how often are you in the dr's office?

I've taken the kids in 6 times already this year, and it's only April! (Not counting any well baby checkups) They've been sick a lot, though. And now I'm debating calling for Zoe today.....she's had a nasty cough & cold but last night she just screamed & screamed and took forever to calm down (not normal for her) and dh & I are wondering if the cold's caused an ear infection. It's not something that I can tell - I'm always wrong about EI's. Does this seem an unusually high amount of times to be going in? What's your average?

 

We have been there alot! Mostly due to ds reflux. The receptionist even commented "boy, he's expensive isn't he?" ummm, okay. So to me it doesn't sound like alot of trips to the doc. <_< I think, for me, even if I *think* something is wrong, I would rather go in and have them tell me what's up. I think since they were born we must have been there about 10 at least, between the reflux, ei's and colds! :angry:

 

We have been there, no kidding, like once a week. Since they have been in daycare, we go ALOT. I told the receptionist (I know all of them on a first name basis) that I was going to buy a tent and live there. She said, quick as a whip, "but we've already order custom name tags for their room". :shok: :rofl:

Ya gotta love that at least for the comedic value!

Shannon

 

We have been very lucky with all of our children (knock on wood). C&C have never gone in outside of their well baby checks. We've called with questions, but nothing that required a trip to the doctor. My DD was only seen twice, once when she had rotovirus and once for thrush. Colby was the only one who was there more frequently, he had RSV at about 4 months, but for the first 2 years I think outside of well visits we only took him in 6 times. In all of our kids we've only had one ear infection, one case of rotovirus and a case of pinkeye (that I'm sure was misdiagnosed anyway) Of course we had the standard colds and runny noses, but nothing serious enough to prompt a trip to the doctor. The funny thing is my kids adore their pediatrician, as soon as they get a sniffle they're begging to go see him.
Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself now!

 

If you aren't counting check ups, I will have to say once to get their belly buttons couterized. My oldest this year was very lucky, no sick visits! I think since he turned 1, we went to the pedi for sickness once a year and that's it.

 

To the pedi's, only twice in the first year. Once for congestion before 6 months (RSV precaution but they didn't have it) and once for mommy panic over a lymph node that enlarged suddenly with no signs of illness. We haven't gone at all since they turned 1. They have been sick but it was your basic tummy bug -- nothing that the doc could help with.

 

We also have been lucky--so far it has been once per year for sick type visits per child.

 

QUOTE(NicoleT @ Apr 18 2007, 12:54 PM) [snapback]225414[/snapback]
We also have been lucky--so far it has been once per year for sick type visits per child.


Melissa has not yet had to go for anything but checkups. Jade has been in for several ear infection related visits, but not more than 3 in a year (I think three ever).

ETA: knock wood, we've been lucky, thank god, no one give me the "evil eye" please! :huh:

 

We only take them to the Dr for well baby visits

 

We have only been once this year and that was their 12 month appt. in Feb., but last year from April -Dec. (not including RSV shots), I voted 4-6. I do tend to take mine in a little more often since they are preemies. Now they have had a runny nose for a little over a week and I have not taken them in about that though. My sister who is a nurse listened to them and it's not in their chest and it's thin and clear, but the moment it gets thick/discolored I will be calling the ped. We also are very lucky to not have a copay on any dr. visits until age 13. But with them being preemies, I don't take any chances.

 

I believe we have been 4 times in 5 years besides regular checkups.

1) Kyle had a nose issue, I even forget now what it was called but essentially a blood blister that would never stop bleeding when popped
2) Kyle had a tick that I refused to remove
3) Kyle had a big huge zit that looked similar to previously mentioned blood blister (yes, I took my 4 year old to the doc because he had a zit!! :laughing: )
4) K got poison ivy!

 

Just a few times in their 3.5 years:

Aaron - severe eczema
Jacob - rota virus
Aaron - hand, foot and mouth
Jacob - fell out of bed and wouldn't stop crying
Aaron - croup, required breathing treatments

My kids have gone to preschool or baby's day out since their first birthday. We did see an increase in colds for the first few months once they started 3x/week, but nothing that required a doctor visit. They have never had an ear infection or taken antibiotics.

 

I'm definately in the 6+ range and have always been. My boys had a pretty challenging first year and we tend to deal with a lot of specialists. They're pretty healthy boys, but they still have problems (clotting issue, brain injury, severe asthma and allergies, seizures...) so we visit pretty frequently. I'm hoping we outgrow it one day!

 

We never (knock on wood) had to go to Dr. with Maria, but I called several times for an advice. Sophia is all another story, we've been to ER 5 or 6 times with all kinds of things.

 

Hardly ever. We have been very lucky. Actually at either their 12 or 18 month WBV the receptionist commented on how they must never get sick because we never come in.

Once during the first year for each of them -- Rita for reflux and Natalie for a rash (deemed "just a virus -- will go away on its own with no medication").

During the second year, twice each. Rita got a cold that developed into a very mild case of pneumonia, plus once she fell once and sprained her ankle so we had her x-rayed to rule out a hairline fracture, and Natalie had two episodes of colds that turned into wheezing/asthma issues. (One of those was actually an emergency room visit.) So far during the third year, only once for Natalie who again had wheezing/asthma following a mild cold. the did recently have a nasty stomach

We have been in day care since 4 months old and have hardly ever been sick. No ear infections so far, thankfully. Really the only major problem is that Natalie has these breathing issues that make even the slightest cold turn into a major asthma attack, but it seems like right now we've got that under control.

