Wellness Checkup Question - Can be interperted to mean parents should FF

chloespurple · Jul 23, 2007

Went for Karli's 18 month wellness check-up today, & at the beginning of the wellness visits parents are given a form of questions to answer.

This gives them an idea on where your child is developmentally according to your answers & you can write down concerns or questions to be addressed (it is pretty standard), then there are questions about safety like, do you own smoke detectors; is your house child proofed; etc.

But the question that ERKS me is the one referring to car seats, because it asks if your child is riding in a ff car-seat (if 20lbs.). Which to me is just like telling a parent you need to have your little one FF

.
I just left it blank and wrote in all caps EXTENDED REAR FACING.

They really need a CPST on staff & they definitely need to reword that questionnaire when it comes to car seat safety.

Michelle

singingpond · Jul 23, 2007

Guess I'm lucky that our pediatrician doesn't ask carseat questions

. I assume he doesn't think this is in his medical purview, and it had never really occurred to me to ask him either. I wonder what he says if/when parents do ask him for advice. It seems that so many pediatricians are uninformed about carseats... unfortunately.

Katrin

InTheWoods · Jul 23, 2007

We have similar forms at our ped's office and I forget how I answered that question, but in reviewing it our ped asked me about car seats and I pretty much cut her off and told her that DS's car seat goes to 33 lbs. RFing at which point we'd turn him around. She was fine with that we we moved on.

The NP, OTOH, at DD's well-baby visit intimated that kids are often happier FFing and that if it's too much of a distraction for me, as a driver, to have a RFing unhappy (crying) baby, it would be safer to turn her FFing. Guess there's some merit in that, but DD's content RFing. As it was, the NP said some other stuff I totally disagreed with and that was absolute bunk so by that point in the visit, I was just nodding and smiling and dismissing most of what she said.

Kristin

3acorns4Christy · Jul 23, 2007

The same thing is given away at our 12 month visits and I assume 15-18months too. My pedi gave me an earful about FF since I put no we were doing Extended Rear Facing in HUGE letters. I then gave him an earful about safety etc. He said he would look into it as he never heard of such things, I asked him how since the APA recommends as long as possible. So you're ped. isn't the only one.

Patriot201 · Jul 23, 2007

I think I might be a bit passive-aggressive in answering that question.

I think what you wrote is great, but I might have written something like, "Absolutely not. That would not be a wise choice, safety-wise."

southpawboston · Jul 23, 2007

singingpond said:
I assume he doesn't think this is in his medical purview, and it had never really occurred to me to ask him either. I wonder what he says if/when parents do ask him for advice. It seems that so many pediatricians are uninformed about carseats... unfortunately.

Katrin

i wouldn't be surprised at all if our ped didn't know the first thing about carseats... his own kids are all doctors themselves by now and probably never even HAD carseats, lol... he's never once asked, and we've never thought to ask him or any MEDICAL professional for carseat advice. there's CPS techs for those questions, you know

. i know, i know, the ped is supposed to be the "point" person for all questions baby related, but (and this is strictly my personal opinion) i am much more comfortable going to a ped who has 35+ years of pediatric expertise under his belt, is an advisor to the AAP, and is head of pediatrics at a well-known hospital here, than a young doctor who, rather than spend his spare time reading up on medical literature, has to learn all about carseat usage. if i want medical advice, i go to my ped. if i want carseat advice, i come here

. plus, he looks like santa!

chloespurple · Jul 23, 2007

Patriot20171 said:
I think I might be a bit passive-aggressive in answering that question. I think what you wrote is great, but I might have written something like, "Absolutely not. That would not be a wise choice, safety-wise."

That would have been good

, but my Dr. and I have discussed this in the past. She already knows I am a car seat safety nut

.

I almost suggested they should change the wording of that one question, .....but the talk about car seats we had at the 1 year wellness visit didn't seem to make a difference (she just said she asked around and no one else had heard of ERF either....I don't remember if she looked up the links I gave her). Maybe when/if I become certified I can do volunteer work for them or something, and they might listen to me then

.

As I have stated in the past it is a wonderful practice (she is an AWESOME Dr.), but I feel if they (as a practice) are going to ask about car seats they should either have a technician on staff or know a little more about them:twocents:

plus, he looks like santa!

Too bad he doesn't give presents too, or your kids would love going to the Dr

singingpond · Jul 24, 2007

southpawboston said:
i wouldn't be surprised at all if our ped didn't know the first thing about carseats... his own kids are all doctors themselves by now and probably never even HAD carseats, lol... he's never once asked, and we've never thought to ask him or any MEDICAL professional for carseat advice. there's CPS techs for those questions, you know . i know, i know, the ped is supposed to be the "point" person for all questions baby related...

As you said, I also prefer to have doctors spending their 'continuing education' time keeping up with medical issues/advances/changes, rather than researching all other possible baby-related stuff. The problem may be when the doctor freely dispenses advice on issues (like carseats) about which he/she is pretty thoroughly uninformed, and when parents take that advice as gospel. Heck, I've found that one often shouldn't blindly accept a doctor's advice on MEDICAL issues without doing independent research; so I'm not much inclined to accept a doctor as an authority on a non-medical issue

.

Katrin

wendytthomas · Jul 24, 2007

Christy n Joel said:
The same thing is given away at our 12 month visits and I assume 15-18months too. My pedi gave me an earful about FF since I put no we were doing Extended Rear Facing in HUGE letters. I then gave him an earful about safety etc. He said he would look into it as he never heard of such things, I asked him how since the APA recommends as long as possible. So you're ped. isn't the only one.

hee hee, I would have loved to have been there. Good for you.

Wendy

Wellness Checkup Question - Can be interperted to mean parents should FF

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