I have never seen Dr. Schening except when she helped to diagnose a skin issue on my toddler. I do…read morelike Melissa. However, other practitioners at this office have caused me to look elsewhere for my children's care. I actually should have transfer care a long time ago. In short, they often take a "wait and see" approach instead of investigating what issues are presented. This has caused a lot of stress and has caused me to often look elsewhere to get the care my son needed.
The first red flag should have been when my now 2 year old was about 6 weeks old. He had a lot of issues (later diagnosed as GERD, which I learned is extremely common in preemies) and exhibited horrible screaming, crying, vomiting, etc. I talked with one of the nurse practitioners about how little sleep I was getting and what a struggle it was. She told me to let him cry and close the door on him so I could get some sleep. !!!! I am definitely not a proponent of cry-it-out, and the whole suggestion seemed so wrong to me. I could not (and would not) entertain that suggestion - leaving my preemie infant to cry alone. And that didn't address the issues.
The office often suggests holistic remedies first, which I do think is great. However, that wasn't working for him, and I ended up having to find other providers to help us. We ended up with a slew of tests and studies. He ended up having laryngomalacia, a lip tie, a posterior tongue tie (which the NP advised me NOT to have revised... I went against the advice at the recommendation of two IBCLCs, and only in doing so was he able to finally breast feed!), and the aforementioned severe GERD.
He has continued to have issues, most notably related to sleep. In his entire life, he had never slept through the night once. He would hit, kick, thrash, and scream through the night. The practitioner basically told me that the sleep issues were normal and that I should cut out daytime naps because it's taking so long (1+ hours) for him to fall asleep. He only sleeps 8 or so broken hours at night and has dark circles under his eyes!!! I am floored that advice would be offered, as kids his age need 12-14 hours of sleep. The NP also mentioned that a sleep study could be done. I left feeling defeated and (again!) as if no one was listening to me or willing to help me with my concerns.
That night ended up being exceptionally horrible in terms of sleep: I believe my son had a sleepwalking episode. That morning, I called the office to see who they could refer me to for a sleep study. When they returned my call, I was told that no one would do a sleep study on a child under the age of 4. First of all, that contradicts what I was told the previous day at our appointment. Second of all, I called a sleep center myself, and they told me that they absolutely do sleep studies on children under 4.
Those experiences, compounded with one of my final experiences, caused me to leave the practice for good. I brought my newest baby in for a well visit, and I explained to the practitioner that meal times and bedtime are both extremely stressful. I started crying, because I was so overwhelmed with both things. Instead of offering help or asking me to explain, the practitioner told me I needed to reach out to my midwife. The NP suggested that I had PPD, which was absolutely not the case at all. I was asking a medical provider for help, and (once again) I was being pushed aside.
I like the IDEA of Next Gen Pediatrics: parent choice, a mix of holistic and western medicine. In practice, though, there was very little help and support for both my children and myself, and I went elsewhere for better care.
