looking for a good PD that's pro bf and not to keen in prescribing meds!!

fennho

fennho

Registered User
hi mommies

so far I've been to 2 considerably popular PD in HK

1) Dr Dannie Ting - I was recommended to her for her reluctance to prescribe heavy meds for young infants and preference to let babies build their immunities. But I DNR thin she's very pro bf. In fact when I was there she was had this "brush me off" attitude..I was there for my bb's 3rd mth chkup but I don't see her checking my bb thoroughly, considering its my bb's first time there! Wats worse is that not impressed with her clinics staff - they got both my bb heigt and weight wrong!

2) Dr Alfred Tam - went to him supposedly for his reassuring good bedside manners. Again, found him to be not so hot on bf. First visit was ok, he did a thorough chkup on my gal (which DT didnt do). But alarm bells went off when he kept teling me to stop BF and start solids when bb is FIVE mths old! He gave me 3 types of meds for bb mild nose block, one of which is something that can make the bb drowsy..I was uncomfrtable as I've read for young babies, its not recommeed to take meds that can make u drowsy as this increases the risk of SIDs. When I brought it up, he wasn't too happy of me questioning him..mind u I wasn't aggressive jus asking to clarify and he jus brushed me off asking if I hv taken piriton and this is jus the bb version..I was like...hello?I m an adult! duh!

So now I'm looking for a PD that I can STICK with cos I don't wish to be branded as "serial PD changer". Am looking for a PD that

1) definitely pro bf
2) doesn't advocate givng too much meds freely to young infants
3) reassuring for anxious first time mommies like me!
4) do not rush me out and think I'm asking silly questions and not jus pay me lip service
4) good and gentle (and thorough!) with babies

Pls help..I really hope to find a good one..my gal is due for her 4th mth vaccine soon..

5)
 
Hi Fenn

Here are my favourites:

GP - I don't see a point in seeing a PD for regular stuff. Dr. Brian Walker. LOVE him!

PD - Dr. Ken Chan from Lauren Bramley & Associates (He also practices at the Matilda... where we first met him.)

(1) Both took their time and were thorough with my bub for whatever reasons I had to see them.
(2) Both could be reached when I needed help as you have access to either their home or mobile number.
(3) Both DO NOT prescribe medication without a good reason and ALWAYS does what's best for bub without sacrificing a first time mum's over-anxiety.

Good Luck!
 
Dr. Ken Chan

I definitely second that recommendation from Spockey. He is patient, does everything himself - weighing etc and is always available when you call him or returns calls soon. We have been with him for a year since my daughter was born and have no complaints.

He is also available on Saturdays in Repulse Bay.
 
Hi Fenho,

Dr. Maurice Leung is my bb's paediatrician from birth (he delivered him and is now doing all the vacs and check-ups). I am also exclusively bfing.

From what I've seen so far (altho my bb is only 8 weeks old!) I do like and trust Dr. Leung. He is friendly and patient, and his clinic is quite well-organized. On the breastfeeding, he is supportive but probably not "pro-bf" the way some other doctors I've heard (like Dr. Tanpa Thondup) is supposedly so. One thing I do like very much about Dr. Leung is that he is not very "pushy", the way some other well-reputed paeds are (and Dr. Leung is very well-reputed and used to be HKU professor and a known-specialist in paediatric cardiology.)
 
hi rad/spockey
is dr ken chan pro bf?

peainpod
thanks for the ref. i've heard dr leung's clinic can make u wait up to 1hour...is dat true?
 
I also definitely recommend Dr Ken Chan. I find that he's very pro-breastfeeding. My 12-week old is exclusively breastfed and I've been to see him with various problems (both real & imagined!) - from colic to weight gain - and he's always been very supportive and never once suggested supplementing or switching to formula. I find that he explains everything very well and patiently and always puts my mind at rest.
I find that he does not prescribe medication unless absolutely necessary - and will also explain exactly why he thinks it is not necessary.
 
That's strange. I found Dr. Tam to be pro-bf from my own experiences. Maybe he told you to start solids when your baby is five months old because at 3.5 months, your bub is already more than 7kg. If you read some of the baby books on food and weaning, sometimes, they get impatient and looking for something more when they are naturally ready for solids. They get very dissatisfied with just milk, breast or otherwise. But I'm very surprise to hear that he told you to stop breastfeeding. None of my other friends and myself actually had that experience. In fact, it was the opposite.

