Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think people take their DC to the doctor too often?

139 replies

MrsTawdry · 06/03/2015 22:04

AIBU? So many people I know are always off to the docs with their DC. "Oh he's been coughing and sneezing for the last two days"

Or "Oh she's not eating her dinner and sleeping badly..." that one was about a teething toddler by the way.

I didn't even take my DDs when they had Chicken Pox!

Was that bad of me? I just gave them some over the counter medicine and applied calamine and some other stuff the chemist gave me for the bath.

Should I have taken them? Am I lax?

The DC I'm talking about don't have impaired immunes or asthma or anything...

OP posts:
Purplepumpkins · 07/03/2015 09:24

Another child I nannied for had pneumonia and we were laughed out of the dr's surgery three times before we took her to A and E.

LePetitMarseillais · 07/03/2015 09:27

Aren't you a hero- Thefirst Hmm

We had repeat visits for tonsillitis which resulted in a tonsillectomy. Not entirely sure what not visiting the doctor would have achieved.

TheFirstOfHerName · 07/03/2015 09:31

No, just fortunate enough to have healthy children. I think I explained that in my first comment.

keepsmiling2015 · 07/03/2015 09:34

YANBU! I know loads of people like this. It does my head in!

GlitzAndGigglesx · 07/03/2015 09:40

I will take my child as many times as it takes to get the right answers and medication. For months my dd had a bad cough and I put it down to the weather. Every gp visit led to me being told to give her paracetamol which clearly wasn't helping. I ended up taking her to A&E where she was correctly diagnosed with a chest infection and 2 weeks of antibiotics cleared it up. It shouldn't take regular visits to the GP and being brushed off all the time to diagnose a sick child.

FFSletmechangemyname · 07/03/2015 09:40

I don't think YABU, there are people out there who take their children to the GP all the time for minor illnesses.

I have a friend that does and she's learnt not to tell me she's been because tbh I do roll my eyes at her now. Her children are older 10 and 13 so can certainly say when they are really unwell but every little thing and she is there.

I hate going to the docs as I just feel like I'm wasting their time and mine as more often then not I sit there for an hr waiting past the appointment time to spend 5 mins in there to be Told it was exactly what I thought anyway, and usually there is nothing they can do about it anyway.

I now go to the chemist if I have problems as it's much quicker, i took DD Into the chemist last week for a poorly finger to be told it was infected and to see the doctor, so I knew I wasn't wasting time then at least.

insancerre · 07/03/2015 09:41

I work with children and I am surprised at how many parents take them to a and e when they are poorly
People do seem to have lost the ability to care for children with minor ailments and illnesses

LePetitMarseillais · 07/03/2015 09:44

Your post has a very braggy tone.

Cornettoninja · 07/03/2015 09:53

There're extremes at both ends of the scale. Tbh I think some people are just more inclined to take themselves and their families to the doctor regardless of age. Whether that's to do with expectations i.e everything can be treated, or lack of confidence I'm not entirely sure.

I have seen examples of people who think that any ailment should have a 'cure' and that there should be no expectation of just riding out a sickness.

Some things I've come across as reasons for referrals to specialisms have surprised me as the symptoms prompting the referral are things that would never occur to me personally as reasons to go to a GP. I'm not clinical but in the abscene of accompanying symptoms I'm quite surprised some of the stuff makes it to a specialist referral to be honest.

Eva50 · 07/03/2015 10:16

I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times (between them) that ds1 (19) and ds2 (17) have been to the GP.

Ds3 (8) was born with breathing problems and developed bilateral pneumothorax. He had chest drains and was in NICU for several days. I was called in the middle of the night as he had "taken a turn for the worse".

For the first 18 months of his life I took him to the GP with bad colds, croup and viruses and on at least half these occasions, on reflection, I'm sure he didn't really need to be seen. However on two occasions we were sent to A&E, once in an ambulance and he needed steroids so I still feel I did the right thing as it was really hard to judge (and I'm a HCP).

Fortunately he is now very well and hasn't been to the GP since he was 2 but I do think it's better to be safe than sorry.

DrCoconut · 07/03/2015 10:21

DS2 had a bad cold that turned into bronchiolitis. We were wary of wasting the out of hours GP time with a cold but DS was really not himself. He ended up being admitted to hospital and given oxygen. So no I don't take chances with his chest now, I know when he needs to be seen even if others think it's just a bit of a cough or whatever.

GlitzAndGigglesx · 07/03/2015 10:31

insancerre I'm even more surprised at how many doctors struggle to come up with a proper diagnosis and ignore parents because they're the ones with the qualifications. How can a triage nurse tell me she's not qualified to listen to my childs chest?! If a child is struggling to breathe they clearly need urgent help

LePetitMarseillais · 07/03/2015 10:32

The one and only time I called an ambulance I got told off for not calling it quicker- dc fighting for breath with croup.

