Love my pedi but

[hillview]

DS #2 had his 1 year appt yesterday and doc said, you can turn him. Know this isn't totally uncommon and he did it with DS#1 too. Annoying. In general I do like him but this annoys me. Ok I feel better
Suppose this belongs in the b*tching forum.
/hillary

[Octobermommy]

They almost all seem to do that. I took my opportunity to educate some medical students about the benefits of rf longer. *Hopefully* they got it and won't pass such information to their patients.

[Tanya]

My youngest didn't hit 20 pounds until she was 18 months old. So, at that well visit, the pediatrician was going through his checklist and he said "and she's in a FF carseat"
I replied that no, she was in a RF carseat. First off, they had just weighed my daughter and said she had just reached 20 pounds. And I'd left my first daughter RF until she was over 2years, so I was doing the same with this one because it's safer. His response was to ask me if I knew that RF was 5 times safer than FF? Well, if he knows that, why doesn't he encourage more parents to RF longer?
Anyway, my little one just had her 2yr well visit and sure enough, he went through the checklist again and wanted to verify that she was in a FF carseat. Nope, she's RF. So, then he *educated* me that I could keep her RF to the limits of the carseat. I figure he only educates those that are already educated. Maybe the FF parents are just less likely to listen or change.

I breastfed both of my girls until they were two as well and that always seemed to throw the doctors off a bit when they were going through their checklists and asking how much cows milk they got, etc.
And I've gone through similar things with veterinarians with my dogs. I think they are just used to more ignorant people. I have my own vaccination schedules for my dogs (and my kids) and I don't feed my dogs "dog food".
Anyway, it doesn't mean that I don't like or trust my pediatrician or vet. I just have to make them aware that I've usually done my own research and I don't just go the easy route.

[sidmand]

Mine did that too and it annoyed me (a bit) at the time. But someone pointed out (probably here!) that many many parents probably turn their kids FF BEFORE then so they're reminding you not to do that. Although it's too late to say it then, so I guess maybe not.

[jjordan]

Tanya - maybe it's possible that the checklist is to ensure that they are in a FF carseat instead of a booster? And maybe he does mention that RF is safer when the parents do have their toddlers FF?

We have a new ped now so I'm curious to see what happens when the car seat issue comes up!

Jill

[Tanya]

Well, anything is possible, but I really think that they just assume that once a kid is 20 pounds and 1 year of age, most parents turn them FF. It's one of those *milestones*.

For my 5 year old, I think the pediatrician just asked if she always rides in a carseat or a booster seat. My kid is still in a 5 point harnessed carseat, but based on her friends, she's definitely in the minority. In fact, I can't think of any of her friends that are still harnessed. Some of her friends aren't even riding in boosters anymore (we live in a state that has the 8 year law, but we are within just a couple miles of another state that hast the 4 year law).
My next door neighbor's son is younger than my 2 year old and she didn't even know that her Britax marathon *could* RF. She was so shocked that I have my 2 year old RF since her son was FF the day he turned 1.

[kijip]

One more reason to love our ped! He advocates extended rear facing and extended harnessing in his little check-up note sheets.

[hillview]

Originally Posted by kijip

One more reason to love our ped! He advocates extended rear facing and extended harnessing in his little check-up note sheets.

I WANT YOUR PEDI!!
/hillary