Going to the Doctor

How do you make taking your toddler to the doctor easier?

Our Mommy MD Guide’s reply: One of the many things I love about my daughter’s pediatricians is that they have separate waiting rooms for sick kids and for well kids. I really appreciate that my daughter isn’t sitting next to a child with the flu while she’s waiting for her well visit!

I’ve been very fortunate that we haven’t had long waits at the pediatrician’s office. The pediatrician doesn’t have any toys in the waiting room, but there is a nice fishtank in the waiting room that my daughter loves to look at. I bring books and toys along in case we have to wait.

Once we get into the exam room, my daughter likes to play with the paper on the exam table. I know that’s not what it’s there for, but it’s a great alternate use!

—Rachel S. Rohde, MD, a mom of a one-year-old daughter, an assistant professor of orthopaedic surgery at the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, and an orthopaedic upper extremity surgeon with Michigan Orthopaedic Institute, P.C., in Southfield, MI