Another vote for Dr. Kute! Actually, can I vote more than once? Because I REALLY REALLY think she's great. (It's actually pronounced "KOO-tay" but we can't resist saying "It's time to take Mr. Cute to see Dr. Cute!")
http://www.drkute.com/
I've had the benefit of being able to compare Dr. Kute's practice to a more "mainstream, typical" one, because I took my first son to North Atlanta Pediatrics and three years later, I wasn't completely happy with them and found someone else for my second son. (She came at the recommendation of a VERY well respected midwife in the Atlanta area, Margaret Strickhouser, in case you are familiar with her.)
What a difference! The very first visit, when I was interviewing peds, Dr. Kute's was the ONLY office that did NOT immediately give me a free formula marketing bag. (Euphemistically called a "breast-feeding success bag" - but it's got a can of formula in there because companies know if you've got it, you'll use it. Free formula samples from doctors have been shown to reduce breastfeeding rates and the time spent breastfeeding. So why are "breastfeeding-friendly" pediatricians handing them out?)
Also, for the interview, all the *other* pediatric offices had a scheduled time when a group of 6-15 people came in, listened to a prepared lecture by one of the doctors, followed by a group Q&A session where you had to spend 30 minutes listening to questions and answers you could care less about, maybe even questions you thought were... dare I say... dopey? It was COMPLETELY different when I went to interview Dr. Kute, she just sat down with me in an examining room, just the two of us, no prepared lecture, and she said "What do you want to know?" I had her UNDIVIDED attention. Until I ran out of questions!
And two and a half years later, I *still* feel like I can have her undivided attention. With my first son's ped, if I have a question, I call in and leave a message and later on a nurse will call me back - I've never gotten to talk to his doctor. And if it's after-hours, I'm referred to a CHOA hotline that isn't even associated with the practice. With Dr. Kute's office, I've ALWAYS gotten a call back from Dr. Kute, and a couple of times the receptionist said "hang on just a minute, she's in between patients right now, so I'll get her." And for after-hours (you're not going to believe this!) - she has a cell phone on her nightstand by her bed!! I called her a little late one night, and it rang, woke her up, and I spoke directly with her. (I felt a little bad about waking her, and I'm very careful now not to call unless I *really* need help. But when it's late at night and you have what *might* be an emergency, it's really comforting to talk to someone who knows YOUR baby.)
Then when I was still in the hospital right after the birth, she didn't insist that the baby be taken away from me and put in the nursery for the first visit, as the other practice. (In fact, I didn't even get to see the doctor I had chosen, because a different doctor was "on rotation" for that day.) But Dr. Kute (herself) came to visit us in my recovery room. And she also didn't seem as... "paranoid," you know, looking for something wrong. Sometimes it takes a little time for the milk to come in, and usually infants lose a little weight the first couple of days. Her calm confidence made me calmer and more confident, and... it just made things easier.
A lot of doctors SAY "Of COURSE we support breastfeeding" but then when any little issue comes up, they give awful advice. That happened to me 3 or 4 times at North Atlanta Pediatrics - the advice the doc or nurse gave was the exact OPPOSITE from the lactation consultant's advice. It was like they were (unintentonally) setting me up for failure. Similar thing with circumcision - they all *say* that it's a parent's choice, but then they give bad advice about caring for an intact boy. Unintentional I'm sure, but if you've actually *raised* a few intact boys, as she has... you'll have better advice - you won't be telling folks to pull back skin and scrub. (ouch!)
(1)Dr. Kute (as someone mentioned) is an IBCLC (certified lactation consultant) as well as a pediatrician. I don't have to double-check every piece of advice by running it by a lactation consultant. I don't even have to make a different appointment, I can just ask my questions as part of the regular check-up.
(2) She is VERY comfortable with attachment parenting because she comes from a different culture (India), and so a lot of her clients have different cultural norms (like bed-sharing, extended breastfeeding, etc.) She even had a "Hathor the Cow Goddess" cartoon in her waiting room!
(3) While she uses the CDC vaccination schedule as a guideline, she is more flexible than some other pediatricians. For instance, if I recall correctly, she advised us to wait 6 weeks before administering a Hepatitus B shot, instead of doing it immediately, but she made sure to ask us if there was anyone in our household with Hep B or if there was any other reason for particular concern. She's also more willing to spread out the vaccines a little more, so that the kid isn't getting too many at one time which is h*** o* thier immune system.
(4) When I wanted a thimerisol-free flu shot for my older son (then 3), North Atlanta peds didn't even stock it, and when I asked why not, one of their nurses had a big LOUD argument with me right there at the front desk. Basically saying that the CDC says it's completely safe and only autism fear-mongers were paranoid. (The fact that the National Institutes of Health and Environmental Working Group thought it was controversial meant nothing to her.)
Dr. Kute's office on the other hand, not only stocked the thimerisol-free flu shot, but it was the ONLY flu shot they would use for their youngest patients. AND they let me bring in my older son, even though he wasn't a patient -his younger brother was.
And when the Flumist first came out, Dr. Kute didn't give it to any of her patients until she tried it out on HERSELF and HER OWN KIDS first! One of her sons had a reaction, even though he had never had asthma, so she was very cautious last year. (Although she later said that the FluMist ended up preventing the flu better than the traditional shot, so this year she used it more.)
(5) Another thing about shots - at the first pediatrician's office, I was supposed to put the baby on the table and stand back for the injections. I wasn't even comfortable *asking* if I could hold the baby or nurse him while the shot was administered, and when I finally did work up the courage once, they were worried about accidentally injecting me and they refused. At Dr. Kute's office, *they* asked *me* if I wanted to hold and nurse the baby while he got his shots, because they knew it was the best way to minimize the pain.
(6) The last time I checked, Dr. Kute had books in her waiting room about things like the family bed, attachment parenting, breastfeeding, even non-violent communication,
etc.
(7) And she EXPLAINS stuff. She doesn't just say "Do X" without explaining WHY it's important. And sometimes, once you have all the background information, you may find out that, whatever the "rule" or advice is, may not apply to your situation. (Like the rule about when to switch from whole milk to 2% or skim milk. If your kid is vegetarian and gets very little animal fat and is in NO danger of being remotely overweight, you may want to continue whole or 2% milk longer. Just as an example.)
I thought there would be some pros and cons dealing with a small practice compared to a big one. So far, (after 2 and a half years), I've ONLY seen pros.
Sorry if I went on so long - I just love her so much.
