family dr vs. pediat.

ash52402 · **family dr vs. pediat.**

so my dh and i don't have a family dr yet but it's getting to the point where we need to be selecting a pedatrician(sp) for our baby, could i knock out 2 birds with one stone or should i just call a ped. and get that ball rolling????????

WI mom of 2 · 08-27-2006, 09:07 PM

We've had both. When we lived in AZ, we went to a wonderful pediatrician practice & I loved our dr. there. Now that we're in a small town in WI, we go to a family practice here in town. While I do like the dr. my kids see here, I preferred the pediatrician. It was geared towards kids. There were sick child and well child waiting rooms, so your infant wouldn't pick up germs when you were there for a well-baby visit, and the doctors gave us info sheets at each well child appt. saying where the child should be developmentally, tips on feeding, etc. I don' t know if the dr. here just isn't as informative since I'm on my 2nd baby & he thinks I remember everything from my 1st (which I don't!), but I felt like the pediatrician's office gave me a lot more information than I'm getting at the family practice office (the dr. there answers any questions that I have, but the ped. office would give me info on stuff that I didn't even know to ask about).

debellafunk · 08-27-2006, 09:09 PM

I would say def get a pediatrican. my dh and I don't have a family doctor and will find one for us when needed but most ped will see a child till they are 18.

ash52402 · 08-27-2006, 09:09 PM

thanks that gave me a better idea of what we'll prolly do THANKS again

Oregano · 08-28-2006, 04:53 AM

I would also do a pediatrician.

jnbythesea · 08-28-2006, 06:24 AM

I would also go with a ped. My dd has food allergies, and my ped was able to pick this up at four weeks of age...
That saved me so much headache and frustration, plus we were able t o give dd relief right away

brensmom · 08-28-2006, 08:48 AM

definately do a pediatrician they see kids everyday all day and are more up on kids issues... my brother and sil learned a big lesson when they took there dd to a reg physican she had severe medical issues and allergies and the regular dr did not know about these types of things in children at my urging they finally went and had a visit with our pediatrician and it helped her so much she was allergic to breast milk(due to she is allergic to most foods and mom had to eat) and she was allergic to all formula...even though it is not a one stop type a deal i feel they are well worth it...

mommamia · 08-28-2006, 09:57 AM

I was planning on a family dr but after ds got out of the NICU he needed to be seen within 48 hours per the NICU's orders and the famly dr's office nurse was not going to let me in for a week! I am guessing she didn't know what NICU meant and the pediatrician I was thinking about MADE him a spot the next day so that an evalutation could be started. It was simply the pediatirician's office that recognized the need where the family dr office was like talking to a wall about my ds's needs. I'd gladly take him to my famliy dr is I felt like I needed a 2nd opinion. I have noticed that I pick up colds at the family dr's office and that hasn't happened at the ped's office yet, though I've been there more often. I have also never waited in the waiting room for over an hour either like I have at my famly dr. The kids generally just don't have to wait behind heart patients and others with chroninc health conditions which is priceless when a baby is sick.

ash52402 · 08-28-2006, 11:44 AM

ok well i love all this info so i just need to pick one. when is a good time to start really looking and did anyone go in and meet the dr before hand and what ?'s did you ask

Tonia0702 · 08-28-2006, 04:26 PM

I waited until I was at 38 weeks and could not get in with any Ped's for interviews. What I decided to do was get some Ped's names from my friends and ask my Obgyn his opinion. I ended up with one I loved based on all the input. It was the only way I had to go since I waited to long....