Is your pediatrician the same gender as your child?

[Corie]

I've been thinking about this a lot. Should my daughter see a female
pediatrician and my son a male pediatrician?

It doesn't matter so much now since they are young. But, as they get
older, I think they would appreciate having a doctor that is the same gender
as them.

What is your opinion?

Thanks!

[SnuggleBuggles]

I think that if they have issues with their Dr. b/c of gender they'll let you know. I asked my mom to switch me from a male Dr. to a female when I was 11-12yo.

My boys see a male ped but we chose him b/c he is a solo practice and I respect his philosophies. I would go to a woman if she met those criteria in my city.

Beth

[DietCokeLover]

I agree with pp, if either of my dc want to chNge at some point, we will. But now we see my dc's "grandfather" (not biologically, but out of long time history with our family) and we have great perks because of that.

[Indianamom2]

Yes and no! We go to a female pedi, so both DD and Ds see her. However, we sometimes also see the other doctors in the practice, some of whom are male.

If at some point, DD or Ds voice an opinion, then I'll certainly take it under advisement and probably switch, but for now, I'm not too concerned.

[C99]

Until I switched from an OB to a midwife, all of my doctors were male. My PCP is male.

[KpbS]

I have chosen female physicians (peds and specialists) b/c I have found that they are better listeners and oftentimes more sympathetic IME. That said, we now go to a practice where we have seen 5 of the 7 peds in the practice and while I request the female ped I like the best, I don't mind seeing 2 of the guys we have seen before. If you can find a practice that you are happy with I think that makes things much easier than going to two different practices, dealing w/ difference protocols, scheduling, etc.

[lalasmama]

I've been thinking about this a lot. Should my daughter see a female
pediatrician and my son a male pediatrician?

It doesn't matter so much now since they are young. But, as they get
older, I think they would appreciate having a doctor that is the same gender
as them.

What is your opinion?

Thanks!

La's dr is female. She's family practice, so she's also my doc. I adore her.

I think it doesn't matter much until kids are older. Working in a ped's office, we had a fair number of kids coming in for a 2-part physical--the general physical and parental guidance with their regular doctor; and the "quick look-see" (literally just an external 2 second visual check, like they do on any child) and puberty talk with a doctor of their own gender.

I think it depends most on what your child wants. They will tell you when/if they want a doctor of their own gender.

[Octobermommy]

Yes and no and no. I think it is important to choose a doctor who is competent , up to date, good bedside manner etc. I don't think about the gender at all.

[kristenk]

We started off with a male doc when DD was an infant. DD always had sick visits on his day off, though, and we ended up seeing the female doc in the practice. I liked her better and we switched DD to her care.

I don't think it's a requirement for me, but it is a preference.

[KrisM]

No, yes, no.

Our doctor is female. If either DS has an opinion at some point, we'll see about another doctor in the practice. But, so far, it hasn't come up at all and we are happy with who we see.

[MamaKath]

My boys see a male ped but we chose him b/c he is a solo practice and I respect his philosophies. I would go to a woman if she met those criteria in my city.

:yeahthat:
My kids (b/g) see a female doctor for the same reasons. Personally I prefer male doctors in general, so finding a female ped that I love surprised me. :)

[elliput]

Both my children see a male ped. My current OB/GYN is male. And my PCP is male. I really don't think gender makes a difference- all doctors take the same anatomy classes.

[nov04]

I think the sun rises and sets on ours ped. There is no one we trust more for the health of our children. But if the girls asked for a female ped., I would do my best to find a female for them.

[JoyNChrist]

Our ped is male and we love him! He's amazing and his office is like 2 minutes from our house, so I can't really ever see us changing. Shouldn't ever be an issue with the boys, but if DD wants to see a female doctor at some point, I'll certainly accommodate that.

FWIW, I've always been more comfortable with male doctors, especially OBGYNs. :shrug:

[ett]

My boys have a female ped. We've also seen most of the other doctors (male and female) in the practice at some point in time. I like our ped. and have no plans of switching unless the kids say something about it.

[JustMe]

I don't think it matters when they are young, although I *generally* prefer to talk about issues with a female dr personally. When they are older, it all depends on the specific child and their feelings/needs.

[salsah]

i know people who do that but i don't think it is important unless your child is more comfortable with a particular gender. i think that finding a dr that you trust (their philosophy, their experience, their treatment, etc.) is more important than gender.
that is why all my dr's are male. when i was in my twenties, i thought that i wanted a female dr, so i tried and tried but never found one that i liked. i've actually had some bad experiences with female dr's. all of my favorite dr's are male (with the exception of a nurse practitioner in infertility). i had a female ped for a short time when i was kid and i remember that my mom liked her, but i don't remember her myself. before and after her, my ped was male.
my girls go to a male ped because he is the best one that i found. however i once met with one of his female colleagues when he wasn't available and i would be willing to give her a try if one of my girls requested a female dr.

[lchang25000]

We usually see the Pediatric NP who is female, but we've also been seen by the Pediatrician who is male.

[crl]

DS has seen both female and male peds. Our current ped is male but at one month of age I really don't think DD cares. DH actually prefers female doctors. So until one of the kids expresses an opinion I'm not concerned.

