How Important Is the In-Hospital Postpartum Pediatrician Visit?

[Anonymous]

You’ll be going to the pediatrician a lot over the next five years. Pick the one that’s closest to your house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks to all, i thought it would buy us a bit more time to be seen in the hospital by pediatrician from practice, but it sounds like either way we are going to have to go in.

Seems super stressful to have to leave the house so quickly after having the baby but it sounds like it's pretty normal.

If anyone has tips for that adventure I am all ears.

Honestly it's going on adventures like that where you have to figure out all the random details that prepare you to start your new normal. Everyone is different, but if I hadn't been forced out of the house after my first it would have taken me a while to get up the courage to try it.

[Anonymous]

Even if your ped comes to the hospital, you still have to go to their office within 3ish days of leaving the hospital.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in the process of choosing a pediatrician and wondering how much weight to give to whether they do in-hospital postpartum visits (in my case specifically Sibley). Some practices have pediatricians who come to see the baby in the hospital, while others just have you schedule the first visit in their office after discharge.

For those who’ve been through this, did it make a big difference having your chosen pediatrician check on your baby in the hospital? Or was it just as easy to have the hospital pediatrician handle it and then switch after?

This is my first and it seems horribly cumbersome to have to go to the pediatrician a couple days after leaving the hospital and wondering if we choose a pediatrician who does in-hospital visits does that buy us more time before needing to go in office.

Would love to hear your experiences and thoughts!

It's been a while for me but I do not think this is an either-or thing. You see a pediatrician in the hospital (doesn't have to be YOUR pediatrician) and then you go to the pediatrician when the baby has been home a few days. They are seen at about a day old, and a week old. One doesn't cancel the other out. It is critical to weight them and evaluate if they are eating enough, so that's why you do all the visits in the beginning, plus to check for other issues that lay people can't understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks to all, i thought it would buy us a bit more time to be seen in the hospital by pediatrician from practice, but it sounds like either way we are going to have to go in.

Seems super stressful to have to leave the house so quickly after having the baby but it sounds like it's pretty normal.

If anyone has tips for that adventure I am all ears.

I mean, you just get in the car and go.

You will keep the baby in the carseat because most likely it'll be sleeping and that's the easiest way to transport. Have blankets to cover the seat up. For the first year it's a good idea to have a pediatrician that has separate waiting areas for well and sick kids. Some even let you wait in the car and call you in when your room is ready. My preference would be for that kind of set up to avoid germ exposure, which is totally possible at thoughtful practices.

[Anonymous]

I live in Arlignton, but delivered all of my kids at Sibley. Our ped is northern Virginia pediatrics. They don’t have privileges at Sibley. Babies were checked out by the hospitalists. One was born on a Tuesday and he was seen on Friday at the pediatrician. The other was born on a Wednesday and he was seen on Monday. The first has issues with bilirubin and it was a non issue not having them see “their” pediatrician.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks to all, i thought it would buy us a bit more time to be seen in the hospital by pediatrician from practice, but it sounds like either way we are going to have to go in.

Seems super stressful to have to leave the house so quickly after having the baby but it sounds like it's pretty normal.

If anyone has tips for that adventure I am all ears.

You can send baby with their other parent as well. I wasn't well enough to attend the pediatrician visit on day 3 (or 4, or whatever - my child is 16 so its real fuzzy) so dad took baby to the pediatrician while I napped.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks to all, i thought it would buy us a bit more time to be seen in the hospital by pediatrician from practice, but it sounds like either way we are going to have to go in.

Seems super stressful to have to leave the house so quickly after having the baby but it sounds like it's pretty normal.

If anyone has tips for that adventure I am all ears.

The challenge is feeding, which you will quickly learn/understand after birth. Even if you “know” what you’re in for, it’s much different than the experience of breastfeeding and/or bottle feeding and/or pumping every two hours and trying to time that with going to the doctor. By the time you complete one feeding cycle you usually have barely an hour til the next one might start. So my advice is to leave early for the appointment and plan feed there. They will not care if you are attempting to breastfeed at the appointment. In fact, my pediatrician helped me with it and then scheduled me to see the lactation consultant.

With the second baby we just took him to the appointment and it was no big deal. But first baby you’re still processing your new life. It’s a lot at once. But you’ll figure it out.

[Anonymous]

With my first, I honestly don't even remember who visited him while in the hospital. My second had a resident visit and I think the attending as well... I found them annoying. As others have said, you are going to the pediatrician within a day or two of discharge anyway and very frequently the couple of years. Pick someone convenient to you.

[Anonymous]

Makes zero difference. I had hospital pediatricians for all three of my kids and then took them to my pediatrician at home afterwards.

[Anonymous]

Do hospitals still do this post covid?

Agree that it's possible to be at pediatrician frequently in beginning....we has frequent visits ( 3-4 a week ) for jaundice and growth checks

2nd kid we haven't had that but just luck

[Anonymous]

Zero difference. Neonatologists look after the baby in the hospital if there are issues. Most pediatricians aren’t affiliated with hospitals anymore. You’ll go to the pediatrician within the first few days of discharge and it’s fine.

I don’t know a single person who had a pediatrician who does this, and I have had multiple kids and lived in the DMV 20 years and watched and talked about baby and doctor issues like this a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You’ll be going to the pediatrician a lot over the next five years. Pick the one that’s closest to your house.

Truer words never spoken, especially coming out of this winter

[Anonymous]

It is so not important. You'll be fine.

[Anonymous]

Maybe things have changed but when I gave birth they wouldn't let the baby leave until it was discharged into the care of a pediatrician, and that pediatrician could not be the doctor from the hospital. It had to be a pediatrician who was, like signing off on the discharge and becoming the doctor of record for the baby.