Parents Your child's pedatrician

[Fliptwisttumble]

We are quite fortunate that a nearby university has a great sports medicine clinic, and has both reg. sports docs and pediatric sports docs. I need a referal to go take DD to the pediatric sports doc, and given I can't get in to our family doc we have seen only the reg. sports doc.

we can't get apps for reg. yearly checkups so have skipped them,except for immunizations.

 

[IreneKa]

Not just for sports. Our schools require an annual physical for everyone, involved in sports or not. Same goes for things like summer camps, they won't except you unless you provide a medical form, showing that you had a physical in the last 12 months.

 

[bogwoppit]

Not just for sports. Our schools require an annual physical for everyone, involved in sports or not. Same goes for things like summer camps, they won't except you unless you provide a medical form, showing that you had a physical in the last 12 months.

That is what drove me nuts about sending my kids to IGC, they wanted signed doctors papers to prove they had had a check up for it. Getting an appointment for that was far from easy. My kids did gym camp here in Quebec for 8 years and never needed anything like that. As WJandrews says, it is *** covering.

 

[mimi]

We do a yearly physical exam. It is not required by school, only immunizations must be up to date. However, most all sleep away camps require it. I don't mind the yearly trip because my daughter is TINY for her age, so I always like to hear how dr feels about her growth, etc. In the US if you have insurance it is not difficult to get appointments.

 

[OzZee]

Faith, do you not still have the 8 month, 24 month and preschool reviews? Though, lol, I just looked at dd2's red book to find out when they were meant to be and she didn't attend any, but I'm sure dd1 did, well at least the 2 year one as I remember her doing an eye test and she was talking.
LOL maybe we have some decent health visitors in Australia then, I've never been near one (dd3 was born here) after my experiences in the UK.

yep, no such thing as check ups here, you make an appointment if there's something wrong.

the only decent health visitor I came across emigrated to Australia! They tend to be pretty useless at best. So dd2 (now 5) last saw a doctor at 6 weeks old. She's been to the nurse for immunisations but that's it.

Dd1 I think last saw one at 8 months (when said hv left!) except for a trip to the ER to get a gymnastics injury checked out. And actually the ER doc took the gymnastics very seriously- x-rayed when they normally wouldn't so they could give a definate ok to return to training. That said, if she wasn't a gymnast I wouldn't have taken her as I'd just have left it rest until healed.

 

[Faith]

Faith, do you not still have the 8 month, 24 month and preschool reviews? .

No

dd1 had an 8m review, but by the time she was 2 they'd stopped it. I think we got a letter inviting us to do an online questionnaire, and to make an appt if we had any worries. By dd2 they'd stopped the 8m too.

mind you, it might be regional again. My sister just had a baby in another part of the uk and she had something like 20 midwife visits in the month post birth, compared to my 1 :lol:, and her birth was extremely straightforward so it's not as if it was more to dd1's near death experience. The baby is 3 months now and the hv still pops round to the house for a cup of tea and to see how she's getting on. We have to traipse to clinic, they don't home visit.

 

[OzZee]

LOL Faith, love the nhs lottery!

 

[Fliptwisttumble]

That is what drove me nuts about sending my kids to IGC, they wanted signed doctors papers to prove they had had a check up for it. Getting an appointment for that was far from easy.

i hear you. DD is going for weeks 1 and 3and her form just got sent in, almost 2 months late.... DH had to take a day off work and we booked months in advance

 

[emorymom]

Out of country folk -- the sports / camp physicals can generally be done affordably, walk-in at most CVS and Walgreens type drugstores with health clinics staffed by nurses. You might just ask the camps to let you do the physical the day camp starts (or day before) and bring it to camp, under the circumstances.

Yeah, we just did our first checkup in a long time since the kids are going to camp this year. Generally we go to the doctor for a reason.

 

[bogwoppit]

Out of country folk -- the sports / camp physicals can generally be done affordably, walk-in at most CVS and Walgreens type drugstores with health clinics staffed by nurses. You might just ask the camps to let you do the physical the day camp starts (or day before) and bring it to camp, under the circumstances.

Yeah, we just did our first checkup in a long time since the kids are going to camp this year. Generally we go to the doctor for a reason.

Great piece of information there. Handy for travelling in the US as well.

 

[my4buffaloes]

Our insurance used to not cover well visits after the age of 10. So I didn't take my kids for a few years. Then insurance started covering it. Took dd in, discovered she had scoliosis and now needs to be monitored on a more regular basis. Oops. Well cares are good things!

 

[2G1B]

Yeah, I can't imagine going to sports specialist just for normal appointments. When my kid has the flu it doesn't matter if the doctor specializes with athletes. We go to specialists for specialized problems. For normal sick visits we go to the normal pediatrician who has seen our kids since they were born.

I do fine HUGE value in the annual physical and think it is much more than just CYA. They are able to see the trends for a kid and can often identify problems early, before they become something major. I have a family history of scoliosis, so our ped knows to keep a special eye on that for my girls. We just found out at our checkup last week that my daughter, who has already had great eyesight can still see fine; but there is something up with the muscle movement. So now we will be going to the specialist as soon as she gets back from camp to figure out if anything needs to be done. We never would have known there was an issue if we only went to the doctor when the kids were sick.

In the U.S. you now don't pay a co-pay for well check ups; but even before I personally only had to pay a $10 co-pay (it used to differ per insurance plan).

 

[mylittlemiss]

My kids see a regular pediatrician, who happens to be a former gymnast and is very supportive of our gymnasts (one current, one former). She thinks it's a great sport and even makes note of what level my DD is training for reference. We've only seen any sort of pediatric specialist of any kind for specific needs, such as ortho, ENT, etc.