How Important Is the In-Hospital Postpartum Pediatrician Visit?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

We were discharged from Sibley on Friday of Labor Day weekend. They made us come back to Sibley for checks over the weekend since our pediatrician's office wasn't open until Tuesday.

[Anonymous]

You still have to go to the ped's office within a few days of leaving the hospital, even if the ped comes to the hospital to visit the baby. And yes, it's horrible if the mom is having a hard recovery.

[Anonymous]

I think people in general but especially pregnant women spend a ton of time and energy worrying about which provider is going to be where and when, for very little return.

They go off the chart and the patient in front of them, and if you’re in the hospital and the shit hits the fan, you’re going to see the appropriate specialist. I think it makes some sense to pick a hospital based on the NICU, especially if you have reason for concern, but it doesn’t make any sense to me to pick a pediatrician who will come to the hospital for a routine appointment. Why would that even be a good use of their time and schedule, to do that on demand? I don’t get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Nowadays they just ask you who the baby's pediatrician will be. Sometimes they want you to have the appointment scheduled before discharge and sometimes they just tell you when to make it for.

[Anonymous]

After 12+ years of parenthood, the things that matter most when choosing a pediatrician are:

Location, location, location (cumbersome is an understatement for the first year of even a healthy child’s life)
Insurance coverage
Size (I prefer a small practice with 3-4 doctors. Big enough for Saturday and same day sick visits but small enough that they know my kids.)
Separate newborn waiting room (bonus points for separate sick/healthy waiting rooms)
Nurse line/email for questions

Things that I thought would matter but ended up not:

Hospital privileges (my kids have made their way through many ERs and Urgent Cares over the years. Who their pediatricians were didn’t factor into their care)

[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.

Taking a newborn to the pediatrician is not that bad. Most are sleepy and will just sleep in the carseat. If you have an infant carrier, you just pop them in the carseat, and pop it in and out of the car.

The stressful thing about having a newborn is feeding it. The main purpose of newborn visits, assuming no other complications, is to monitor whether it is eating enough. If you are breastfeeding, the only way to tell if the baby is eating enough is measuring its weight.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Choose whichever ped you want.

If yours has privileges where you deliver, your ped will see the baby at the hospital and then I think you go in again about 4 or 5 days after discharge.

If yours does not have privileges where you deliver, your baby will be seen by a hospital pediatrician and then within a day or two of discharge.

I had 3 kids at a hospital near work, so our ped did not have privileges there. It really wasn't a terrible inconvenience to go to the office after discharge.

+1. A PP mentioned jaundice - one of my 3 was jaundiced and I don't remember not having my ped being privileged at the hospital as making that experience worse. It was going to be rough no matter what.

Jaundice is the worst because it isn't serious enough to stay in the hospital but you are expected to bring them back and forth for tests. My 3rd had it. I barely remember because I was post-partum, but, it was truly miserable.

The worst was when they discharged me (the mother) but then decided not to discharge my baby because of jaundice. I ended up having to sleep in the lobby in a hard chair so I could bf every 2-3 hours while my baby was in Sibley's special care nursery. Even worse was having to use a public bathroom to try to take care of myself with stitches while only about 36 hours postpartum. If they'd decided to keep the baby before discharging me, I could have kept my bed and room for another 24 hours (per insurance) but once I was discharged I was no longer a patient. There was a major event going on in DC so I couldn't get to and from the hospital because of road closures and crowds.

It was awful and the nurses had zero compassion. I was so sore and hurting (I had broken my tailbone during delivery) and they would kick me out of the chair in the baby's room the moment I was done bfing. At one point I asked if they had a plastic cup so I could have tap water from the faucet while bfing and they told me I was no longer a patient. I was bleeding through my pads and asked if they had a backup while my husband went to a store and they told me I wasn't a patient even though I had been 2 hours earlier and hadn't expected to stay. So awful.

NP

I read every word. So sorry this happened to you. That was a terrible experience, and not the way to treat a new mother fresh from giving birth. I hope that healing is happening no matter how long ago this was. Wishing you ease.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

This is great advice.