Pediatrician
How to Choose a Doctor for Your Baby
Choosing a doctor for your baby is just as important as choosing maternity care. Your baby’s doctor is an important source of information. It is important to seek someone who is flexible and is willing to listen to you. This style careprovider reinforces your ability to make decisions about your child, increasing your self-confidence.
Decide what is important to you. Do you believe in routine scheduling of feedings and bedtimes or do you prefer ‘on demand’ feeding and having the child go to bed when they are tired?
Choose a doctor who shares your philosophy. Most children received their healthcare from family practice physicians or pediatricians. Select two or three physicians to interview during your pregnancy. Most offer ‘new parent’ visits at no charge. Take a list of questions. Use the same questioning techniques recommended for choosing prenatal care and notice the careprovider’s style. Here are some questions you may wish to ask:
What is the scheduled length of your appointments? Do you have evening or Saturday hours? If my child is ill after regular hours, will you be available?
When my child is ill, can we be seen in the office that day?
Who provides your backup? When and whom may I call with brief general questions about my baby’s health or behavior?
Who returns ‘callbacks’?
How do you avoid mixing the sick children and well children?
Which hospital(s) would you use if my baby needed hospitalization?
How often do you see the baby during the first year? Why?
What is your policy about giving bottles to breastfeeding babies in the hospital?
Do you have standard orders for newborns? What are they?
Who examines newborns in the hospital? How soon is my baby examined after birth? (In a group practice, for example, do the doctors take turns spending time at the hospital, or does each doctor examine his or her own patients?)
What is your policy on early discharge after birth?
What is your opinion on circumcision?
Will you discuss breastfeeding after the birth? When?
What percentage of your patients breastfeed at birth? At 3 months? 6 months?
When do you recommend starting solids?
How do you handle not enough breastmilk? Sore nipples? Baby not gaining enough weight? (Note, weaning or delayed nursing should not be the answer)
Can you recommend any books on childcare? Breastfeeding?
How do you handle parents’ requests to delay or change the current vaccination schedule?