 

Wow! Some of you are VERY blessed! We practially live at the pedis office - and I am a pediatric RN, so it's not like I am taking them in for colds or things you just have to wait out.

In their first year we had many visits for reflux (found out they aspirated), eye infection for Josh, torticollis for both (PT at Gillette), Plagiocephaly for Noah (helmet appts every 1-2 weeks), exczema for both, staph infection for Josh (2 months of abx and a determatoligist appt), eye appts for the torticollis, hip US (new precaution taken for babies with tort, as many have hip displasia), weight checks due to not eating well/reflux, many sinus infections, an ER trip for Noah for vomitting/rota virus, and an ER trip for Josh for pneumonia, a trip to the Drs. for wheezing that sent them home with nebs for a week, surgery for NOah's torticollis (SCM release), and then a few appts for prolonged fevers (one was roseola, the other unknown), home IV therapy for vomiting/dehydration for both boys. That's all I remember right now, need I go on??

In the second year we have had many visits again, multiple ear infections for Josh that required IM Rocephin (so as many as 3-4 trips a week to the office, we did this a few times), Surgery for JOsh for ear tubes, ENT appts for Josh, a hospitalization for Josh for very bad pneumonia, two appts for Noah due to reflux returning, a few appts at the feeding clinic for oral averions due to reflux, an ER trip for Josh for a possible broken nose, an ER trip for Noah for stitches, an ear infection for Noah, and I think that is about all I can recall right now (or care too).

Thank goodness we have insurance, but our kiddos are very expensive!! I hope to soon know what it's like not to go every week!!

 

Under a year they were in twice, once from a reaction to immunization and another for ear infection/cold.

They are 16m now and haven't gone yet ...knock on wood!!...

 

We've been very fortunate. Ours haven't been to the doctor many times at all with the exception of wellness visits. We definitely fall into the 0-3 range.

 

I lost count long ago, but I'm sure "6 or more" is a safe bet in both cases, because for awhile there I was going nearly every week. In the first year, Amy had at least 4 visits related to her hernia alone (fixed with surgery at 10 weeks). And this past winter, Sarah had a months-long cough (which Amy occasionally shared) that I kept taking her in for every few weeks, just to make sure she didn't have pneumonia.

It's funny though, on the whole I consider them pretty healthy. Other than a mild case of RSV (Sarah) and a medium case of roseola (Amy), plus the hernia surgery, they haven't had anything serious.

 

We have been extremely lucky. Other than their well baby visits I have only had to take Sofia in once. We have had our shares of colds/viruses but luckily none of them warranted a drs visit.

 

We had the worst winter. Robert had so many ear infections we ended up getting tubes. Steven had 1. Then they got a nasty virus at Christmas, which after 3 days of fever, vomitting and diaherra I took them in and 1 had an ear infection. The other got one a few days later. Then one had chicken pox and one had the flu and of course they shared!! Add a few more ear infections in there and we went to the drs office every 2 weeks for awhile!! Spring has been kinder to us!

Cindy

 

I would say on average that for each of my kids from age 0-12months at most they were at the doctor 1 time for a sick visit...honestly I can only remember each of them getting 1 cold from 0-18months, and I don't usually take them in to the doctor's for just a cold... so I probably really didn't have any sick visits from 0-18 months for my kids... Now for each of my kids they each got their first ear infection somewhere between age 18months -24 months... and of course that requires 1 visit to the doctor...this year I've taken all or some of my kids in for a total of 3 sick visits so far...but I still get to pay co-pay for all of them if I need to take them in... In february, my kids all got double ear infections along with a really nasty rsv-like cold... this required an office visit for all of them. later in that month they all got a stomach bug...it was fast and violent, but didn't require a doctor's visit. Just this week my older dd got another stomach bug, it was very slow and prolonged...she's been hardly eating or drinking and extremely lethargic for three days now, so I took her to the doctor to check for dehydration... so there's another visit. So this winter in total we've had 2 mild colds, one very nasty rsv-like plus ear infection thing, 2 stomach bugs.... by far our "sickest" winter... but my kids are all 2 and up, so I think they pick things up more easily. Let's hope for a better year next year!

 

My kiddos were very sickly for the first 3 years, and even now, at 5 1/2 we are not without illness, although it is less than it used to be. I was very sickly as a child too, so I am not sure if that has anything to do with it or not. BUT, now that their tonsils and adenoids have been removed, we are hoping for less issues. Jaydon has a lot of respiratory problems and has had pneumonia 6 times in 3 years. For the record, I stayed home for 1 year, they had a nanny for 2 years, and have been attending preschool for 2 years, so in our case, the illnesses did not increase as a result of being around other children. They were sick from day-1.

 

I voted 6 or more for when they were under 1. They had a lot of sicknesses this year. Now that they just turned 1 on the 6th I had to take them to the drs and it was found that they had ear infections. I bet I will be taking them a lot more when fall and winter hit again.