So far, I don't find him giving my bub medication unnecessarily. But, I agree, he should have answered your questions readily and clarify any doubts you may have. He seems really happy to answer all our questions and even phone my husband to talk to him about our bub when my husband was on a business trip just to assure him that she's okay. I'm really sorry that you had a negative experience with him.

Hope you have better luck with another paed next time. Best wishes.
 
sage
my 1st visit to him - I thot he's pro bf as well becos when I told him I'm on total bf from birth, he also commend me for doing a good job. But on my 2nd visit, I discovered that there IS a difference btw really supportg bf and paying lip service ie jus SAYING "oh ur breastfeeding, dats good!" cos I think he belongs to the latter. I reckon a true pro bf paed would not even suggest starting solids at 5mths. When i raised my eyebrows and double checked that I read babies digestive system shud wait till at least 6mths, he waived me off. He did, however told me I cud use my BM to mix with the rice cereal. He was very rushed. I had with me a list of 4-5 questions but he seemed impatient & wantd to rush off, resulting in me feeling like I have to rush thru the questions myself but only managed to get half hearted answers from him. Perhaps its almost lunch time then and he's got an appt fixed? But my appt was at 11am but I had to wait 1hr to see him. When he was rushing out, he jus said I'll see u again and I told him I'm actually coming on Sat for baby's 4th mth chkup & vaccinations, thinking maybe I can clear my questions with him then but he said the nurses will do the jabs and he wont be seeing me. I find that strange becos shudnt the doc themselves do the chkup? If ur too busy today to talk to me to ease my worries then DONT hand me over to the nurse on my next visit. I've only manage to squeeze in 2 questions and even then I had to rush thru it while he sighs and try to quickly give me a rushed answer. What reassurances to ease a 1st time mommy?
 
Hi Fenho,

I agree about Dr. Dannie Ting. I had a very very very bad experience with her. I find her bedside manner to be appalling. She was recommended by my OBGYN, and was my baby's pediatrician upon birth. She basically told me the misdiagnosis and left her card by the bedside! (Without going into too much detail, I was basically left weeping and depressed...)She seems to be in a hurry everyday and was vague in her manner.

But I presume doctors have their 'off' days too, I don't blame her in her misdiagnosis, after all who hasn't made mistakes. In fact I am just grateful that my baby is ok. But I think she could have adopted a better bedside manner, if she had taken more time to talk to us, we would have been able to understand the situation in a more informed manner.

We are with Dr. Alfred Tam now and so far we are really happy with him. He seems to be very busy but he does take his time to talk to us. And he is very detailed in his explanation.

As the pediatrician is going to be a very important person in your baby's life it is vital to keep looking until you find one that you are truly comfortable with.

Good luck! Your baby is sooo cute!
 
We see Dr Ting and have been very happy with her. My OBYGN didn't let me call her when D was born and "pushed" another Pediatrician buddy on us at the hospital. He was inexperienced and even called another specialist to see D. They wanted to sedate him and run some more tests and an MRI. I was a total wreck. The Pediatrician had the cheek to pull me aside and ask me if D is insured. There are a lot of crazy Drs who are just interested in $$$. We refused to do the tests.

I called Dr Ting from the hospital and explained what was going on. She assured me D was fine and we made an appt at her clinic the day after we were discharged. She did a full check-up on D and a simple x-ray confirmed he was fine. I just really wish we had been more assertive at the hospital and called her instead.

She is Pro BF. I nursed D for 11 months, exclusively for the first 7 months. She refused to discuss formulas with us.
 
fennho,

I'm really sorry to hear that you didn't get the service you were looking for at Dr. Tam's office.

I'm not defending him, I'm just sharing my experiences with him. In fact, I think it's prudent to have a couple of paeds you can trust in case of emergencies or need second opinions.

I'm a first time mom with a little girl too. My bub's almost nine months old now. I told myself that I'm going to breastfeed her for six months and then, she's on her own. It was a personal and informed decision. I know that breastmilk is best and I have the utmost respect for mothers who do it until their babies wean themselves naturally. I, obviously, do not have the tenacity, strength, courage or willpower to do this.

