Selecting a pediatrician

[jenji30]

I am expecting my first baby in August and my OB told me to start thinking about selecting a pediatrician (she will note it in my file, contact him/her when the baby is born, etc.). I have read all the online articles about how to pick someone, have talked to other parents in my neighborhood, and have a pediatrician in mind who is local and highly-praised by others.

My question is, what now? What am I supposed to do to officially "select" this doctor for my unborn baby? Call up and ask if it's okay? Meet her? Just write her down on the form in my file? I understand that she has quite a busy practice, but my insurance says she's currently accepting new patients. How do I get on the radar, even though the baby isn't due for another few months???

Thanks for any input!
Jennifer

[egoldber]

Most peds do what is called a pre-natal visit. These are often free or covered by insurance. You go in to their office and spend some time chatting with them about their practice, their philosophies, etc. I would be prepared with a list of questions about topics that are important to you and see how she responds. You will spend a LOT of time with your ped, so make sure they are someone you like.

Also, make sure to take the ped's info with you to the hospital. I would NOT rely on your OB to do this for you. They wanted this info when I checked in.

Here is an old thread about this:
http://www.windsorpeak.com/cgi-bin/dcforum/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=354&forum=DCForumID30

HTH,

[flagger]

Our OB was the one who turned us on to our pediatrician. We scheduled a late afternoon appointment for the interview and he gave us 1 hour of his time un-interrupted.

I made a call to the member desk at Ms. Flagger's insurance and just had them note on the file which one we are using. You have 30 days to send the paperwork through your or DH's company to add the baby to your insurance and to list his PCP or pediatrician.

Just advise the name of the pedi when you check into the hospital. I called the office last week since it had been months since we met him and just gave them a heads-up that Ms. Flagger was coming soon...er that "Cocoa" was. ;)

[Rachels]

The other thing to do is to ready yourself for this to be a trial pediatrician. I wish I had thought of it that way. I did the interviews and made a thoughtful, careful choice, and then wound up in crisis when what she'd said BEFORE I had my baby didn't match up well with what happened afterward. I needed to change pediatricians, but it was very hard to do that because I had invested so much in choosing this one. I didn't want to be wrong after all that work. It was hard to give myself permission to make a different choice, and very stressful to do that with a three week old baby.

Hooey, I now say. You can't really know how you're going to feel about your ped until you see him/her with your child, and until you begin to develop a sense of teamwork together. Definitely interview and meet the person-- you can often get a good sense or a bad sense, and that's a good starting place. But leave room in your mind for the early weeks to be a trial time. If all goes well, wonderful. But if not, or if something just doesn't feel right, you can change without having to torture yourself over that decision.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[dogmom]

Check with the person at your employer about the insurance. I couldn't actually "sign up" until the baby was born. You have 30 days after the birth to register the child, then most places have you official pick a pediatrician then. You can have one line up, just make sure they are on you plan and get their provider number.

There are a lot of things that effect how happy you will be with your choice that doesn't even require you to meet with the pediatrician, although that is an excellent idea. If you call around and find you can't get through on the phone or that the staff are curt with you it probably won't get much better when you have a child. I also suggest stopping in and viewing the waiting room. How long do people wait? Does everyone look miserable? Etc. Etc. They have been a lot of good discussions about pediatricians on this board if you do a search.

I also want to put a plug in for Family Practioners. I now have myself, my DH, and my DS all with the same MD. He's great and I'm very happy with his well baby care. I did check with other mothers who had him as their child's doctor, and they were very happy. I figure if anything is really seriously wrong with my son I will be going to a specialist in the hospital I work for, so a family practioner was a great choice for me.

Jeanne
Mom to Harvey
1/16/03

[LucyG]

Another tip for finding a good ped. is to talk to other moms that you trust and with whom you share similar philosophies. I could not actually have a pre-natal interview with a ped., but through talking to other moms in my town, I was able to find one that I really like. In an ideal world, it would be great to interview doctors before choosing one. However, you can still find a good one and, as someone else so rightly said, you can always change if you are not satisfied!

Edited to say: The practice I use does not do prenatal interviews. I was initally turned off by this, and some might still be. However, I have found the doctors to be very helpful and available, so an unwillingness to meet with parents before the baby is born does not necessarily mean the doctors are inattentive afterwards.

[Jen841]

My OB a few weeks ago asked me if I had selected a Ped, and I responded with "yes." She asked why I did not ask her for a recommendation (she has a child and I have been going to her for 10 years!) To make a long story short, the Dr we selected (family recommendation, we did not interview her b/c a family memeber did and other utilizes her already)is the same that my OB uses for her child. To top it off the other Dr's in the practice go to our Dr too.

I called out insurance and the Ped office. The insurance co confirmed she is in network, and the Ped office insured me the Dr will come visit in the hospital and all is set!

This was a painless process for us thanks to friends and family in the area that we trust. Between Baby Bargains and friends and family recommendations decision making for baby prep has been pretty easy! I still think planning for a baby is WAY harder than planning a wedding or buying a home, but these resources made life much easier!

[Marisa6826]

The way I found Sophie's doctor was that I called the hospital I would want her taken to (God forbid) if something happened.

I spoke to the nurses at the pediatrics desk and asked who their favourite doctors were.

I figured that THEY are the ones who really know if the doctor is good, reliable and approachable.

Once I got their list, I contacted my insurance company, found out who was participating and then made my interview appointments.

The first one I chose (and interviewed) said he took my insurance, but when we took Sophie for her first visit, it turned out he didn't take the HMO version of it. I confronted him about it (since he said he took it at the prenatal interview). His response was Uh, I really don't get involved with the paperwork. Jerk.

So we had to move onto number two. Oddly enough, Jonathan and I both like this guy better!

-m

[jenji30]

Thank you, everyone, for the helpful information! I feel much more prepared now. :-)

Jennifer