To be perfectly honest, I feel scarred from my experience at this office. Being a first time mom, you trust your provider and look to them for guidance. I left this practice having no trust in our pediatrician and feel I was misguided. I feel dr. Vieau let our daughter fall through the cracks. I have been debating for a while on whether or not to review this practice, but after much thought, I don't want another mother or child to go through what we went through.
I'm going to try to make this as concise as possible. Dr. Vieau diagnosed our daughter with colic from the jump. I told her she was screaming before and after feedings, didn't seem satiated, feeding every 2 hours. Etc. Up until our 4 month visit, Dr. Vieau never mentioned that our daughter may not be getting enough nourishment or that I could possibly be producing an inadequate amount of breast milk. At our four month visit, Dr. Vieau told us that she was concerned about our daughters weight and she had fallen below the 100th percentile. Her length and head circumference had dropped as well. She told us to supplement with formula, which we were happy to do. IMMEDIATELY the "colic" stopped. Our daughter gained about 2 lbs in a week and a half.
What really upsets me though is that if you look at the growth charts on her health portal, her weight to length was below the 100th percentile for MONTHS prior to her 4 month visit. Unfortunately, I was not looking at these charts. I trusted that my pediatrician was doing so. When we brought this to Dr. Vieau's attention, she told us "that chart really didn't matter." This doesn't make sense to me. A person who is 6 feet compared to a person who is 5 feet will weigh a different amount. Also, the chart that "didn't matter" was what was indicating that our daughter was trending down on her weight and needed supplementation sooner than we had given. If Dr. Vieau had paid attention to this chart, my daughter would not have had to go through countless nights of screaming and being hungry. I later spoke with my own PA who has worked in family practice and she disagreed with Dr. Vieau and said that this is arguably the MOST important chart.
Our daughter is now 7.5 months and in the 56th percentile at another practice that we love and trust. I feel absolutely sick that my daughter could have been crying due to hunger and Dr. Vieau called it colic. Human error is one thing but the evidence was there in the growth chart that "didn't matter." When I look back at pictures of my baby, I feel so incredibly sad. I thought she was just lanky like my husband but in hindsight and seeing where she is now, some pictures she looks unwell and underweight. I am angry that I look back on these pictures and feel sadness. I feel like I failed my daughter and like Dr. Vieau failed our family. Whether it was negligence, human error, or an honest mistake, it's just unacceptable when you're dealing with a child. read more
