Meeting With The Pediatrician

Today DH and I met with the pediatrician who will be caring for the babies. Our family practice doctor, Dr K, who we have seen in the past for Logan and whom DH and I go to has changed positions and is now working as a hospitalist at our local hospital rather than working in our family practice clinic. Before she left, she gave me a recommendation on who to have the babies seen by.

Our appt with Dr B went really well. He is younger, down to earth and seems like he is pretty easy going, which is right up our alley. We had a few questions for him and he answered all of them with ease and confidence, while instilling in us the important stuff.

For example: when we had Logan I breast-fed him for a short period of time and then we switched him to Sim.il.ac formula. I asked Dr B what recommendations he had for us for formula-feeding these babies. I had heard from M (a fellow blogger and IFer who lives in MN with me) that the Tar.get brand formula is pretty much the same as the other big brands, but at roughly half the price. When I asked Dr B about this specifically he said that if he were shopping for formula he would go by price. He said that some of the formula brands tout certain things like "comfort proteins" or similar things, but that all of the formulas are pretty much the same. DH and I feel the same way. The only thing he cautioned is to pick a formula and stick with it.

Now, don't get me wrong, I want the best for our babies, but I also think there is a whole lot of "hype" that goes into certain things baby-related where they try to instill fear in new parents. Formula always seems to be one of them. It sometimes seems that they want you to believe that if you use their competitors brand of formula, that your baby won't thrive and grow. Which, IMHO, is not true. We, as parents, have so many things to worry about and I just don't think that choosing the "right" formula should be one of them. Choosing formula can really be no different than choosing to eat an apple or an orange on any given day for adults. I don't say this to discourage anyone and what they believe about certain baby-related things or to be an expert on formula. This is simply my take on this particular item. Each family needs to decide what is right for them and do what makes the most sense to them.

OK, so I have jumped off of my soap box and have safely landed back on the ground:)

We talked a lot about what will happen after they are born and when he or one of his associates will see the babies in the hospital. He explained that the on-call/rounding physician will come within 24 hours after the babies are born and they will be there every day that we are in the hospital. Once we go home they will tell us when to make the babies next appt at the clinic to make sure they are up to their birth weight

I am so glad that we had the chance to meet with Dr B before the babies are born. Even though I am really sad that our family practice doctor is no longer a clinic physician, I am glad that she referred us to another great physician. And, Dr K is a hospitalist at the hospital that we will be delivering at. When she left our clinic, she gave me her cell phone number to call her whenever. She lives just a couple of miles from us and her kids go to the elementary school that Logan goes to so I am sure I will see her again. And, I will for surely be calling her when the babies are born so that she can come meet our boys since she will be at the hospital anyways.