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Just read the doctor, homeschooling and alternative thread. I have a related post...


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I am not at all comfortable with what I perceive to be a shift of information and power from parents and select community to doctors.

 

I don't believe - for a second - that a doctor, even a ped., has inherently more information, wisdom or clout when it comes to *parenting and family* choices.

 

Doctors are for medical issues.

 

Everything else? It's none of his/her business.

 

I realize that some areas are cross overs:

 

breastfeeding

sleep

nutrition

developmental milestones

reproduction/sex ed/birth control

 

But not:

 

discipline choices

educational choices

 

I think we've given/they've assumed far too much say, power and respect for areas beyond doctoring. IME, they have about the same level of confused misinformation as the non doctored public.

 

extracurricular activities

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I don't believe - for a second - that a doctor, even a ped., has inherently more information, wisdom or clout when it comes to *parenting and family* choices.

 

Doctors are for medical issues.

 

IME, they have about the same level of confused misinformation as the non doctored public.

ITA!

 

I would also say that unless a doctor has specific training in nutrition and breastfeeding, they need to stay out of those areas too unless it's to refer a patient to someone who is knowledgable. Working with expectant and new parents I have heard SOOOO much misinformation about those topics coming from doctors simply because they don't have the training.

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My old ped was asking what I use for math instruction!! But they were totally ignorant re home ed. They would ask "Do you have to register with the state? (yes) Do you have to file reports? (yes) Does the school tell you what to teach etc...

 

 

Kari

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ITA!

 

I would also say that unless a doctor has specific training in nutrition and breastfeeding, they need to stay out of those areas too unless it's to refer a patient to someone who is knowledgable. Working with expectant and new parents I have heard SOOOO much misinformation about those topics coming from doctors simply because they don't have the training.

 

I was a breastfeeding counselor for *years* and frequently had problems with moms whose doctors gave them bad bfing advice. In fact, I had a doctor tell me that there was "extremely rare" to get thrush in your breast even when baby was on antibiotics. :mad:

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This is so why I love our Ped. He'd rather order 50million unneccessary tests than not order a single one and have something happen to my daughter.

 

We were just switching to him when she was admitted by our former GP. He came in to the hospital, sight unseen, listened to me speak to him about what happened, ordered every single test that it took the other moron months to even think of ordering and demanded absolute attention for my DD. Thankfully, every test he ordered came back negative, but he flat out said "I'd rather order one too many than none too few".

 

I LOVE our ped. He gives me zero flack about anything and totally listens to my DD and me.

 

I've had one of THOSE doctors before. It was not pretty for him. :)

 

(i should clarify the "unneccessary" part-- I'm talking in the realm of my DD's asthma. Not things that truly are unneccessary, but only those things he thinks it "could" be and he uses the tests to rule it out. I'm telling you, my kid was very sick and I am so thankful for this Ped)

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I hear what you're saying Joanne, and it bothers me, too. However, I'm going to go out on a limb and play a little devil's advocate.

 

Peds are expected to be GP's for little people, and I do know that GP's are under a lot of pressure to "do it all" for their patients, including such issues as mental health and disciplinary issues (which lots of parents think can just be corrected with medication). So, I think this is just becoming an expectation. Taken a step too far, some peds and GP's could just be assuming you *want* their input on everything under the sun.

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ITA about the doctors.

My second child was a preemie and her mouth was so tiny that she had trouble latching on. I thought she was getting enough, but she wasn't gaining weight properly and we got really worried. My pedi had me thinking she was failing to thrive, she gave me some wicked expensive stuff to add to my breastmilk to feed the baby in a bottle. She told me that my breastmilk was probably not rich enough and that I should have it tested for calories. She told me to supplement with formula because "at least we know how many calories are in it."

 

She had me going crazy. I had a teeny, tiny baby who wasn't growing properly.

But I also had an enormous boy who weighed 20 pounds by the time he was 5 months old, and he'd had nothing but my poor breastmilk.

 

One day I had to see a different doctor in the practice (I was just getting a weight check.) She said "Poor Bubbele, such a tiny mouth. Have you tried the other kind of bottle nipple?"

 

What was that? 20.gif

 

Here I was thinking there was something wrong with me, my milk, my breasts, my baby and it was all about the nipple!!!!!!!!!!

 

We switched to a smaller, differently shaped bottle nipple, and she gained weight like gang busters. After another month or so I was able to stop pumping and she began to nurse directly from my breast because she had gotten bigger and stronger.

