We really enjoy the fact that our pediatrician has children a little older than ours AND more importantly that he is easy to talk to. I think it's important to be able to relate & communicate with your doctor so if that means a younger doctor then maybe that's the way to go. I know that with our family doctor who is older, I sometimes feel that he doesn't always understand what exactly I'm talking about the first time around.

I also enjoy that our peditrician uses his kids as examples because it's comforting to know that he has recently gone through similar situations and can "feel our pain or excitement."

I agree with Michelle. One thing I would like to add is to make sure you find a doctor which is willing to answer your questions and not blow you off. Doctors who become perturbed when you ask a semi technical question about a treatment or advice, are very difficult to deal with. Doctors are advisors but the decisions on to how to proceed is your responsibility not theirs. You need to be able to make an informed decisions about what happens to your children. I've never met a doctor which doesn't have a person's best interest at heart, but remember their knowledge isn't absolute and they make mistakes just like everyone else.

After our experience, I would prioritize someone who has kids of their own.

I would say that ideally you want a doctor about your age, or at least of the same generation, and who has children that are slightly older than yours. This makes them much more likely to be current on the latest techniques and treatments.

In our case, we're having quite happy having our son seen by our family GP. He has three young children of his own and is up-to-date on all the latest developments in family medicine by virtue of being directly and personally interested for his own family's sake, as well as that of his patients. And, if something is outside his expertise, he can easily and quickly get us a referral to a pediatrician.

I'd also want to make sure that your doctor has similiar ideas as you, ask about vaccines, parenting style. Another important thing to find out is if appointments are possible off hours, on weekends, etc.

I would highly recommend you visit the site www.ratemds.com - up at the top you can choose 'find doctors' and sort docs by designation, male/female, proximity to your house. From there it will give you a list and they are all rated by people like us, who have seen them - its client driven. The best part are the comments people leave about them. I was just made aware of this site last week as I was looking for a new OB/GYN.

PS - I have nothing to do with the ownership/marketing/general running of that site