How To Choose Your Baby's Pediatrician

Your child's pediatrician can play an enormously important role in his or her life, one that is obvious during his first year of life but can be just as essential beyond infancy. Of course, you want your chosen pediatrician to be one you can always trust to offer you important health advice, and step in if something unexpected happens. Of course, you want to have complete confidence in them.

Just how should parents go about choosing their baby's pediatrician so that they end up with a powerful ally they can trust completely?

Interviewing Pediatricians

Parents who are choosing a pediatrician for their baby are going to be limited by several factors, including insurance coverage and geographical distance from their pediatrician's practice. Still, most will be in a position to choose from among several different pediatricians. The selection process is going to take some time, and you will get a head start if you start interviewing pediatricians while you are still pregnant.

You could start by making a list of all pediatricians that are available to you, and meeting them for a pre-birth consultation. Some pediatricians are going to be unwilling to provide this initial meeting — and that alone should be quite enough to tell you that they are not the right person to watch over your child's health. The ones that will meet you can provide you with many valuable insights, in addition to letting you know that they understand how important healthcare is to you. Hopefully, you will find a pediatrician you are comfortable with.

When you are making a list of potential pediatricians, you may wonder if asking for recommendations from relatives and friends is a good idea. I don't think so. People are most likely to simply recommend their own kids' pediatrician, and it is probable that they found that person through someone else's recommendation. Asking a pediatrician questions will give you a lot more information — about their personality, their approach to medicine, and other essential matters.

What questions should you ask? You want to cover a wide variety of topics, from their opening hours and availability, to topics you personally care about, to safety issues within the practice.

Practical Matters Matter

All parents want their pediatrician to be available when needed, particularly in the event of an emergency such as a bone fracture or a sudden fever. You could start by finding out what the opening hours of your pediatrician's clinic are, if they are able to see you at short notice, and if they allow walk-in patients. You'd also want to ask how long it normally takes before a child can be seen.

But, remember that you may also need your pediatrician outside of office hours. Ask if you can phone at any time in case there is an emergency, and also if the pediatrician is able to make home visits if your baby is ill. Will a back-up pediatrician be available if your own chosen doctor isn't, for whatever reason? This is very important, but you may want to visit the back-up doc as well if one is provided.

How long does it take you to get to a given pediatrician's clinic? There is a lot to be said for choosing a pediatrician who is a little further away if that means you are selecting the better doctor, but distance is absolutely an important factor to take into account during your decision-making process.

Selecting A Pediatrician For Your Child 

Do You Mesh Well With The Pediatrician?

Pediatricians are often seen as great authority figures, especially by first-time parents who don't have much experience yet and who may worry over every cry and every skin rash. While you are selecting a pediatrician, do realize that you aren't looking for someone who is going to be an expert on your child. You, the parents, will always be the true experts on your own child. Your pediatrician is merely a partner. He or she will be able to provide invaluable support and may even he the opportunity to save your child's life one day. But at the end of the day your pediatrician just provides a service; a service you pay for through your insurance.

Therefore, avoid pediatricians who are condescending or disrespectful towards you, or who are too busy to answer questions you have about your child's health or the recommended course of treatment. You should always be able to understand everything the pediatrician says about your child's medical care, and you should be able to ask for clarification if you don't. Good pediatricians honor your right to informed consent and will discuss the pros and cons of any medical interventions with you.

How do you know whether you have an impatient pediatrician on your hands, or one who will gladly answer questions? It's quite simple, really: if they don't react well to your interview questions, they're not going to be any better once you hire them.

Breastfeeding, the age at which parents should introduce solids, circumcision, and a delayed vaccination schedule are all possibly controversial topics that may crop up during your child's infancy. Decide about which of these issues you feel strongly, and examine if you are going to be making any controversial choices for your baby. If your parenting approach is at all unusual, you will want to select a pediatrician who is not militantly opposed to your philosophy.

By the end of your interview, you should be able to form a good idea of a pediatrician's personality and approach to medicine. Do you like the person? Do you feel you could trust them? Do you at least not have a strong dislike for the person? Ideally, parents will feel like they generally mesh well with their pediatrician.

Safety issues

Now, for the tough questions. It's not nice to ask, but it has to be done. Child safety expert Gavin de Becker advises parents to ask potential pediatricians if they have ever been accused of malpractice or sexual misconduct, to find out of private practitioners perform background investigations on all staff, and whether they confirm their staff's credentials. He notes that parents may not receive truthful answers if they have run into a doctor who doesn't deserve that title, but that the way in which the candidate responds always informs your intuition in some way. Parents or future parents who want more of de Becker's excellent advice should read his book on child safety, Protecting The Gift.

In the meantime, you may want to take a few additional steps of your own. You may not be able to run a full background check on potential pediatricians, but you do have another simple tool at your disposal: the internet. Googling candidates' names should tell you a bit more about them.

Should the pediatrician ever have been in the news for something negative, you'll probably find it on the web. Their Facebook or other social media accounts can tell you more about the kind of people they are, too. While the internet can help you weed out real bad apples, you should of course have in mind that a lack of negative discoveries doesn't necessarily mean you have found a marvelous doctor.

If you're stuck with a particular pediatrician that you don't trust for whatever reason, but most likely for insurance reasons, make sure you keep a close eye on that person. Never allow your child to be examined without your presence, or the presence of another trusted adult.

Always ask for your child's files, so that you will have a full copy for his or her medical record. This is a good idea for many reasons. You'll be able to switch doctors more easily, and you will have less trouble seeking a second opinion. If the doctor knows that you have copies of everything, this also ensures that they provide the best possible care.