's kind of like going to a foot doctor if you are having vision problems..lol. Arielle saw a pediatrician until she was a teenager. If you weren't happy with the one you had, shop around until you find someone you like and trust. Word of mouth usually is the best way to find a good peds doctor.

And as a side note, it is unlikely you will ever find someone to agree with everything you believe in. Some docs are a bit head strong and opinionated where as others are more respectful and understanding. Hopefully you will find one that is on the same page as you or if they're not... then they can be respectful enough to still do their job and not make you feel like a bad parent.

We had this one pediatrician that literally would tell momma's that if they didn't breast feed their babies that they were not good parents because milk and milk products were poison. He stopped coming to our hospital a long time ago... thank goodness, because none of us liked his theories on good parenting..lol

Goodluck!

Hannah goes to a family doctor... the same Doctor I see. and she is WONDERFUL. If she isn't 100% sure on something she will go and look it up just to be safe. And I love the fact that she also just had her first child... is close in age to me and I just feel that we have stuff in common plus she is SUPER nice

I don't have many friends that have children, and the friends I do have vaccinate. They've recommended me to their peds, they love them, but I also know that both the peds I've been recommended to are VERY VERY big on vaccines. I'm still thinking about calling and at least asking if they'll see us. I've already called a few and am waiting to hear back.

I don't need someone that is supportive of our decision, but I do need someone that will respect our decision and not berate, insult, harass or ridicule us, or even kick us out of their practice.

I did have a friend who recommended a family doctor. Said he IS supportive of non-vax, not just tolerates, but actually respects a parent's decision. So if worse comes to worse, I'll try him.. I would just so much prefer a ped because I know they specialize in babies.

we see a nurse practicioner in a pediatric clinic that has 6 pradtioners and 2 doctors.
it is busy but they are good and if anyone needs to see the doctor then he comes in.

Mason goes to a pediatrician that was recommended by my OB, and my nephew goes to her also.

Tessa--are you doing limited vacs, or no vacs? I have found that there are many docs willing to work with you if you have good reasons for your decisions--as well as listening to what they have to offer on the topic.

I have found that a lot of docs won't do limited vax, because they won't order single doses. They all get the combination vax. I wanted to do limited vax (and we will at the 1 year...he won't get all 5 at once). But they way I wanted to schedule it (Dr. Sears alternative vax schedule) they won't do because they have combination vax.

My pediatrician does have some patients that don't get any vax. And you can spread out the 1 year vax.

interesting--we have quite a few docs here who will do limited vacs.

Both my kids still go to pediatricians. My teenager has an appointment for a physical (school sports) tomorrow, actually.

Pediatrician here, but none would have accepted us without our vaccination records.

We're not doing any vaccines at all right now. We started out thinking we'd do selective schedule. But at the 2 month appointment I had to follow my mommy instinct and gut feeling and declined vaccines. (Ped gave me really funny look, but still gave me paper with instructions to get them done at the health department.) More reading and research, and we decided that for sure none in the first year or two and we'd see after that. He's been so healthy, that right now I don't see us doing any in the future. We're filing a philosophical and religious exemption from vaccination when it comes time for school/daycare.

He's only seen the one ped, and then the family doctor. We haven't gone through a lot of docs yet. It just isn't something I look forward to. But we will keep looking until we find someone that is at least respectful of our decisions.

We see a family practitioner and love her.

When I moved to Muncie, my main Dr. was my Gyno . When first was born I went to his recommended children's clinic . By the time they were 13 I had my own doctor and I left it up to them how they wanted to go .

You're not going to find someone that is going to agree with everything you're doing, mostly because you to such wide extremes about every little aspect. Combine that with what you're going to be able to afford and you're probably just going to have to suck it up and deal with the fact that you and your doc aren't going to see eye to eye on a lot. But as long as he's still doing the major stuff right, who cares? I didn't agree with everything about my old vet, but he was very good at his job and that was what mattered the most.

I agree with what Zoom posted - very well said.

As someone who works in the medical field you are going to struggle to find a doctor who will agree with your views and if they do it will be pretty limited. You aren't the kind of person who can agree to disagree or even compromise simply because you have the, "I'm always right and entitled" attitude. Doctors have a lot of time invested in their education so they can't be wrong about everything - perhaps you should look at that as well.

exactly! Find someone close that is decent and just be glad you dont pay the bill.

a baby on GOOD health insurance (aetna hmo) costs 600ish dollars in COPAYS the first month keep that in mind