Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

I am 38.5 weeks and have not done this.

At the hospital can I just give them a name and a number of an outside practice and have the on call dr check out the baby?

Does the pediatricians office have to be notified before birth, or can I just call and say I gave birth on XXX day and my baby will be a new patient, when do I need to bring the baby in etc?.

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

We were told to choose a pediatrician before birth. His pediatrician was notified of his birth and was the one checking him daily in the hospital. His pediatrician was also the one to circumsize him. We had to see the ped.2 days after we left the hospital.
If you don't choose one before, I guess you can use whoever is on call at the hospital?

ETA: I really love our pediatrician... so if Stony Brook is not too far for you I would be glad to give you their info.

Message edited 1/2/2009 8:23:47 PM.

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

I did pick one ahead of time and they saw the babies at the hospital.

But you can also have the hospital's pediatrician look at and discharge the baby and then call a pediatrician and tell them that you have a newborn and want to set up an appointment to bring the baby in. They will probably want to see you right away if they didn't see the baby at the hospital.

ETA: My OB did the circumcision on DS.

Message edited 1/2/2009 8:21:31 PM.

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

You can have the hospital ped do checks on the baby during your hospital stay. You will need to bring the baby to the ped's office 2 days after you leave the hospital, so you should pick you ped before you give birth and at least notify them that you are expecting in less than 2 weeks ( ) and will be a new patient! Congrats and good luck!

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

I had one picked BUT I didn't need to have one.

All of the local pediatricians come in in the morning to check all the babies. If you didn't have one, one of the local ped's checked your baby and came in to meet you and talk to you.

At least that is how it was when I had my kids - might be different now.

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

We were so busy with the move that I completely forgot to do it. We moved one night when I had just gotten into 38 weeks. I thought I could look around the area. DS came less than 24 hours later.

I was given my pediatricians after DS was born. I met them all while DS was in the NICU and I love them. They have been AMAZING through the first 16 months. Do I recommend this? No. You can always switch at any time.

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

Hmmm...I really dont know. i agree that a hospital DR could take care of the baby and make sure everything was okay BUT I would think part of the discharge plan would be to follow up with DR BLANK.... KWIM...

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

I picked before birth - but ONLY because the doctors I chose (Grello) had deep roots in Bay Shore where I grew up. My sisters graduated with Fred and Ciro and I graduated with Steve. Plus a good friend was close to Tim George through HS.

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

My OB asked us to pick a pediatrician before DS was born so that they could see him in the hospital after he was born, do his circumcision, and discharge him when it was time to go home. They have pediatricians on call, but we thought it best to find someone that would see him from the very beginning and keep all of his paperwork together.

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

we didnt but i HIGHLY rec. Dr Augustine in Sayville...we went to a few and OMG he is amazing, you do whatver you want with the shots too, no pressure, he lets you choose!!!

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

Thanks everyone!!!

I will try to take care of this on Monday!

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

We did, but never met any of the docs before DS was born. My sister uses them and highly recommended them.

The practice doesn't do meetings before birth, you just list them as the doctor and they are notified by the hospital when the baby is born. He was seen twice by the doctor in the hospital since i was there 4 nights.

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

We used the same office my BILs and SILs use... we called to see if we needed to go in beforehand and they said we just needed to have the hospital call when was born.

ETA: I can't believe you are so close!!

Message edited 1/2/2009 10:24:47 PM.

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

My DC were born at Good Sam. The way that they do it is they give you a list of peds to choose from and you choose. If for some reason your child has to be in the NICU ( two of mine did) then they go to the Neonatal drs,
otherwise the dr you choose looks at your baby and then when the baby comes home you go to the dr you chose about a week later. We chose Grello because Fred was my pediatrician as a child and when i had my first child Fred was still there. He is now retired but i still go there and love them.

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

we did not have a ped before my DS was born. and with 3 different hospitals, including one out of state... you can be discharged without a ped. we had a name, and contact info for stuff ot be sent, but the new doc never saw the papers by the time we had out first appt. with him.

hospitals have docs on staff and a local group of peds. who will come in and check on the babies... with my second, we used the same practice for my older one, but thye don't have priviledges at the hospital i delivered at. so they didn't see DD when she was born. (actually it is funny, but i was also born in the same hospital and my old pediatrician was one of the ones to come in one morrning to see me.... now i know why my mom didn't like him though. LOL)

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

I picked one, but never met w/ them before hand bc baby came early. when I was in labor I gave the nurse the name and # of the docs practice and the docs saw him each morning. when the baby was 4 weeks I actually wound up switching peds

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

oops

Message edited 1/2/2009 10:24:31 PM.

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

I had interviewed one Dr. Then about 1 week before I got a recommendation from a coworker whose wife is a LD nurse @ Winthrop. She travels with her 5kids from West Islip to Seaford for the ped.

Based on that, I decided to call them instead. SO.....I never actually called them till the day before I went into labor!! Being they are in Seaford & I delivered at Good Sam, they had no priveledges there. So the hospital ped would have seen DS.


So my long winded answer is no.....you don't HAVE to choose before, but makes it easier to call & be sure that they are accepting new patients!!!

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

we interviewed our ped approx 1 month prior to DS's birth....

It actually is a good thing to pick one out before labor... that way the ped develops a relationship with you and the baby from birth, and follows his progress.

It was very reassuring to have our ped examine our son in the hospital... and as OP already said, you'll have to go to the ped's office soon after being discharged, so it's good to have a specific place to go

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

We chose our ped before I gave birth. But the ped at the hospital checked him out and then we brought him to our ped the day after he came home.

I love our ped. She is awesome.

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

we chose the pedicatrician ahead of time and the hospital notified the dr when i gave birth and checked on the baby the days were were in the hospital...(some people i know even met the dr while pregnant, went to the drs office and everything...sort of like an interview.) i just used some recommendations which isnt always effective since i changed drs right after having DS.

my OB did the circumcision on DS.

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

I went into labor a little bit early. It was the next thing on my TO DO list. The pediatrican at the hospital was very nice and we chose him to be Aiden's pediatrician. We are very happy so far.

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

Jen, I got to the hospital for my quasi-emergency c-section and they asked who my ped was. I told them I didn't have one, and to notify whatever ped was on staff that took my insurance.

My OB told the hospital who to call, and even though the practice is 45 minutes away, we found we truly like them so we haven't switched.

Re: Did everyone pick a pediatrician before birth?

We had one picked before A(but not much before you

Bella was sent to the NICU (as I had a fever in labor) and my PED was never notified, but she did have to go to the PED 36 hours after she was released so I was happy to have one lined up...PLUS, when I called my PED from the hospital like *****, they were so upset, they called like 3x and had the NICU apologize for not telling them (apparently NICU's work differently)
I liked that they cared that much and it really set the tone for me. I LOVE MY PED.