I need a new pediatrician

Both my primary care physician and my children's' pediatrician were only a 5 minute drive from my house. Now that we moved to a different town, about an hour away, I can't drive back and forth so far away to see them.
Both of those doctors were assigned to me by medicaid, so I have never had the need to look for them.
But now that my husband has insurance through his job, we have to pick a doctor ourselves.
So my question is:

What is important when looking for that right doctor?

I NEED to find a pediatrician ASAP, as I am giving birth in about a month. But I don't want to just pluck him/her out of the hat, you know what I mean?

Quoting ~yelena~:“ Both my primary care physician and my children's' pediatrician were only a 5 minute drive from my house. ... [snip!] ... ASAP, as I am giving birth in about a month. But I don't want to just pluck him/her out of the hat, you know what I mean?”

i know a lot of people that interview different pediatricians. its becoming more and more popular. i work in a NICU so i knew which pediatrician i wanted right away.
1.)pick 3-5 different pediatricians that have a good patient history in the town that you live in.(or ask other moms you might know)
2.) write down all of your main concerns and see if he has the same child rearing beliefs as you do.
3.) Call the Dr office and ask if its possible to set up an appt with the doc(s) for kind of a feel out appt just to ask a couple questions.

Quoting ~yelena~:“ Both my primary care physician and my children's' pediatrician were only a 5 minute drive from my house. ... [snip!] ... ASAP, as I am giving birth in about a month. But I don't want to just pluck him/her out of the hat, you know what I mean?”

Main thing is their avalibility. Can you get a appointment quickly or will you have to wait a month or so? Do they have walk-in hours? How do they treat the children? You can find out the last question by watching the children in the waiting room. I find more kids are upset about knowing they are going to see the doctor if they dont interact well with the doc.

Personally, I like to see the head of the dept. that I am using (my pediatrician is head of peds at her clinic and my ob is head of ob/gyn at his clinic.) Just call the general office number and askthe name of thehead of the department in one phone call, then call the peds dept. or your insurance company and make that one your Dr.
HTH!
Steph

Does any one have a preference whether the doctor is male or female?
I have had a male and a female, and so far I have had better experience with the female pedi.

Quoting ~yelena~:“ Does any one have a preference whether the doctor is male or female? I have had a male and a female, and so far I have had better experience with the female pedi.”

I think it depends on the kid. My son is a flirt so he likes and behaves better for females. The girls dont really mind either way so we just go with the male doctors so all three see the same one.