Who is the best doctor for your baby?

Searching for a paediatrician starts as early as the third trimester, before our precious one is born. Getting referrals and opinions from experienced parents is commonly practised. We were once in that boat. Testimonials prove a good screening method to pick the best paediatrician.

That's exactly what we did. We engaged one of the best paediatricians in town after our first baby was born. The paediatrician (Paed A) was caring and thankfully a breastfeeding enthusiast. She was a favourite in the private hospital we visited. Every day, Paed A's clinic never failed to attract a beeline of patients. When Austin was barely a week old, we experienced once, staying in the hospital premises more than five hours. My mum screamed when we reached home. She felt this was insane for a neonate! I agreed there must be a better solution.

We thought of breaking up with Paed A but Austin’s jaundice still persisted. And, Paed A kept putting us on schedule to go back every few days to monitor the serum bilirubin count. We were so exhausted!

Instead of making way for rejuvenation and recovery, my confinement period was spent running around in the hospital! If we had a chance to go back in time, we would do it differently.

Firstly, jaundice is pretty common in babies. It is usually harmless with sufficient monitoring, or if necessary in more serious cases, phototherapy is the treatment.

Secondly, we would go for convenience and efficiency, perhaps opting for blood tests to be run at the nearest efficient government health centre.

Going back to our story, we continued seeing Paed A for a month. Our baby was fully recovered on his own after six weeks. He did not go for phototherapy. Lots of morning sun did help. In addition, I totally avoided all the ginger-related dishes/meals even though there is no conclusive evidence that this is deemed necessary.

If your baby is an exclusively breastfed baby, you are likely to make fewer trips to the hospital. We were taking scheduled jabs at government health centres instead of going back to the hospital. We were happy with this arrangement, that is until we noticed a few streaks of fresh blood in Austin's stools when he was about three months old.

This time, we were not going back to Paed A. We went to see Paed B, after consulting friends. Caring, patient and a breastfeeding supporter, Paed B concluded this case was due to bacterial infection. Antibiotics were not prescribed since Austin obtained an abundance of antibodies from his mama. Nursing directly was an advantage. We were also advised to practise good hygiene in cleaning feeding bottles.

Not too long after that we saw fresh blood in his stools again. It was just a bit but enough to frighten us. This time, it occurred in three consecutive poos. We sensed trouble. Seeking a second opinion, we went to see Paed C, who was recommended by a few experienced parents.

Paed C arrived late at the clinic, kept us waiting for almost three hours in the hospital! Our first good impression was gone. Knowledgeable and a sound expert in diagnosis, Paed C eliminated constipation (99.9% unlikely as he is an exclusively breastfed baby) and intussusception (an intestinal disorder). Paed C ruled out the possibility of broken/torn capillary in the large intestine caused by motional friction because Austin was active, calm and not crying when his tummy was pressed on. No fever. I guess we passed the toughest test.

It was something not serious but we still needed an answer.

Not too long after, we saw the scary streaks of fresh blood again. Alarming! We read online literature about bloody stools and reviewed tons of parental comments. I talked to other breastfeeding mothers but none could offer us a good clue for our case. We also consulted experienced nurses/midwives but they had never heard of what we experienced.

We opted to trust our research and findings this round. Almost helpless, we went for an elimination diagnosis. Top on the list, food intolerance. I reshuffled my dairy diet. Cut them down to a minimal. No cow's milk. No soy milk, too, to be on the safe side. No excessive dairy stuff e.g. cheese, yogurt and butter. No doctor has ever told us about this, but we chose to trust our instincts.

Since then, we have never seen that streaky blood anymore! I guess we hit the nail on its head. Austin's poo was more accumulative rather than loose and frequent. He has performed better in weight gain, too. Falling behind, less than a 5th percentile in his third month, he picked up and stayed within the 10-25th percentile onwards (same percentile as when he was born) all the way until today!

I am sharing my experience not to rob the rice bowl of any children expert or specialist. These are just musings from a mother who hopes to remind parents never to leave their child's health record purely with their doctors.

Keep the log with you, always. Whether it is written down somewhere or in your brain cells. Health history is a powerful tool to medical diagnosis and treatment down the road.

Parents are born with instincts to care and protect the little ones. That's what the cavemen did! They survived, right?

So, who is the best doctor for your baby? You!

Shirley Tan