As you are preparing for baby, one of the important decisions on your plate is which pediatrician your family will work with. Clients often ask for suggestions on how to get started with this process, and after years of experience, we have tips!

ABG’s Top Tips for Picking Your Pediatrician

The list below offers 8 tips to consider as you work towards picking a pediatrician. Please feel free to edit the order of the tips to best meet your family’s unique needs and preferences.

1. Consider the location and hours. Accessibility from your home and availability can be important factors. In the early newborn days, you will have more doctor’s visits than you might expect. Being close to home can be hugely beneficial. In many cities, there are also concierge pediatricians who come to your home, which eliminates travel altogether. Additionally, review the clinic’s hours. Do they align with your family’s schedules? 
2. Ensure the doctor takes your insurance. You may utilize your health insurance’s provider search tool to find options and start your search from there. Alternatively, you can identify a handful of providers you are interested in and call your insurance to check whether they are in-network. 
3. Plan to meet the doctor prenatally, if possible. Or two, if you’d like! Sometimes meeting in person is the best way to get a feel for the doctor and their office. If you’re able to, schedule a consultation before baby is here. Here, you can ask questions about their approach and practices. You may have a gut “yes” or “no,” and that’s helpful information. If you are partnered, we suggest that you both attend the consult. Meet with one or two doctors to help you determine if the fit is right, but just like in the doula search, we don’t recommend interviewing more than a few!
4. Ask about their vaccine practices and protocols*. You may want to seek information about how strongly the provider feels about following the CDC guidelines. If you have a preference for delayed guidelines or choosing whether or not to do vaccinations, you’ll need to explore how open the provider is to these options. If you prefer to follow CDC guidelines, you may want to ask whether unvaccinated children may also visit the doctors office and consider how you feel about this potential commingling.
5. Learn which professionals are in the office and who you may be seen by in different scenarios. Do you prefer to be seen by the doctor? Or are you open to being seen by a nurse practitioner, physician’s assistant, or nurse? Learn about the ways the office schedules with different providers for different scenarios– annual visits, acute visits, labs, etc.
6. Tour the space and learn about their waiting room(s). Does the space feel inviting and friendly? Do they have separate waiting rooms for well and sick children? Notice how you feel when you’re in the space. If you’re visiting prenatally, imagine bringing your baby there. What stands out?
7. Ask how the practice handles care in the case of emergencies. If your child is hospitalized locally, for example, will your doctor be able to visit them in the hospital? If not, who will? How do they handle continuity of care after a hospitalization? 
8. Get recommendations and look up reviews. Ask people you trust for recommendations. You may ask people like: friends, doula, or OBGYN or midwife. Who they love and why? You can also check out reviews on zocdoc, irthapp (prenatal, birthing, postpartum and pediatric reviews of care from and for Black and brown women), or healthgrades. Additionally, you can read through posts (or make your own) in local Facebook or parenting spaces (online or IRL). As always, do what feels right to you!

*At ABG, we are here to help you get the information and resources to make the best choices for your family. This is not medical advice or an invitation to discuss personal preferences around vaccinations.

ABG is Here for You

We are here to support you as you navigate your prenatal and early parenting decisions from finding a pediatrician to navigating feeding to keeping up with laundry. Join us in class or reach out about in-home postpartum services! It’s an honor to support your growing family.

*Photo credit: Solen Feyissa on Unsplash