Pediatrician
Dr. Nani-Ma about to give Kavi some shots.If you've been having trouble finding a pediatrician you like and agree with , you're not the only one. Apparently it's really hard to find a good pediatrician in the US because, according to a recent study, 15 million children live in regions where there are more than 4,000 children for each child doctor according to a new city. That's not all. Nearly 1 million children live in a region with no local physician who treats children.

Thank God baby Kavya's pediatricians happen to be her grandparents. Yup, Dr. Nani-Ma and Dr. Nanoo to the rescue. But that's not always a good thing.

Having grandma and grandpa calling all the medical shots can be a bit overwhelming at times. I've always been very research-oriented, and that translates to my parenting. I read countless books and google everything. So sometimes when it comes to the care and feeding of my little one, I like to go with what I've learned.

My parents, on the other hand, are old school. They might know the latest research, but they've seen what works for them -- and for the thousands of parents of their patients -- over the course of three decades in medicine. This is where arguments start. If they were just any random doctors we found on the Internet, we could move on and find another. But they have a vested interest in Kavya's well-being, and well, it's hard to dismiss your own mom and dad's well-intentioned advice.

Trust me, we know how lucky we got with doctors in the family. Growing up in New Jersey, my parents were our doctors -- and they were the doctors of all the kids we knew, too, even ones as far away as Long Island. Because even back in the day, a good pediatrician was hard to find. 

My parents have been serving children in their community for more than 25 years. They're the kind of family-owned and run office that sees their patients bringing in their own kids some 20 years later. And even some of those kids have brought in their kids.

So we've decided on a system that works for us. We listen and consider their advice, but we also take a good long look at my research and what's current. Especially when it comes to food, since my dad's grandfatherly instincts often tell him it's okay to give a 10-month-old a lollipop or some super-spicy chicken thariwala when his medical background dictates that it's clearly not. 

Do you have a pediatrician you love? How did you find them? Do you ever disagree with your child's doctor?

 

Image via Navdeep Singh Dhillon