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

[MrsTawdry]

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...

What are "anidoctals"?

You won't get much support here - you have learned a lot this morning, haven't you?

I think if parents are worried about their children it's inappropriate for others to make judgements about whether they need to seek medical advice. The doctor is perfectly at liberty to advise them if they've attended unnecessarily and other people should mind their own businesses.

YABVVVVU. My son would be dead if I had played it cautious. It was only because I thought that Dr's are gappy to see little ones that I took him and he was very ill indeed. I hadn't gauged it right at all. And I thought I was a ( mwdically) well versed, balanced, observant parent.

traindrops :-)

I took my 13yo in with a suspected ear infection the other day - turned out her ear was fine.

Next time I'll know to check with the OP first whether or not we should have gone...

My DD has a heart condition which means what most people would consider normal symptoms of a virus require an ultrasound or chest X-ray.

I can imagine most people would look at her and think i'm just a paranoid first time mum wasting time at the surgery/hospital, but fortunately I don't give a flying fuck what other people think, and if you mentioned this to me in real life, you would be made to feel very small indeed.

Sorry, rant over.

Toasty since I pointed out in my OP that the DC I was talking about weren't ones with impaired immune systems etc then it should be pretty obvious I wasn't referring to you or your child. so you don't NEED to give a flying fuck what anyone else thinks. Furthermore, since the people I'm talking about are all known to me, why would I judge anyone I didn't know OR their reasons for being at the GP?

So you wouldn't be "making me feel very small indeed" at all thanks.

landrover I knew you'd say Meningitis. It's a too common story, people not recognising symptoms until it's too late.

Ds had meningitis at 7 weeks. He had a temperature and was a bit off.
That was it.
Luckily my GP recognised it wasn't right and the 2nd GP believed me that this wasn't normal for him and sent us to children's ward.
Now temps send me into a panic & my GP always says she'd rather see a healthy child than miss a poorly one.

Everyone needs to know this

don't wait for the rash

I guess it depends on the mum herself. She is in the best position to judge her child. More often than not as it happened in my case my child was really unwell but by the time we got the appointment and were actually able to see the GP he just looked better after a terrible night. Its just better to be safe with kids specially if they have any previous medical history. Also, you just never know with babies.

I was like that. Then waited a while and took 10 year old with what I though was a UTI, turned out he has type one diabetes.

I tend to think you need to trust parents and most Drs agree with that.

Hey, big apologies, I didn't mean to direct that at anyone personally, but reading my post back it did come across like that.

In a way I agree with you, I wouldn't have to justify myself so strongly if so many people didn't take up appointments for no good reason.

I think the problem is that we do not live within extended families so much now, where the wisdom of grandparents is on tap. Parents lack the confidence with dealing with sick children (and parenting generally) because they have very littlle experience with children before they have their own.
A GP friend told me once that if he heard a grandparent was concerned, she was concerned!

That's an interesting point IreneA78 .

Another point to chuck in - the dreaded attendance letter from school. My DS is off at the moment with a cough/high temperature. He has SN which means he misses school for appointments (which can't be rescheduled out of school hours). So this, plus the normal run of illness that lots of 6yos get, means his attendance is under the required level.

I feel pressure from the school as a result of letters/phone calls to take him to the GP so he can be properly signed off ill; he had tonsillitis just before Xmas and we had to show them his prescription for antibiotics and paracetamol. I don't necessarily want meds for him this time; I just don't want to have to prove myself to an EWO. I feel I need proof that I'm not just keeping him off for no reason!

I'm not saying I would take him to the GP over this; the issues with the school are a factor in my decision though.