How to Choose the Perfect Pediatrician for Your Baby
"How do I choose a pediatrician for my baby?" This question echoes in the minds of countless parents, emphasizing the weight of this pivotal decision. In the expansive realm of parenting choices, selecting the right pediatrician for your little one stands paramount. The task demands meticulous research and a discerning eye for quality and compassion. For those residing in Arizona, especially in the bustling expanse of the greater Phoenix area, the answer often converges on Agave Pediatrics. Celebrated as the unrivaled #1 pediatric care provider, Agave Pediatrics consistently epitomizes excellence, making it a beacon of trust and assurance for families navigating the journey of pediatric care.
1. Begin with Recommendations:
Often, the best insights come from those who have been there before. Parents within your community, friends, or family members can provide valuable feedback based on their personal experiences. Agave Pediatrics, with its esteemed reputation in Arizona, frequently garners recommendations, making it a trustworthy starting point for many families.
2. Evaluate the Pediatrician's Experience:
The journey of pediatric care demands seasoned expertise. At Agave Pediatrics, a dedicated team of experienced and compassionate pediatric providers stands ready to address your child's unique needs. Their commitment resonates with a promise to treat every child as their own, ensuring that families receive unparalleled care.
3. Assess the Range of Services Offered:
A comprehensive pediatric clinic should offer a broad spectrum of services catering to various needs. Agave Pediatrics excels in this domain, providing an array of services including regular check-ups, same-day sick visits, allergy testing, lactation services, tongue tie services, and more. Such diversity ensures that your child's health requirements, whether routine or specific, are aptly addressed under one roof.
4. Consider the Clinic's Accessibility:
Convenience plays a pivotal role, especially when it comes to pediatric care. Agave Pediatrics, with its strategically located clinics in Glendale, Goodyear, Scottsdale, Phoenix, and Chandler, ensures that families across the greater Phoenix area can easily access their trusted team. This widespread presence ensures that quality pediatric care remains within reach for numerous families.
5. Delve into Patient Feedback and Testimonials:
Patient testimonials and feedback serve as windows into the actual patient experience. Positive reviews often highlight aspects such as attentive care, timely appointments, and a nurturing environment. Agave Pediatrics, with its stellar reputation, consistently garners positive feedback from parents, further solidifying its position as a preferred pediatric care provider in Arizona.
6. Gauge the Pediatrician's Approach to Care:
Every pediatrician carries a unique approach to care. Some prioritize preventive measures, emphasizing routine check-ups and vaccinations, while others may focus on specialized treatments or holistic health. At Agave Pediatrics, a balanced approach ensures that children receive comprehensive care, encompassing preventive measures, timely interventions, and tailored treatments as required.
7. Consider the Clinic's Technology and Facilities:
Modern pediatric care thrives on cutting-edge technology and state-of-the-art facilities. A clinic equipped with advanced tools and facilities can offer precise diagnostics and effective treatments. Agave Pediatrics, committed to delivering top-notch healthcare, continually invests in advanced technology, ensuring that children receive care at par with global standards.
8. Assess the Pediatrician's Compatibility with Your Family:
Beyond qualifications and experience, the pediatrician's compatibility with your family plays a pivotal role. A pediatrician who understands your family's values, concerns, and preferences can offer personalized care, fostering a trusting relationship. Agave Pediatrics, known for its compassionate approach, prioritizes building connections with families, ensuring that every child feels comfortable and valued.
In Conclusion:
Choosing a pediatrician for your baby remains a significant decision, shaping your child's health journey. By considering factors such as experience, services, accessibility, patient feedback, approach to care, technology, and compatibility, you can navigate this decision-making process with confidence. In Arizona, Agave Pediatrics emerges as a beacon of excellence, standing as the #1 choice for pediatric care, dedicated to nurturing the health and well-being of every child.
For more insights into Agave Pediatrics and their services, visit their official website: Agave Pediatrics. Your child's health deserves nothing but the best, and with Agave Pediatrics, you're in trusted hands.
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Is My Child Tongue-Tied?
When we say, “tongue tied,” most of us think of a situation when we are too excited to express ourselves verbally. Although not a medical condition, tongue tie is the name for a fairly common condition that limits the movement of the tongue – medically referred to as ankyloglossia.
Before we are born, a strong cord of tissue called the frenulum is positioned in the center of the mouth and guides the development of the oral cavity. As we grow and develop, it thins and recedes to a small thin piece of tissue that attaches the bottom of the tongue to the floor of the mouth. In some children, the frenulum is especially tight or fails to recede and may cause difficulty with tongue movement. Ankyloglossia or tongue tie can cause eating or speaking difficulties in some children.
In infants, tongue tie can present with trouble sucking or poor weight gain. In breast-fed infants, it can cause trouble with latching, or the mother may experience pain when the baby is nursing. Some mothers give up nursing because of tongue tie that is not recognized. In toddlers and older children, tongue tie can be a cause of trouble with speech articulation, especially consonant sounds. Signs that your child may have difficulty due to tongue tie include a V-shaped notch at the tip of the tongue, inability to stick the tongue out past the gums, or simply difficulty licking an ice cream cone or lollipop.
Frenuloplasty
Because a shortened frenulum restricts the range of motion of the tongue, a frenulectomy may be recommended. A frenulectomy is a surgical procedure performed to clip the frenulum and release the tongue. In infants a frenulectomy can be performed as a simple office procedure with topical local anesthesia. Older infants and young children often require anesthetic gas for the procedure, but older cooperative children can also have the procedure safely with only local topical anesthesia. Although it is considered a safe and simple procedure, risks of a frenulectomy may include infection, scarring and excessive bleeding.
