I've been seeing the same pediatrician since my first child was born. While I love her for lots of things, we have never agreed on breastfeeding. Both of my daughters did not gain as much weight as she wanted, as quickly as she wanted, and she always manages to make me feel like I'm not doing my best for my girls in that respect. The last straw was my baby's 6-month checkup, where she weighed 15lbs, 4oz. This is two ounces less than double her birth weight, which I'm told is the goal for six months. My baby is doing things all the things 8 1/2 month-old babies should be doing, and is very healthy. Yet the doctor had the nerve to tell me, "at six months we like to see babies at around 16 lbs" -- and told me that I need to feed her solids three times per day, as much as she wants now, because she's hungry. As if I'd NOT give my child as much as she wants/needs. She did the same with my first daughter, telling me I needed to go home and give her a bottle and let her have as much as she wanted -- I did it once and my daughter threw it all up, and I never did it again. Both girls were/are breastfed, and both got/get a bottle supplement each day, too. Anyway I've reflected a lot and decided it's time for a change.
(as a *long* side note, my older daughter has a bladder infection, the second in her life, and the same doctor wants to do a catheterization to make sure she doesn't have a urinary reflux problem. True, my daughter has now had two infections before 5 years, but she hasn't had a thing for three full years and I feel like the doctor is being a little bit too agressive and the procedure is too invasive based on not enough evidence. We're in the Manchester/Ballwin area, any recommendations any of you have are greatly appreciated!)
K.,
There was a pediatrician that spoke with our childcare class before we had our first child. I think he is on the board of some sort of breastfeeding group & was a HUUUUGE supporter of breastfeeding. AND he was super, super nice and funny.
His name is Ken Liu of Blue Fish Pediatrics
9991 Manchester Road
Warson Woods, MO 63122
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Good luck!
J.
Hi, K.. Congrats on successfully bf'ing both of your daughters!!! Sounds like they thrive very well!!! I'm sorry that your Dr isn't more supportive of you. We chose our ped b/c he (and his group) are very encouraging of bf. I don't know how far you are willing to drive, but we go to the St Louis Children's Clinic (affil w/ Children's Hosp) at Ladue/I-170. We use Dr Danny Plax and Dr Krueser more oft than not. What I especially like about this group of Drs is that they have phone hour where parents can call at them at home on select days of the wk. So you can ask all those non-appt questions...Good luck! ::hugz::
I love our pediatrician, Dr. Joel Koenig. He's at Town & Country Pediatrics, in Mo Baptist. He's always been laid back about stuff like weight gain (my dtr breastfed for 12 months and was a bit small for at least 6-8 months and the Dr. pointed out that my husband and I are slim, so she will be too), but very careful and concerned about important stuff. He always considers the comfort of the child and wouldn't do anything radical or invasive w/o thinking there were no other options. I highly recommend him as an intelligent, compassionate (to children AND parents), great doctor. Good luck!
Yep, definitely sounds like time for a new pediatrician.
We see Dr. Salter: www.drsalter.com
She is very much in favor of breastfeeding, and not agressive with the invasive procedures. Read her web site and see whether you like her.
Unfortunately, I hear Dr. Liu is leaving Blue Fish Pediatrics.