Catherine

[maestramommy]

Well, I've always had a male ped growing up. But I didn't really see him that much. I don't think my parent brought me in unless I was sick or had vaxes coming. I think only one time did he ask my dad to step out and close the door. By that time I was already 18. It simply so he could ask a bunch of questions, including, "are you sexually active? Do you need bc?" :p

Our current ped is AWESOME. I can't ever see us leaving him unless the girls really wanted to change for some reason, he leaves the practice, or we move.

[Andi98989]

We have a male pedi.

Growing up I had a male pedi and then moved to a male family physician (who is still my PCP). I was there until I was in my 20's and moved to an OB/GYN who happened to be female. I had no issues discussing any female-specific issues with my male family doctor.

[klwa]

We go to a group practice so that, as the children get older, they CAN go to a doctor the same gender as themselves. It was actually recommended that you think about that in our prenatal classes. Generally we either see one certain male doctor or one certain female PA. (There's multiple female doctors at the practice as well, but the one who generally is scheduled for the office we go to, I don't really like, so we go to the PA instead.) So, both children are familiar with 1 person from each sex & can later decide who they feel best going to see.

[egoldber]

We go to a ped group with several doctors, male and female. For well visits we have a choice, but not for sick visits. The doctors I prefer to see there are all male, so that is who most of my kids have seen so far. As we get closer to puberty, maybe I will consider requesting a female ped at the well visits.


I think it is important to choose a doctor who is competent , up to date, good bedside manner etc.

I agree. The best OB I ever had was male. I've had a lot of truly crappy female doctors. I found that with the female OBs especially, they tend to project their own experiences onto their patients.

[MoJo]

No.

The ped is a male, and she has only seen him the day after she was born. Otherwise, she's only seen the female NPs.

I asked dozens of people from three different counties for recommendations, and EVERYONE said to go to the practice we go to: which has two male peds and a bunch of female NPs.

FWIW, my OB-Gyn is male. (I thought I would prefer a female, but have had far worse experiences with a couple of female doctors I tried.) And DH's GP is a female!

I agree with everyone else; if it became an issue, we'd find a different doc (maybe just use DH's GP.) But until then, we're staying where we are.

[infocrazy]

Yes and no! We go to a female pedi, so both DD and Ds see her. However, we sometimes also see the other doctors in the practice, some of whom are male.

If at some point, DD or Ds voice an opinion, then I'll certainly take it under advisement and probably switch, but for now, I'm not too concerned.

:yeahthat:

I did actually choose 1 Ped as a male since DS1 is a boy, but after seeing a female doctor in the practice on a sick visit, switched to her since I felt she was more supportive and knowledgeable about nursing, and did herself.

[boolady]

Yes and no and no. I think it is important to choose a doctor who is competent , up to date, good bedside manner etc. I don't think about the gender at all.

There are both male and female doctors in the group we take DD to. My two "favorites" are one female and one male. If when DD gets older, she feels she would be more comfortable seeing the female for well visits and non-emergency situations, that's fine. As a child, my peds office had 3 males and 2 females. I never cared for the females, once I was old enough to know the difference, the males just had better bedside manner.

[sste]

If you are dealing with relatively young pedis (within 10 or so years of their training) a male general pediatrician is now a minority that faces discrimination! Our friends have always told us that pedi training programs are now female-dominated. So, ime they tend to be very highly motivated in order to self-select into a female-dominated environment. Same is even more true for OBs, probably even more so.

[lmh2402]

nope, all three peds in the practice are women

[khalloc]

Our pediatrician is a female. She works alone in her own private practice.

I have a DD and DS. So if DS ever feels uncomfortable and wants to change, I would be open to changing him to a male doctor. Hopefully that doesnt happen until he is in his pre-teens though. I really love our pediatrician.

[Tondi G]

we started with a male ped (he was actually my ped as a child). When he retired a couple of years ago we started seeing the newest female dr in the practice and I LOVE her. My boys seem to really enjoy seeing her as well (my boys didn't like the older male ped nearly as much). I wish she wanted to be a family doctor cause I would happily use her as a physician myself if it were an option! :) If at any time in the future my boys expressed interest in seeing a male doctor I would switch them to one.

[LarsMal]

I have always taken my kids to a female ped because *I* wanted to deal with a female. Mother to mother kind of a thing. I've always joined practices that have males, though. I figure if DS wants to switch to a male when he gets a little older he'll have that option without having to find a new practice.

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

Our Ped just left, and he was the greatest doctor. He moved to Portland, OR. Gender is not an issue to me until puberty, and then only if DD asks.

[ewpmsw]

Yes and no and no. I think it is important to choose a doctor who is competent , up to date, good bedside manner etc. I don't think about the gender at all.

:yeahthat: DD has seen a male doc in our pediatrician's practice that was fantastic. He's very much like the female doc we usually see, and I'd request him if our doc wasn't available. (Doesn't hurt that he's a cutie.) I have appreciated that DD's pediatrician helped us out a lot when I started out BFing. She's a mom, she's BTDT with BFing, and I found that really valuable.