Doctor, Pediatrician, Friend - A Person to Care For Your Child
Having a baby can mean making a lot of changes in your life, like find a doctor or pediatrician. Some of those changes are positive such as taking time off of work to spend raising your child for the first few years of their lives. Other changes can be more difficult to navigate such as learning to sleep when they sleep to avoid becoming sleep deprived.
And of course some changes are just necessary such as going through the often tedious and stressful process of finding a nanny or a babysitter for the occasional night out or just needed help. Other decision that require serious thought including making the choice between a family doctor and pediatrician for your child's primary medical provider.
Consistency is important in selecting a doctor or pediatrician. Studies have shown that babies who see the same doctor for the first six months of their lives are more likely to receive important health test by the time they are two than babies who don't have that consistency in medical care. In addition,
seeing the same doctor means you don't have to rehash a medical history every time you visit which can be time consuming and fraught with inconsistencies.
The best time to pick your doctor or pediatrician is before you baby is born. During your third trimester is a good time to start interviewing pediatricians so you won't be pressed for time and energy to do it when the baby is born. Your baby will need to start seeing the pediatrician for well child checks and to receive vaccinations shortly after they are born so it is far easier to have a pediatrician already in place.
When your ready to start looking for a doctor or pediatrician to interview a good place to start is by asking friends, co workers or family members who have children, what pediatrician they would recommend. Make an appointment to talk to potential doctors and begin your assessment from there.
When you called to schedule an appointment was the receptionist friendly and helpful? When you arrived for your appointment was the waiting room clean with activities for children? One important feature to look for and ask about is about the separation of sick and healthy kids in the waiting rooms. Some doctors have an area for sick kids and a separate area for healthy kids. You have to remember not everyone in the doctor's waiting room is sick; some are there for vaccinations, well child checks or follow up care. You don't want to be sitting in a room of sick children with your healthy baby. So ask about the waiting room policy on this issue and decide accordingly.
Other things to consider include the hours and availability of care after hours. At some point your baby will get sick in the middle of the night and you need to make sure your doctor is available 24/7 for their care.