So when her fifth month came along, I decided that I should start weaning her off breastmilk by giving her a bottle of formula for her dream feed (she dropped her dream feed at 5.5 months and slept through the night, btw). I called Dr. Tam to inform him of this but to my surprise, he was adamant that I should continue to give her breastmilk exclusively until she was at least six months old. (I think I mentioned this before in another thread somewhere). In the end, because it took a while to wean her off at six months, she continued having breastmilk until she was 8 months old. He wasn't paying lip-service to me, no siree. In fact, he said that I should "persevere and continue" because it was "just a month more." But he did say that it was my decision ultimately although his advice was that that she should be exclusively breastfed till six months old. Of course, she was a much smaller babe than your girl. At 4 months, she was just around 6kg (in the 50 percentile). Maybe the doc thought that she needed more nutrition! Just hazarding a guess...

Different moms have different expecations. To me, the hallmark of a good paed is one who can correctly diagnose my baby's symptoms. And more importantly, I should be able to reach him/her in the dead of the night when the baby's temperature is 104.5 degrees! Dr. Tam may not be the paed you're looking for. I know that he's the type who would not bother to see you again in few days time if your baby is healthy and thriving, unless some major thing happened. He has never not answer any of my questions before. Have you tried calling him or emailing him with your questions? If he's in a hurry for another emergency or appointment, he would be able to take your questions at a later time through email or phone.

Btw, I've heard good things about Dr. Leo Chan but haven't seen him before and don't have his number. But a very good friend swears by him. Maybe you could give him a try? I don't know if he's pro-bf or otherwise. Perhaps you can call up LLL and ask if they can give some recommendations?

Good luck!
 
Dr Dannie Ting is also our PEd and she is always willing to answer our questions and we did have a lot as we are 1sttime parents. Never rushed , even her staff is very nice. As someone said above u might have caught her on a bad day but we havebeen going to her since Feb 2007 and she has enough time for questions and check up. Generally when we go for our vaccinations she puts them and they weight u , check the height and head circumference and then if ther ei sany questions she is more than happy to discuss it with u.

Regarding BF, if u are keen to do it then u dont need a doctor to encourage u , if u have decided that is what u want then just ignore anyone else suggesting otherwise.

Introducing solids we stated at 5 months there is no harm.

Best of luck finding a pediatrican

Neha
 
fennho said:
peainpod
thanks for the ref. i've heard dr leung's clinic can make u wait up to 1hour...is dat true?
Click to expand...

Maybe I've been lucky but so far I haven't waited that long myself. He has separate well-baby and sick-baby clinic rooms (located on the same floor) so he moves back and forth bet appnts but even so, I've only waited about 20-30 mins max for an appnt. Also his clinic is v. pleasant to wait in and never seems crowded, plus there are private nursing rooms so I usually take the opportunity to bf my bb while waiting.
 
Dr Tampa Thondup at Bank of America Tower is also very pro breastfeeding. When I needed a pro breastfeeding doctor, he was the one I was recommended to and I have to say he lived up to his reputation. Just another option.

With regard to starting solids. When our first child was born the recommendation in the UK was to start solids at 4 months, we tried this; he wasn't interested, so we left it a month and he started then. The world health organisation recommends 6 months and the La Leche League advises around the middle of the first year. To be honest the nutritional value of those initial solids is minimal and your baby gets their main nutrition from your breastmilk. Introducing solids is about getting them used to taking food in this form and breast milk should remain the primary nutrition for the first year.
 
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Jools,
I notice you re in DB. Do you always take your baby to Dr.Tampa? I only use Dr. James Oliver in DB. I know he is a GP but should I use PD instead? So far he hasbe great though. But there's no PD in Island health anymore.
Sorry side track here...
 
Sorry to hijack this thread but does anyone know of any good PD on Kowloon side? we currently see one in central who also covers Canossa and Matilda, but since we are going to move to Kowloon side soon, I would like to see if there is someone who we can go to for emergencies (fingers crossed) in the middle of the night without having to cross the harbour. i am not so good with driving and this is a handicap when hubby is not in HK - JUST in case..
 
Hi Adahc,
We regularly see Dr Oliver. He's a fantastic GP and I would also recommend him to anyone.

My little man needed specialist help, so we went to see Dr Thondup, but for everything else we would see Dr Oliver.
 
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