The Mom Crowd

How well do you like your Pediatrician? Occasionally I get asked by my friends who my Pediatrician is and how well I like her. When I needed to choose one I read a ton of  articles online about what to look for and asked my friends for referrals. We also interviewed our doctor to make sure that we had the same theories on health care and our personalities fit.

Here are a few practical tips about choosing a Pediatrician:

Consider the location of the office. How far do you want to drive for well baby check ups? Do you want to drive farther if you really love one doctor?

Interview prospective Pediatricians and have your questions ready. They usually have designated office hours to be interviewed. It can really save you a lot of heartache to meet them in person before they show up in your hospital room. Also, you will be able to check out the office before you bring your baby. Is it clean? Are the well children separated from the sick children?

Make sure that they service the hospital you are birthing at. Not all pediatricians have access to every hospital in town.

Do they really match your health care philosophy? For example, how well do they encourage breastfeeding if you want to breastfeed? They may say that they encourage breastfeeding, but what is their philosophy on supplementing? Especially during the time while you are waiting for your milk to come in. Most doctors won’t say that they prescribe a lot of medicine. I think you have to tell their philosophy about meds by the way they speak about prescriptions.

Find out how long the nurse has assisted the doctor. I think you can tell a lot about a doctor by how well they get along with their co-workers. My doctor’s nurse has been with her for over 18 years. That seemed like a good sign to me.  Also, there may be no way of knowing, but having a competent nurse comes in very handy. Many times she has solved my problem over the phone without coming in for a visit.

Ask for referrals from your friends. This is by far the best source of information in finding a Pediatrician. I asked everyone I knew and interviewed one based on the information I received. Moms can tell you first hand if they are pleased with their doctor’s office.

Does the Pediatrician’s office have weekend hours? I have went in on a Saturday once and I was very thankful that I didn’t have to wait three more days with my super sick baby to find out what is wrong.

Find another doctor if you don’t feel comfortable with your own. At your first visit you don’t sign a contract agreeing to only use them as your doctor for the next five years. If you don’t like the care you are getting or the way they communicate information to you, then you have freedom to find another one you like.

Pray and trust your Mom Instincts. Sometimes you have several choices and they all seem like good options. I would go with your instinct and go with the doctor you have peace about. That is how I ultimately chose mine and I have been happy with my decision.

Do you have any tips for new moms looking for a Pediatrician? Do you like your doctor? Why do you like them? Have you had any problems with your Pediatrician?

More Information:

Shopping for a Pediatrician on WebMD

Choosing a Doctor for Your Baby on Baby Center

Choosing a Pediatrician on Expectatant Mother’s Guide

10 Questions to Ask When Choosing a Pediatrician on iVillage

Choosing a Pediatrician on Ask Dr. Sears

If you are mom and a blogger then you should definitely take a peak into the clubhouse of the Mom Blogger’s Club (MBC) and go on in. I have been a member for over three months and it is a great place to ask questions and meet other bloggers. The Mom Blogger’s Club is the social network arm of The Mom Salon and is founded by Jennifer James. I have had a little bit of personal correspondence with Jennifer, read her blog posts and her participation in the club and found that she is one of the most encouraging and unpretentious bloggers I have ever met.

The Mom Blogger’s Club allows you to have your own profile page where other moms can leave you comments and you can share news and post pictures and add friends. In the “We’re Talkin’” section there are general questions that are open to anyone to answer. You can also join groups or start your own group based on your specific interests.

The members in this community are very active. If you ask a question, you will almost get an answer within a day. Also, you will get quality answers. Some questions are asked within a group and you have to be a member of that group to answer the question. All you need to do is click “join this group” unless the group is closed. The questions are about everything blogging like who designed your blog, what turns you off on a blog, and what your husband or significant other thinks about your blogging. There is also a section about Motherhood, Parenting, & Family.

The design of MBC is incredibly easy to navigate. Their front page has a lot of information without seeming to be cluttered. I found it simple to set up my account and to start meeting other people.

In some networks I have felt shy about sending friend requests and “adding friends,” but I don’t find that here. Most people are willing to help you and be your friend. It is up to each of us how much we want to network and connect with each other. Even if you don’t ask questions or add friends you will still learn a lot about blogging from the discussions.

