The Importance of a Good Pediatrician
March 1, 2007
Xander has another cold. Which means another trip to the doctor’s office. We sort of fell into this practice, as it’s the local one who interacts most frequently with my Ob/Gyn. When we signed up for the practice, we didn’t know which doctor would be Xander’s, as there are 3 pediatricians and a few nurse practitioners. Our pediatrician actually attended the c-section and was the first to examine Xander (Xander was kind enough to pee on the good doctor at that point…) Since then we’ve seen this guy 4 out of the 6 times Xander has visited the office. He is by far my favorite. When we went for Xander’s 4 month check-up, I spoke with the doctor about my concerns around Xander’s distaste for tummy time. Instead of scolding us, and telling us how important tummy time is, he remarked that he was having the same difficulty with his 3 month old son, and said it sounded like we were doing everything we could to encourage the tummy time.
When I brought Xander in to check on his cold this time, our doctor was available and brought us right into the exam room, and immediately asked me about tummy time, laughing with me about our last visit, when Xander performed perfectly for the doctor on his tummy, immediately after I finished telling him how much Xander hates tummy time. He ended the visit by telling me that Xander is definitely the cutest baby he’s met (aside from his son, where he is of course biased). I’m sure that he uses this line on plenty of parents, but it’s still nice to hear 
I often hear parents nervously say they aren’t looking forward to their child’s doctor appointment because they know the doctor will not be happy for some reason or another. Our doctor is very relaxed, and spends time telling us not to worry rather than scolding us for things we haven’t done, or because Xander isn’t performing properly. So, I can’t emphasize enough finding a doctor that you are happy with. Babies and children see their doctors so frequently (which means that you see those doctors pretty frequently too) and looking forward to the visits instead of dreading them is so much easier to take!
Two things,
1: it is sad there is no picture
2: although I did not have the same doctor as Xand, I went to that pediatrician as a kid (the head dr. now was my dr. then!)and I know that even the support staff are really nice.
Hopefully this practice will be as wonderful to him as they were to me. But seeing as how I know them all, if they aren’t, I’ll lay the smackdown
Hi Jenny – I noticed you’ve settled on Auntie
I’m sorry you missed the picture – I debated whether or not to post, but then decided I would put up the post, and then upload the pictures. I wondered if anyone would read the blog before I got the picture up, and they did!
I’m pretty sure this practice will be good to him, and I definitely know who to talk to if they aren’t!