which pediatrician to chose at Matilda ?

Hello,


I'll deliver at Matilda but I don't know which pediatrician to chose.

My gyne gave me a list of pediatricians and told me I have to chose but there are about 8 different names !


Any recommendation ? Thanks a lot

I am with Dr. Richard Chiu and am happy with him.

What one person is happy with may not be what you are happy with. I suggest you make appointments and interview them. It's normal and expected to have a pre=natal consult. The questions you ask in an interview are based on what is important to you, but here are some things I asked about: How many mothers in their practice are still breastfeeding after one year, what age recommend start solids, weaning, are babies in hospital routinely given water or formula, etc. (weigh this against what you know is correct and/ or hope to do). Ask hypothetical questions such as if baby were hospitalized, would I be able to stay with baby in hospital, if baby were in NICU what would visiting options be, etc. Do you have any particular special requests or variances from standard procedure (and what is standard procedure)? For instance, ask if newborn baby check can be done in your room rather than having baby taken to nursery (my pediatrician wrote special orders so my baby never left my bedside the whole time I was in the hospital). Ask if necessary shots and treatments can wait a few hours after birth to allow uninterrupted bonding time. Ask policy on sibling visitation. As you read books and talk with other mums, write down questions. You will be able to tell a lot from how the doctor responds to your questions. Is she pompous, jump to conclusions, in a hurry, late for your appointment, thoughtful, volunteer additional information, condescending, etc? Also, clarify what is the policy on after hours phone calls and visits, emergency response (you will inevitably have some)? Not suggesting you take forever but you can learn a lot in a focused interview, some spoken and some unspoken.

For the delivery, you might want to ask your OBGYN whom they suggest - as they will need to work together.


For ongoing care, I agree with Meiguiren - we happened to really like the Dr our OBGYN introduced us to and stayed with him, but if we didn't we would have wanted to meet a few before deciding.

crj: what is the name of your paediatrician, if you don't mind me asking? What do you like in him? Thinking about changing ours!


Thanks!

Hi - Yeah, I agree with the idea of asking your O.B. if you trust him or her enough to refer a good ped, and not just their 'friends' to get them some business, etc.. I did like Thondrop for delivery. A suggestion, though, and something that I would do differently next time around, if your baby doesn't need a ped visit everyday while you're in the hospital, then ask that the ped not see the baby everyday. It's a HUGE $$$ racket, with many of the docs there charging $1000 or more per visit per day, and often all they do is see the baby quick (not even picking them up and examining, etc.) and may tell you all's great, etc., etc. The midwives and nurses can do this and more anyway. Just a suggestion.


And as for the delivery ped used, you can change to one you like even more for after you're out the hospital, etc.. We did.

Mirchira - send you a PM


I am happy to say that our OBGYN suggested our DR, and we absolutely love him.... He was actually at the delivery and we chose to keep him as our pediatrician...


BUT he is not for everyone, which he is amazing his office is a one man show with an admin who does not speak English or Mandarin. So if you want a nice waiting room and nice assistant staff and an office that is a 'practice' with many doctors you might want to look around.


I think it really depends on your preferences and needs. I know for many of our friends they prefer to be at a 'practice' with more doctors and good resources.

I hear you KKH. Most of it is a racket! My O.B. told me that if I used "his" pediatrician, that he (my O.B.) would arrange with the ped that I "only" get charged $1000 per visit! Yeah, thanks. (Based on that, I didn't use him AND lost a little more respect for my O.B.) The O.B.'s come in and out, say hi, see you for a few minutes, and smack, a big bill! But, sometimes I'm guessing they're needed for the mum, no? This is my first baby, so I'm not sure how this is handled elsewhere (other countries), but the fact that there is SUCH huge discrepancies between the Matilda/private hospital bills and the bills from great public facilities like Queen Mary, is testament to the fact that these private O.B.'s and their pedi and anesthesiologists friends are riding a phenomenal money wave. Such a racket too with the charges depending on the room your in. Anyway, it's all been discussed here in the forums before. Won't change until we manage to change it. I reckon some qualified bilingual midwives could help bridge the gap and draw more people (at least those whose insurance doesn't cover the private) into the public hospitals.