Gunpowder · 07/03/2015 10:43

landrover I'm so sorry. Flowers

I think this is a really tricky one. Of course there are some people who are massive hypochondriacs but I think they are very few. There are also people who are v. lucky and never get ill. Most of us are trying to be advocates for our DC, and if you think there is a chance it could be something serious/needs treating, I think it's right to seek medical help, especially when they are tiny and can't communicate and can go downhill so quickly.

traindrops · 07/03/2015 10:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

WhyNotSmile · 07/03/2015 11:01

I do think people forget that for minor things there is the option of seeing a pharmacist. They will often be able to give advice and recommend medication, or will tell you that you need to see the GP. It's different with a small baby who can't tell you what's wrong - I'd be more inclined to go straight to the GP with them - but for older children the pharmacist may well be able to help.

ForalltheSaints · 07/03/2015 11:08

It is not the parents taking their children to the doctor that is annoying, it is the people who will not make lifestyle changes or just seeking a certificate to be away from work.

MrsPeabody · 07/03/2015 15:27

YABU

I am a very robust mother Wink and my first has barely seen a doctor.

If my second becomes unwell he always gets the worst version and ends up at a&e. I take him to the doctors for every sniffle now in the hope of catching things earlier.

landrover · 07/03/2015 16:12

Thankyou all xxxx My experience has obviously made me very bitter unfortunately! (One day I will tell you all the whole story, because then you will understand the true behaviour and thinking of so called experts!!)

Anyway, on a lighter note, that happened 14 years ago and I now have a wonderful and mainly healthy 11 year old daughter! It still takes a lot for me to take her to GP believe it or not! Not helped probably by the fact that we thought that if we stayed with the same practice that let us down, we might receive better treatment (not sure that that is the case!)

I still believe that on the whole, people don't visit the doctors willy nilly. Lets face it, its a complete pain trying to get through and arrange an appointment to start with! However I do firmly believe that doctors still blame a "virus" on anything that they can't diagnose, its very easy to say isn't it?

I can take my dog to the vet and the vet will believe everything I tell them about my dog. Can you honestly say that about your GP? Hmmmm not sure! My daughter died of meningitis, at the time Dr Hilary was all over the tv telling us parents what to look for, sadly nobody shared that information with the doctors we saw!

MrsPeabody · 07/03/2015 17:52

Sorry for your loss Landrover.

expatinscotland · 07/03/2015 17:54

YABU. Why do you care? It's none of your business.

greenfolder · 07/03/2015 18:00

i used to have to review medical notes. sometimes they would arrive in a box, and documented that the person had been literally every 2 weeks since being born to their thirties. One memorable entry was "went to aerobics yesterday, legs hurt today, gave reassurance."

i dont think that many people go too often in the whole tho- after all its so hard to get an appointment. I am lucky to have healthy kids who probably went about 4 times each in childhood, but if i had had kids who caught everything I would have taken them a lot more. in any event, a parent who is concerned about their child should have fast access to expert medical help. its what we pay our taxes for.

ElmerRocks · 07/03/2015 18:39

My DD (almost 3) I took her once when she was a baby, with nappy rash!
Sounds ridiculous, nappy rash? Something nearly all babies get, you can get such a wide range of creams to help over the counter. Except that for DD none of them worked! Not one, I tried all of them, I tried natural methods like beaten egg, bicarbonate of soda in a bath etc. I changed nappy brand, and baby wipes. I eventually phoned the Dr when her whole downstairs, front and back was red and bleeding, starting to blister in places. I felt like such a time waster, it was nappy rash fgs.
She ended up with steroid cream for it. A high dosage of it too! Cleared it up with in days.
So you see, She needed to be seen. But when you hear the words 'I took her to the Doctor because of nappy rash' I bet you thought [hmmm]
But if you had seen the poor girl, you would have understood.
She cried every time she weed. Poo was awful as I had to thoroughly wipe round. She was in pain all day long...

As a rule, I only ever use GP as a last resort. My twins were always in as little ones, they were 6 weeks prem with under-developed lungs, which meant that every cold they had went straight to their chests. They had to have antibiotics every time or they couldn't breath! Sad
I hate pumping them full of pharmaceuticals, and my GP knows this, he has been my GP since I was 2 (I'm now nearly 30) so he knows, if I call, I've tried everything else and they need to be seen. He knows I'm not a timewaster. I nearly always get an appointment if I call for one.

ElmerRocks · 07/03/2015 18:40

Meant to add, since the twins were about 4 and their lungs finally became stronger, we have been to the GP for them maybe 3 times between, they are 9 now...
So while I 'used' the system a lot for the first 4 years, they've hardly been in the last 5...

traindrops · 07/03/2015 19:24

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.