This procedure results in increased tongue mobility and problems with eating and speech are greatly improved. After surgery, most patients experience effective symptom relief and restored full movement to the tongue. In some cases, tongue exercises may be recommended to improve the movement of the tongue after a frenulectomy.
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Lip Ties, Tongue Ties, and Breastfeeding
New Post has been published on http://ourlittledinosaur.com/lip-ties-tongue-ties-and-breastfeeding/
Lip Ties, Tongue Ties, and Breastfeeding
My Experience with Lip and Tongue Ties
My son had trouble from the beginning latching on to breastfeed. When my milk came in three days after he was born, he was really struggling because my breasts were so full. (That can be difficult for any newborn even without ties).
I had a lactation consultant out and she watched us through the feeding and gave us some tips and gave us an A+. I guess because I had studied so much, I must have been compensating for any issues that were happening, because the outward perception was we were doing great.
By day five, I knew we were having a problem because he was hungry and frustrated but he wouldn’t eat. The LC had mentioned a possible lip tie, but I didn’t know what that was so it didn’t click for me that he had a birth defect. I just thought I wasn’t doing something right. On top of that, my nipples hurt. They were cracked and bleeding. (To read about those first days breastfeeding my son, click here.)
We went in for his check ups and he wasn’t gaining weight at all, so we started supplementing and went back to the LC. Now that he was a little older she said the tie wasn’t stretching and recommended we have it released. His tongue also looked fine, but as we found out at the pediatric dentist, he had a posterior tongue tie in addition to the lip tie.
When my son was just three weeks old we had both his lip tie and tongue tie revised with a surgery called a frenectomy.
What are Tongue Ties and How Do They Affect Breastfeeding?
I didn’t know anything about ties, so hopefully this will enlighten any of our readers. Basically, all over our bodies we have various frenulum, which is a small fold of tissue that prevents an organ in the body from moving too far. This tissue in my son’s upper lip and under his tongue were too restrictive, and both can cause problems with feeding, especially breastfeeding, (although it can cause issues with bottle feeding as well).
A tongue tie hinders the up-and-down motion of the tongue, which affects breastfeeding in that it is directly linked to low milk supply because there is not enough milk extracted from the breast.
With a posterior tongue-tie, the tongue does not extend over the gum, which causes the tongue to chew, or as I like to call it, “chomp” on the nipple.
How Do Lip Ties Affect Breastfeeding?
With a lip tie, the baby is unable to latch effectively. This is because the lip is hindered from flanging outward during a feeding. The mouth is unable to open wide and a smaller mouth opening means a shallower latch. So all the pain I was feeling was a combination of the tongue chewing on my nipple and my son sliding his latch down to just nurse on the nipple.
When breastfeeding correctly, you want a deep latch that includes the areola as well as the nipple. The lips form a much more effective seal when it is formed with the mucous membrane inside the lip, rather than the dry part of the outward lip. (This latch is correct, and thus pain-free!)
These ties were causing pain for me and beginning to cause me to have low milk supply because my son wasn’t able to latch properly or extract enough milk. In turn, this caused him to not gain weight and get labeled FTT.
Surgery to Release the Ties
The out-patient surgery, (or surgeries I should say), were very quick. Of course, before the surgery I was extremely emotional (being just three weeks postpartum, plus all we had been through with his sluggish weight gain and the crazy feeding routine we were following to get him to gain). It was the first time our son had ever been out of sight of either my husband or me.
Our pediatric dentist was recommended to us by my lactation consultant and he was such a kind and reassuring doctor. He was great with our tiny son and with us. When I inevitably started the waterworks, he said gently, “It’ll be OK mom.”
So they took my son into the other room and he had the laser surgery to remove both ties. It took less than 15 minutes. Due to the fact it was a laser surgery, there was no bleeding and very little inflammation. We were told we could give him “>numbing agent if needed. The only post-op care he needed, besides the mild pain relief, was very simple. We had to run our finger over the wounds both under his lip and under his tongue to keep the frenulum from reattaching.
We were also advised not to use coconut oil to aid in achieving a deeper latch, because it was such an effective healing agent.
Did Releasing the Ties Aid Breastfeeding?
The short answer is, yes. Some people see results right away and for others it takes time. We fell into the latter category. I believe that in those three weeks my son hadn’t been building the muscles he needed to breastfeed, so he had a lot of weaknesses in his mouth and jaw. We saw a speech pathologist to help strengthen these weaknesses. The release of both the lip and tongue tie, coupled with the help of the speech pathologist did lead to my son’s exclusively breastfeeding before he turned 3 months old.
Why Go Through All the Trouble to Breastfeed?
It was very important to both my husband and to me that I breastfeed my son. There are so many incredible benefits to breastfeeding a baby.
Also, lip and tongue ties can lead to other issues besides early feeding struggles, to include:
trouble with feeding an older baby or toddler solids,
speech challenges, and
dental problems.
So although breastfeeding was our main catalyst for having the ties released, we wanted to help our son avoid additional challenges later on as well.
For more information about the benefits of breastfeeding, read 15 Amazing Benefits of Breastfeeding.
Tell Us About Your Experience and Leave a Comment Below!
“Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4: 6-7
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