After Charlie was born, our pediatrician became our first line of defense whenever we encountered a problem we couldn’t solve on our own. That was ideal whenever Charlie spiked a fever or came down with a rash… but over time, we started to realize that there might be some holes in our pediatrician’s knowledge.

Like the time Mrs. Bee was struggling with supply and asked our pediatrician what he thought of Fenugreek… but he had never heard of it before. Or the time that Charlie struggled with constipation, and our pediatrician suggested Miralax… without mentioning that Charlie might be coming down with functional constipation (or exploring diet changes beyond going off dairy). And then there was the time that we asked for advice on Charlie’s sleep, and got the advice to “cry it out.” Which was fine – that’s what we eventually did after more research – but a little more guidance (books/websites to check out? pros and cons?) would have been really helpful.


Olive is 5 months old in the left picture and Charlie is 3 months old in the right. Both were bad sleepers at the time. 

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After a while, we realized that we had been thinking about our pediatrician all wrong. The word pediatrician literally means “healer of children,” and we had assumed that he could heal anything wrong with our child. But in actuality, our pediatrician was best at healing acute medical conditions… ear infections, roseola, and problems much worse. This is the stuff that med school and medical practice had prepared him for, and where he had years of incredible knowledge and experience.  His advice on the “softer side” of parenting though, wasn’t as informed – but it took us a while to figure that out.

Our pediatrician eventually moved to his own practice, and we found that the other pediatricians in our practice were similarly inclined. They were great at figuring out our kids’ medical problems, and great at making certain referrals, like when Olive had 2 back-to-back ear infections and our pediatrician said if she had a third one, he’d refer her to an ENT.  But we found that the pediatricians we’ve had have been not as good at advising on less acute conditions. And their advice on stuff like constipation, sleep and milk supply seemed to draw heavily on their experience with their own kids, as opposed to drawing from their training and/or continuing medical studies.

Over time, we’ve come to realize that there’s a whole range of professionals that can supplement our pediatrician’s excellent medical care! Here’s a partial list:

Nursing/Supply – An experienced lactation consultant can really help here. Mrs. Bee wrote up her experience with an LC home visit here.

Child sleep issues – If books and blog posts aren’t doing the trick, you can consult a sleep program or consult with a “sleep doctor.”  Mrs. Superhero wrote about her experience with the Sleep Sense sleep program here and Mrs. Stroller wrote about Moms on Call here; if you’d like one-on-one help, there are doctors that specialize in sleep that do consults in person or over the phone/email.

Developmental delays – We know several people who were told not to worry about a developmental delay by their pediatrician, and later discovered that there was cause for concern. One person we know was given incorrect information about how the state’s Early Intervention program worked – information that almost prevented them from applying for state services!  I was excited to learn that there are pediatricians that specialize in developmental, learning and behavioral problems (Developmental-Behavioral Pediatricians).  They specialize in this stuff and are probably best equipped to assess delays… or alternatively, you could also contact your state health department about Early Intervention services.

Serious constipation – We’ve written before about our son’s struggle with functional constipation, and how Dr. Tom (child psychologist and guru on childhood constipation) cured him quickly. The real surprise to me was that several pediatricians we consulted knew so little about what is a fairly common problem with kids! Dr. Tom is a genius, and literally wrote the book on childhood constipation (The Ins and Outs of Poop).

Eating – If your child is having problems with breastmilk, formula or food, it may be worth consulting an allergist to work with your pediatrician. Mrs. Jacks wrote about her experience with an allergist and MSPI here and Mrs. Superhero wrote about her allergist here. More on allergies here! (A nutritionist may also be helpful, once allergies and other medical conditions have been ruled out.)  Allergists can also be helpful with environmental issues, like pet dander or dust mites.

Behavior problems – If your child is acting up, a child psychologist can be extremely helpful in diagnosing possible causes. When we talked to Dr. Tom about Charlie’s constipation, he casually mentioned several things we could do to help with Charlie’s horrific bedtime and they made a huge difference! Now that I think about it, why had I been asking a pediatrician for help with a psychological issue? I’d never ask my GP for advice on how to handle depression or anxiety!

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If you aren’t able to consult with a specialist, it helps to remember that pediatricians are best at solving acute medical problems – and may not have expertise on things like sleep, constipation, nursing, and developmental delays. If they do, that’s wonderful – and definitely avail yourself of that expertise! But if not, make sure to do your own research and consult other specialists too!

For us, pediatricians are an essential part of raising a healthy child. It took us time to learn that pediatricians are just part of the full team we needed to raise our kids… now that we’ve realized that, we’re much more able to tap the full power of our whole team (including our pediatrician) to raise our kids!

Has your pediatrician been helpful when your LO struggles with sleep, constipation, eating or other day-to-day issues? Do you have any other specialists on your and your LO’s team?