Note: You must use the “www.” when typing in their url (www.mombloggersclub.com) or you won’t be able to get to the site.

Are you a member of Mom Blogger’s Club? How do you like it? Are you active? Are you sick of joining every social network under the sun?

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We did a theme night Saturday night and stuffed our faces with Indian food and watched ‘The Namesake.’

Just wanted to let you know that if everything goes according to plan the next episode of The Mom Crowd Show! will be out next Monday. McKenna was away this week at the National Down Syndrome Conference. Also, McKenna and I are running a 5K this weekend and will be filming the show at the finish line.

Finally, be sure to check out our new Promo Code page. There are some fabulous discounts from Moon and Back Studios, Shop at Baby Cakes, and Bugalug Baby!

My cat, Samuel, tagged a car seat today. The main problem is that it is not my car seat. My friend Rachel called me this morning and asked if I could watch her 5 month old son, Nathan, while she went to a doctor’s appointment. She packed him in the car seat and I noticed that his head rest was wet. It looked like he spit up. Then from my angle I can see a big pool of yellow liquid under his car seat. Pee. I look at my husband, Daniel, and I am mouthing to him “Samuel” and he looks at me and says, “What?” Then I mouth “cat.” Then we all look to the yellow pool and Rachel and Daniel realize it is cat pee. I. was. mortified.

Daniel and I fumbled through an apology and offered to buy her another one. Rachel takes out Nathan and I get a wipe and wipe down the side of his face and his onesie. Daniel is cleaning the pool of pee. Then in my one moment of clarity I offer Rachel my car seat until I can clean hers and return it to her. She is very gracious about the entire event.

So how do you get the pee smell out? What do you do? Daniel and I thought that if this happened to us, then we would buy another one. So you can guess what we did – we bought Rachel a new Graco Snugride. Graco changes patterns like they change their underwear and Babies R’ Us did not have their pattern. So her stroller doesn’t match her new seat.

I have washed the cover in the washing machine twice, once with an 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar. I might try another homemade cleaner, but I doubt it will work. I think the car seat may be lost forever.

So if you have cats and your visitor has animals at home, then you better put their car seat away to keep from being tagged!

The physical reaction to the MMR vaccination may be old news to parents who have children over the age of 1 but I hope that my daughter’s experience will help all those who are coming up on their little one’s 1-year check up. I don’t intend to give any medical advice here; I am only sharing what happened to my daughter, Annabelle.

The MMR vaccine stands for Measles, Mumps, and Rubella. Children receive 2 doses of the vaccine. The first does is given at 12-15 months of age and the second at 4-6 years of age when they are about to enter school and are at a higher risk of contracting one of the diseases.

Annabelle received the MMR vaccine, Chickenpox vaccine, and Pneumoccal Conjugate vaccines at her 1-year well visit check up. My pediatrician warned me that in 10-14 days she might get a fever and a rash, because of the MMR shot. Exactly 10 days later she got a high fever. She was sick for three days with a fever of almost a 103 degrees and she had funky, runny poop. Then as the fever was finally settling down she broke out in a rash and her face swelled up. My instructions said that the rash shouldn’t last more than three days and to call if they turned purple. Thankfully the rash only lasted three days, but she was ill for a total of a week.

In the bigger picture I would rather my daughter get a fever and rash that goes away, than the more serious risks of measles, mumps, or rubella. The CDC states that 1 in 5 persons will get a fever and that 1 in 20 persons will get a rash from the vaccine. Annabelle was one of the lucky recipients of the 1 in 20 chance.

Some parents choose to separate the vaccine into three different shots to decrease the chance of a reaction. The CDC claims that there isn’t any reason to separate the shots and “studies have shown” that parents may forget to schedule the extra visits to receive all the rest of the vaccinations and thereby put their children at a higher risk of not getting vaccinated. I don’t know what exactly Dr. Sears suggests on the MMR vaccine, but a recent blog post on his site says that there may be a shortage of the plain Mumps vaccine and gives a few suggestions about how to handle the shortage. The decision to separate the combination shot or not to separate the shot is up to you.

Additional Resources:

The CDC Information Statement about MMR

Detailed Background and History about Measles and Mumps vaccines from The National Academies Press

Related Post:

Aluminum in Vaccines

Did your child have any reaction to the MMR shot? Did you separate the shot into three?