Pediatrician in Santa Cruz

I really love Dr. Jeanne Gallagher at the Santa Cruz medical clinic. She has three kids of her own and is wonderful with kids and with parents. I have a nine year old and a five year old. My older son has migraines and my youngest has asthma and both have allergies. She has been very responsive to our concerns and has been an advocate for us to get my older son the correct allergy medicine even though the insurance we have balked a bit at first. I am not sure about the delayed vaccination issue, but I personally find her to be a highly intelligent and compassionate doctor. I am sure she will work with parents with their concerns. By the way , I had a very hard time with my oldest child and breast-feeding and Dr. G was completely willing to work with my lactation consultant...she really supported my efforts to breast feed and then when I really could not (son had jaundice and even after pumping every two hours for three months I did not have enough milk) she made me feel that I had done my best and that I needed to focus on my baby rather than being so focused on not being able to exclusively breastfeed. I had slight problems with breastfeeding my second son, and once again she helped. Luckily I was able to breast feed him, which was great.

Letitia

A friend of mine has Dr. Gallagher...She loves her but she and I both have had a lot of trouble with Santa Cruz Medical's billing (double billing, sending bills to collection that have been paid etc....)not fun. My friend said she loves the doctor and that is the ONLY reason she is still going there.

My daughter's pediatrician is SO wonderful, Dr. Walker at Capitola Pediatrics. No problem with billing, wonderful doctor, great office staff,doctor is very easygoing, understanding, warm, loves my daughter...I have delayed her MMR shot and she is fine with it and offers a lot of advice. She is totally breastfeeding positive (it might be hard to find a dr. in Santa Cruz that isn't though!) I had a REALLY rough time with breastfeeding and she was so helpful and really very supportive when it never worked for us (milk didn't come in)I was a wreck about it and she very calmly and rationally explained to me how OK it was. But she tried everything she could to help me breastfeed when it was still an option. I was topless in her office a few times!! She is fantastic and really feels like a friend. And my daughter loves her too! I can't sing her praises enough!

Finding a doctor is such a personal thing! I wish you a lot of luck in your search...

B.

Dr. Gallagher and Dr. Griger are both wonderful females and they work for the Santa Cruz Medical Foundation. I have seen all of them either in urgent care or covering for eachother.

If your insurance isn't taken by SCMF you could also try Capitola Pediatrics, that is where my sister's kids doctor is.

Good luck! Don't forget Sutter and Dominican has Lactation Centers that you should totally utilize, I loved getting the support for breastfeeding. Wish you much happiness with your first little sweetpea!

We have Dr Borba at Santa Cruz medical. She has been wonderful. In fact our last baby was her first Santa Cruz birth since she moved here from Hawaii. She was supportive in our chooseing to delay vacines in that she never questioned our decision. Shes very gental and soft spoken.I also like that it's been easy to get an appointment to see her on short notice which seems to happen when you have an infant. Congradulations to you on your first baby. Thats such a special time.

I know you said female, but I LOVE my kids doctor. He is fantastic. I originally had a female pediatrician when my son was born, but she had a baby and was harder and harder to schedule with. We chose Dr Casey Schirmer for my daughter when she was born and changed my son to him as well. He is with Santa Cruz medical and has office hours in Santa Cruz as well as Scotts Valley. He is laid back, listens to your concerns, answers your questions, and is great with kids. I love his nurse as well.

I know that you are looking for a female but I love my pediatrician and would highly recommend him. His name is Tom Silverman and he is next door to Capitola Pediatrics. He has been awesome for us, always prompt to return calls no matter what time of day, gets us in immediately when we have an emergency (during regular office hours) and works w/ Capitola Peds for his "On Call" hours. He's been very supportive of me breast feeding my child until what ever age I felt appropriate and he's flexible about vaccinations.

My son's BFF (if they can have them at this age ;)) goes to Dr Walker and his mother LOVES her. I have heard very many good things about her, also, from the SC Mommy group (on Yahoo!). I would also recommend Dr Karen Harrington at SCMF in Watsonville. She is my and my husband's doctor and a family practicioner. The only reason my son doesn't go to her is b/c we are less than a mile from Dr Silverman's office and I like that. Plus, I love him for my son's medicine. And my son loves him too. Any way, Dr Harrington is by far, the best doctor I have EVER been to, and I've been to a few. My husband had a major medical emergency and she was there for every step, either by phone or by person and even was in contact w/ the ER doctor.

One other male doctor I'd like to chime in on is Dr Shermer. My next door neighbor takes her 3 kids to him and they tend to have a lot of medical things pop up and he's been great for them all. I don't know how he is about vaccines though.

OK, sorry for all of the information but hope some of it helps.

take care,
J.

We also love Dr. Schirmer, but he is male. Dr. Nauenberg is good too, but I don't know how she is on delayed vax.