Pediatrician Anxiety

My daughter went through a phase of not being comfortable with any man other than her father - nothing bad ever happened with her, but she just didn't like them. At my peds office, the nurses actually give the shots so the most invasive procedure the doc does is checking ears or throat - not sure if yours is the same way or not....but other person had suggested that your daughter associated doctor with the shot or painful procedure. In our case, that wouldn't be an issue. Our ped is a woman which works well for my daughter. Have you noticed her having problems with other men?

Does she maybe have a thing against men?? Or maybe different aspects of men? You know beards, mustaches, glasses, skin tone, or hair style?? These are all things that children can and very commonly afraid of. Look into one of these before changing peds.

My mother told me I was like that as well. Does your pediatrician administer the shots or a nurse? If it's the doc, it might be because of that. Or you can always try another doc just to see if it gets better?

It is most likely what the doctor has done to her that bothers her, rather than the doctor himself. I'm sure she connects him with shots and pain and some prodding over her short 3 years. I would definitely mix it up and see different doctors, both men and women and see if she reacts any different to a woman.

You need to be firm with her and explain that the doctor is there to help her feel better and keep her healthy, sometimes a little pinch is involved but its over quickly. Toddlers can be a real handful.

Good luck.

My first instinct is to tell you to try a different pediatrician immediately...if she reacts the same then you know its not anything to do with your current pediatrician. If she does not....that would raise some serious red flags for me.

Sorry but I had to laugh. I was the same way as a toddler. My Mom loves to tell the stories that at check-ups it would take 3 nurses and her to hold me down while the Dr would examine me. It turned out it was the white coat that freaked me out. If her Dr wears a white coat see if he could remove it before entering the room. Or maybe sneak in stickers of her favorite things( Dora, Disney, Elmo.....) Have the Dr put on the sticker before entering the room.

Do you vax? If she associates pain with the ped, that would make sense for her to act that way. Not sure there's much you can do about that. :(