One more question... as we move to San Antonio, we are unfortunately leaving behind a great integrated medicine pediatrician who not only practices normal medicine, but also works on a delayed (more spread out) vaccination schedule, and encourages better health through diet (i.e. probiotics, DHA (cod liver oil), etc.) Do any of you know of a pediatrician like this in San Antonio? At a minimum, do you know of someone that is open to the Dr. Sears delayed vaccination schedule where the child still receives all vaccinations, but just not at the normal stacked intervals. Thank you in advance!!!
We use Dr. Melanie Mitchell. I am not sure if we used the Sears method but we did chose to spread out vaccines as much as possible and she does believe in diet as well as supplementation. We have not discussed the fact that we used chiropractic and massage on our daughter as well so I am not sure how she would react to alternative medicine.
Hi, this is a response to Wendy J. I can't even imagine you are speaking about the same Melanie Mitchell that I just switched FROM. (From Northeast Pediatrics in Stone Oak)
My oldest has ADHD, poss autism and many other issues, and my middle one has some medical issues as well. Both of these children became very sick at 1 yr and in hindsight it was quite obvious that they reacted to their MMR. When I spoke to her about splitting up the MMR for baby #3, she was reluctantly willing to do so but said fine. When I wanted to do an entire delayed vaccine schedule she became so visibly angry with me and handed me a letter from MERCK that stated how safe vaccines were and how my child could die from that b/c of the potential of contracting one of the diseases.
Aside from that she lacks any patience for my special needs child (speaks to him as if reprimanding a dog when he exhibits undesirable behaviors) and has been very unprofessional to me as well. In my opinion, she does not like informed parents who ask questions. When I asked a question related to my youngest not walking yet at his 15 mos well check, she responded, "If your rubber band were wound any tighter, it would pop across the room!" Translation: she thinks that I worry too much. Yet, she failed to answer my very normal question related to my son's muscle tone.
On Christmas Day she was paged b/c my youngest was very sick for over 4 days and not getting better. I explained his symptoms:fever, listless, deep cough, no appetite, extremely fussy. Her answer: Whatever! If he has a bad night, you call me in the morning! Well thank God I did NOT listen to her and took my son to the ER. He had pneumonia and a double ear infection. The ER doc said he was not yet in respiratory distress, but had we waited, he would have been. Very SCARY. I had been been searching for a new pedi but immediately switched after that incident.
And Wendy J, the only thing I can think of is that she agreed to this a long time ago and still is willing to accommodate you. But after all I have listed, anyone can read this and decide for themselves to see her. Even when we discussed the GFCF diet in the past, she half smiled and said take your son to on of these doctors, referring to a list of child psychiatrists. So, one thing I can say definitively is that she is NOT for any delayed vaccine schedule and she does NOT believe in alternative medicine. And with the other info I have listed, is Melanie Mitchell a good practitioner at all???
This is another recommendation for Diane McMains. We've taken our son to her since he was born 2 years ago, and we really like both her and her partner. They are very pro breastfeeding, and they are willing to delay vaccines (Dr. Mcmains pointed out that it's more dangerous to drive your child to her office than it is to give him/her vaccines, which makes me think she doesn't agree with delaying necessarily, but she'll do it and not give you any trouble).
She was recommended to me by my doula, and I think a lot of natural minded families see her.
Dr. Dianne McMains (281/winding way) was mentioned below and she was referred to me by a friend for the specific reasons you mentioned. We have not used her yet but she comes highly recommended.
Interesting. We were referred to Dr. McMains also. I had a consultation with her about our desire to delay vaccinations when our baby girl is born any day now. She was open to the delayed scheduled. My midwife refered me to her.
I looked up Dr. McMains and she is no longer willing to see patients on delayed vaccine schedules. Does anyone else have a recommendation? Please, we're getting desperate here ... Thanks!
I just moved to San Antonio as well, so welcome (from one newcomer to another)! I am just about to give birth to our first baby, and have the same opinion as you do about vaccinations! We chose Dr. Diane McMains (off of 281 between Brook Hollow and Bitters). I know that there are other pediatricians in the area who share this perspective, but we chose her specifically because of a recommendation from our childbirth instructor. Give her a call and see if it's a good fit! You can have a new parents consultation and ask all your questions for free. Good luck!
With all the controversy with vaccines, it is a good thing to find a Dr who is open. It is great to learn about alternatives and not just rely on drugs. Have you ever heard of Dr. Sherry Tenpenny? She is actually on the anti-vaccine side, has some good books and videos on vaccines. Always best to be informed and learn about all options. c
www.mybiopro.com/claudia13 (learn how to protect your children from cell phone radiation and EMFs).
