How to Choose a Pediatrician for Your New Baby
Making an informed decision about your child's healthcare provider is a crucial step in ensuring their well-being and boosting your confidence as a new mom. To help you make this important decision, I’ve put together a comprehensive guide on how to choose the perfect pediatrician for your new baby. Let’s dive in!
When your baby will see the pediatrician
Choosing a pediatrician for your baby is not a task to be overlooked. You will see the pediatrician approximately ten times during your baby’s first year for standard well-child visits and more for ad-hoc sick visits. Below is a typical well-child visit schedule to plan for. However, be sure to check with your pediatrician on their appointment schedule for your baby’s first year as it could differ slightly.
Well-child appointment schedule:
After birth while still in the hospital
3-5 days post-birth
1 month
2 months
3 months
4 months
5 months
6 months
9 months
1 year
Considerations for choosing a pediatrician
Cost
First and foremost, choosing an in-network pediatrician can help you and your family save a ton of money in healthcare expenses. Again, you will see the pediatrician ten or more times during your baby’s first year of life and these appointments often include lab work and vaccinations, which will be costs on top of the office visit cost. I recommend starting here with a list of pediatrician options that are in-network for you. You can find out if a pediatrician is covered by your health insurance either by visiting your health insurer’s website and using their ‘Find a Provider’ tool, calling your health insurer and asking what pediatricians are in-network for your plan, or by calling a pediatrician’s office and asking if they take your health insurance.
Location
You want to make sure that your pediatrician’s office is within close proximity to you. Some of your baby’s pediatric appointments could be during the day so you want to make sure that you consider commute time for taking off of work and planning around your baby’s feeding and napping schedule. Don’t worry if the pediatrician you choose for your baby is not a part of the same healthcare system as the hospital you choose to deliver. You can have one of the hospital’s in house pediatricians be the one to see your baby for the first time after birth, and then start seeing your primary pediatrician when you get home.
Hours
Consider the flexibility with your job to take time off for your baby’s appointments. If you can’t leave during the day, make sure you should choose a pediatrician with longer hours during the week or with weekend hours. For example, if you get off of work at 5:00pm on weekdays you will need to find a pediatrician that has hours past 5:00pm during the week or that has open hours on Saturdays. I think weekend availability is a good thing to look for anyways because this allows for more flexibility when your baby gets sick late in the week or on the weekend. It’s nice to be able to see your pediatrician during these times verses going to a random urgent care center.
Approach
As I mentioned earlier, your pediatrician’s approach to medicine, feeding, sleep training etc. and how that aligns with your approach and values will greatly impact your experience and trust with that doctor. Read physician reviews (just type “reviews for Dr. X” into Google) as these will give you insights into the doctor’s philosophies and bedside manner. Often times you won’t really know a doctor’s approach to these things until you are in the moment hearing their advice and direction and that’s okay. You also may not know your own approaches or values to these things yet and that’s also okay. Just be mindful as you go into your first few visits and make sure that you feel good about the guidance you are given. The first pediatrician we saw for my daughter shamed me for giving both a bottle and breastfeeding during the first few weeks, even though we had to at the time because we were supplementing with formula. It made me feel so awful and I was already dealing with postpartum preeclampsia and postpartum anxiety. I immediately switched pediatricians and found one that literally prayed over our daughter at our appointments, and I couldn’t be happier that I trusted my gut and made the switch even if it was inconvenient.
Test and Lab Availability
I didn’t realize at first the importance of tests and lab work being able to be done in-house as an expecting mom. Ada had jaundice when she was born so we had a lot of follow up appointments in the first days and weeks of coming home where they had to check her jaundice levels. This involved a prick to her foot to get a blood sample, which then had to be sent to the lab to be processed for results. The first pediatrician we saw didn’t have the ability to do these tests in house so we had to drive 20 minutes across town to a local hospital after the appointment with her, check in to lab department, fill out more paperwork, and wait longer to get the test done. While it wasn’t the end of the world, it was a lot of added stress as a first time mom. Her and I were both struggling learning to breastfeed and and we ended up being gone half the day. It was just all around inconvenient and a lesson learned that if possible, find somewhere that can do tests and labs in house.
Searching for a pediatrician might seem overwhelming, but with a little preparation you can make a decision that feels good for you and your family.