 

The things a pediatrician doesn't learn in med school! gaah.gif

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In fact, I had a doctor tell me that there was "extremely rare" to get thrush in your breast even when baby was on antibiotics. :mad:

 

My old doctor (family doctor, not the ped) insisted when I went in for a strep test when my twins were infants that it was simply impossible to nurse twins. :eek: We argued through my whole appointment, I got my rx and never went back.

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Peds are expected to be GP's for little people, and I do know that GP's are under a lot of pressure to "do it all" for their patients, including such issues as mental health and disciplinary issues (which lots of parents think can just be corrected with medication). So, I think this is just becoming an expectation. Taken a step too far, some peds and GP's could just be assuming you *want* their input on everything under the sun.

 

I had a conversation with our pediatrician (I adore this woman) about this very thing about 6 weeks ago. Our pediatrician is coming up to retirement and she was saying that as much as she loves her practice, she's tired of parents expecting her to "fix" everything. I think it's a frustrating situation for the doctors AND for us, the parents.

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I agree with you Joanne. That is why I love my family dr so much. He leaves those areas to me and my dh's decision. We only discuss medical issues. However there are times when we talk about church issues since we go to the same church. hee hee....it makes for a very funny conversation when we carry it outside the room and chatting up a storm in the hallway. :o

 

Anyway he doesn't question me over our school choices or alternative choices. He encourages me to think outside the box in the medical realm. He is a keeper!

 

Holly

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And let's remember that doctors are bound by law to report any suspected cases of abuse, as are teachers and school nurses. So I think that some of them are just trying to take that added responsibility seriously because in the unlikely event that something is wrong, they won't be seen as negligent. At least I assume that's the reason they quiz kids about all manner of "academic" things.

 

Of course, the waitress at a local diner felt the need to quiz my kids when we were there eating breakfast on the morning that the public schools opened.

She's lucky that I found her to be amusing because otherwise...bang zoom!:mad:

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I was a breastfeeding counselor for *years* and frequently had problems with moms whose doctors gave them bad bfing advice. In fact, I had a doctor tell me that there was "extremely rare" to get thrush in your breast even when baby was on antibiotics. :mad:

 

 

I got some very ueducated advice about breastfeeding from a Navy dr. :(

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I hear what you're saying Joanne, and it bothers me, too. However, I'm going to go out on a limb and play a little devil's advocate.

 

Peds are expected to be GP's for little people, and I do know that GP's are under a lot of pressure to "do it all" for their patients, including such issues as mental health and disciplinary issues (which lots of parents think can just be corrected with medication). So, I think this is just becoming an expectation. Taken a step too far, some peds and GP's could just be assuming you *want* their input on everything under the sun.

Audrey's correct - it's not just the docs "wanting" to give advice for which they may not be qualified - it's sometimes government expecting docs to give that advice. In the residency program where I taught, there was a Medicaid checklist (essentially), requiring these physicians-still-in-training to complete "anticipatory guidance" for well-child checks. That's all the things from vitamin use, to fluoride, to bike helmets, to discipline, to breastfeeding, to ... you name it. Some of these items were well outside of what many of you would consider "medical," yet the government requires it....

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Well, like many of you I have thought about these issues quite a bit. I would get uncomfortable when the doctor asked questions that I thought infringed on my autonomy as a parent. I changed doctors and now am very happy with the relationship.

 

I felt uncomfortable because I did not necessarily want that type of advice. But, I know so many people who pick up the phone to the ped. for every little thing, including disciplanary issues. So the ped. is kind of put in that position by some parents and I think maybe they have come to think that most parents want that kind of advise. For instance a friend of mine called here ped. because her 3 yo had not napped in a few days. The ped. told her she "had to get control of the situation" no matter what and advised her to lock the kid in the room everyday at the same time. She did so and after many days of screaming the child started taking naps again and this was a success story for the family. I would not choose that route with my children, so I just avoid the subject. Then they went through the exact same thing about waking at night. THey depend on the ped. to answer these types of questions for them. Right or wrong I think that society has abdicated our decision making to the medical community.

 

I could go on and on about this subject forever, but I will spare you ladies.

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doctors really are NOT schooled....

 

So true! And my sister said they got about one hour of training in nutrition when she went through med school. I'm not sure if my dad had any back in the 1950s. I'm so thankful that our pediatrician sticks to the medical issues only. He does ask, though, if they interact with other children, but I let that slide as it's just one question at their well visit and my kids really like him.

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