If you’re new and just stopping in… welcome! We’re so glad you have found Scottsdale Moms Blog! Be sure to sign up for our Email or RSS Feed (if you don’t know what a RSS Feed is – the email option is for you :)) to stay up to date with all of our most recent SMB happenings.
Today we’re back with another Mommy SOS topic – insert my “Get Excited” cheer here (maybe I’ll have to post that sometime ;)) If you missed our first three posts be sure to check them out…Post 1. Strollers. Post 2. Potty Training and Post 3. OB/GYN/Midwife.
Now for our next topic…. while we’re on the doctor track we thought we’d see what Pediatrician’s you use.
Here’s Joy with her thoughts…
{Joy}I don’t know anything about choosing a pediatrician. I only “interviewed” one pediatrician’s office – and by “interview” I mean visit, get the tour etc. They seemed fine to me. My greatest concern was that the practice is very supportive of breastfeeding. They had one physician who specialized in lactation, so I felt good about it.
However, while I was in the hospital, the doctor on call came in, checked out my new baby and rattled off a list of things to look out for. All I can remember was she said “if the baby doesn’t eat for four hours, give her formula.” There were no conditions or circumstances married to this statement, she just said that. Welp, that didn’t sound very supportive of breastfeeding to me, so I switched practices.
I landed at Desert Ridge Children’s Center. Dr. Aggarwaal has a RN on staff who is also a certified lactation consultant. She was great to help me ease my concerns about how much food Reagan was getting. I also like it that, as an MD, Dr. Aggarwaal doesn’t give “text book” answers. He won’t give the same recommendation to one family that he will to another. Each situation is different and he takes our quarks, preferences and needs into account. I also like it that he has a background in holistic medicine so he has a well rounded perspective.
{Steph} Like Joy, I would not consider myself a specialist in choosing the “best” pediatrician…but this is how we decided to go to Dr. Nadine Kanagal with Scottsdale Children’s Group.
Very much like my OB/GYN decision….I relied heavily upon my mommy friends for their insight. I sent out an email probably half way through my pregnancy to all local mama’s asking them who they use. Turns out of the responses I received, about half of them (and I got 20ish responses) use a doctor at Scottsdale Children’s Group and of that group a large handful saw Dr. Kanagal. Sounded good to me – so I set up an interview with her.
At our interview I loved that I got to sit down with her one-on-one (no – not all pediatrician offices do this – oftentimes its in a group “Meet and Greet”) and she “fit the bill” so to say and seemed like a great fit for Nora’s first doctor. Since choosing her, we’ve been very happy with her (and all of the other doctors in the office) services and would highly recommend her.
…Your turn…
I want to know what Pediatrician you’d recommend and why. Oh – and share the location of their office too! Spill it….
I have always based my choices on referrals from other mom’s. My first son started with North Scottsdale pediatrics. We saw Dr. Matthew Barcellona there. I liked him because he is a very laid back doctor, and always answered any question I had very thoroughly. With my 2nd son, we had to choose a new doctor due to insurance change. We now see Dr. Traci Hurley, who we love equally as well. I can’t remember the name of the practice she’s with, I think it’s Scottsdale Pediatric Group.
We <3 Dr. Kanagal, but then again, I think we were one of the 20 that responded to you STRONGLY suggesting her, Steph!!! :0) Yeah, for Dr. K! (and yes, love all the docs there!) Can't go wrong with any of those docs!
My sister recommend me Dr Matthew Barcellona, she saw some show or something like that but she didn´t get the contact number. So, do you have the email, twitter, facebook or other way to contact Dr. Barcellona?
Thank you very much!
I have a 4 year old daughter
We see Dr. Agarwal also! Who is his nurse that is an LC also? Is it Ms. Diane? We have seen everyone in the practice and haven’t had a bad experience yet but we love Dr. Agarwal!
Hey Joy & Steph! Great article! We also go to Desert Ridge Children’s! I absolutely LOVE Dr. A and he ended up being the absolute perfect fit for us in so many ways. Over a year ago, my daughter began to have some kidney/bladder issues and lo and behold, Dr. A happens to have specialized in pediatric nephrology (kidney). ha! God knew before we did that he was the right Doc for my girl 🙂 And Steph, I know Scottsdale Children’s is a fantastic office too… when i was a nanny, that’s where I took those kids 😉
We were referred to North Scottsdale Pediatrics when my daughter was born. I made an appointment to see Dr Siegel. However, when we got there for her appointment at 4 days old we saw Dr Barcelona. I was not happy about the change of Dr’s – UNTIL we met Dr Barcelona. He was so good with her, very attentive, caring and calming. He has a lot of patience with my husband and I (being first time parents.. we always have a long list of questions). It’s doesn’t hurt that he’s a cutie pie.
I have about 5 other friends who go to him now as well and everyone just adores him as much as he adores their kids.
North Scottsdale Peds has 2 locations – 1 at 92nd Street & Shea and another at Scottsdale Road and Deer Valley.
We have been going to North Scottsdale Pediatrics at Deer Vally & 92nd St for 4 years now and we love it. We’ve seen pretty much every doctor there and we’ve been happy with all of them. It seems to be the place for female pediatricians to go when they are getting ready for maternity leave because it seems like there is always one or two dr out at any given time 🙂
We’ve been really happy with all the doctors and have been really impressed with their availability of sick appointments as well. The office staff is friendly & helpful, the locations are super convenient for us, and the on-call nurses have always been a great help also. We’ve been thrilled and plan to stay there with our second, whenever that happens.
Great post idea!
Steph I followed your approach. I checked with a bunch of mama’s that I knew and found our where they went. I was referred to Dr. DeLucca at Desert Sun Pediatrics (Tatum and Jomax) and I love him/them. I think it’s so awesome reading all the comments and how much each family has found a ped that they have connected with and trust with their children. Dr DeLucca has young kids of his own so he is often parenting through many of the same things that you are. It’s wonderful to have a knowledgeable dr with practical advice along with medical. Also, not a deal breaker on choosing the right dr, but I love that he has the same Christian beliefs that I do and attends a certain popular N. Scottsdale church.
Comments are closed.