Seeking Recommendation for Pediatrician-Santa Ynez Valley, CA or Surrounding...

Hello E.
Sadly there are very few peds to choose from here. I am interested in watching this post and seeing what info you get, if any. I'll give you my 2 cents.

I totally understand your predicament. I too am willing to drive an hour or more for certain things. My last pregnancy I drove all the way to SLO, because I wanted a VBAC that bad. But with a childs pediatrician, I dont think I would be willing to drive an hour with a sick kid, or worse baby. We have had too many to count last minute visits, late night phone calls, even a recent 2 am CT Scan. It has been very convenient to have our dr. relitively close by.

We see Dr. Howe. He was my husbands ped. as a child. But mainly the reason we chose him is because that was who the NICU recommended. My twin boys were born at 28 weeks, weighing 2 1/2 lbs., spent 2 months in the NICU and only came home weighing 5 lbs. I was not going to just choose anyone. Saunders and Howe are pretty different in their approaches, philosophies and people/kid skills. I suggest you meet them first and lay it out on the table. Discuss up front your concerns about your philosophies and theirs and how best you could work together. Remember this is YOUR baby, and you make the decisions. No matter which ped you choose, keep that in mind given that you may have conflicting philosophies with him/her.

I have had to stand my ground with regards to vaccinations and it was nerve wracking at first, now he just asks me if I am ready to do some and when I say no he pretty much leaves it at that. He is a very intelligent man/doctor and sometimes I feel he talks in too much technical speak for me--or over my head! He is great with the kids tho, very gentle and caring. He isnt perfect tho, and I dont think any dr. is. But, he missed thrush, even tho I knew it was. He told me it was curdled breastmilk, only to come back a week later with it still there and then he agreed it was. I do know he discourages circumcision. And Barbie and Colleen are great!

I grew up with Kaiser, so having this kind of small town doc/office is really appealing to me. I can almost drop in, they leave their cel phone numbers for after hours and I dont have to worry about parking (like SB). Trust me, I have had my share of dr. visits down there with my boys after they came home and what a pain and stressful situation that is (the crying, the timing of feedings) not to mention the sress of driving the dangerous pass (154) with such precious cargo. Good luck to you!

We use Dr. Patricia Erbe, who is in the Children's Medical Clinic in Santa Barbara with Dr. Rosen et al. I think she is great--no nonsense, chatty, volunteering information, intelligent without being intimidating, great with kids. Her staff is also very good. I can't speak to Dr. Erbe's familiarity with or openness to alternative medicine, but she seemed open to the idea of at least discussing the vaccination schedule, which makes me think she would be open in other ways. She does, however, advocate teaching the baby to go to sleep on her own, in her crib or bassinet, at 3-6 months, so if you're all about the family bed she might not be the best fit.

Dr. Mimi Doohan is in family practice in Goleta. She has an interesting practice: she only accepts two new mother-baby pairs each year as patients. She seems to have a good combination of allopathic training and a holistic approach to medicine and wellness. I saw Dr. Doohan when she was working in Dr. Ayesha Shaikh's OB office, and while her focus was not right for my needs, I could see how it would be appealing. Also, she seemed diligent and caring.

I think I had the same issue you did: I would have loved to find a pediatrician or family practitioner close to home (Lompoc), but I couldn't--the recommended ped in Lompoc wasn't taking any new patients. I didn't want to have to drive down to Santa Barbara every time there was a problem, but neither did I want to settle for a pediatrician I didn't like or trust very much. Finally I took the advice of a friend: she said to sign up with my favorite doctor, my first choice, without regard to distance. Baby could go to that doctor for all the well-baby stuff. If the baby got sick and needed to be seen immediately, the Sansum clinic in Lompoc would tide us over until we could talk to our ped.

Which has worked out well for us, although our daughter is admittedly fairly healthy and has not had to use the Sansum clinic at all. So if you find a doctor you love in Santa Barbara, it might be worth considering signing up with him/her and also learning more about the walk-in/same day clinics in the SYV.

Also, if you know the Santa Ynez childbirth educator Shawnda Marmorstein, she might be a good person to ask for a recommendation about local peds who are open to alternative medicine and supportive of attachment parenting.

Hope that helps.

Dear E.,
Hi neighbor! We live in Solvang and you will be happy to find that this area is great for raising a family. Unfortunately, the Pediatrician selection is not great. As far as I know, the only Pediatricians in the area are Dr. Howe and Dr. Saunders and they both work out of the same office in Solvang. Dr. Howe is very old school- lots of antibiotics for everything and PLEASE don't question the doc! When I interviewed him, he even suggested that his colleague, Dr. Saunders may be a better fit. (I was asking about doing a different vaccination schedule, or none at all). In any case, we have settled on Dr. Saunders. Although I do not find her to be the most educated in alternative therapies, and always seems in a hurry, she at least has been open to some of the newer research. If we lived closer to Santa Barbara, I would choose Dr. Black or perhaps Dr. Rosen. I have heard nothing but great things from friends about Dr. Black, and Dr. Rosen made a very good impression when we interviewed her (and is used by a few doulas I know). We started with Dr. Castaneda in Santa Barbara, who is warm and wonderful, but our baby had some health issues (which he has since outgrown) and she was at the time, not experienced enough with it to give us the reassurance we needed as first-time parents. AND driving to Santa Barbara once a week with a baby screaming for 40 minutes each way was too much. So- long story short- we have Dr. Saunders for the fact that she is convenient and she is ok. Sometimes as a parent, you realize that when your baby has a 104 degree fever, you are happy to have even an ok doctor who can see you NOW! Please feel free to call me sometime! I'd be happy to share anything I have learned.
S.
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My son goes to Dr. Tony Howe in Solvang and he works with another doctor, Michelle Saunders. I have heard though the grapevine that she looks at medical issues from all different approaches. I do not know this from first hand experience. I would do an interview with her. I absolutely love Dr. Howe. He is so intelligent and very to-the-point. He is always willing to hear my side, usually questioning the norm, and gives me good, research backed answers and explanations. Their office staff are great, very nice and helpful. Always one of the docs is on call and leaves their CELL phone # on the answering machine. I trust Dr. Howe with my son's life and feel really good and comfortable saying that. Their # is ###-###-#### and it's called Childrens Medical Clinic. Good luck!