Female Pediatrician for Boys?

My three sons saw a female pediatrician most of their lives. When they aged out at 18, they each chose a female doctor.

It's so interesting that we expect our daughters to go to male physicians but we are uncomfortable with our sons seeing female physicians. I think sometimes a teen decides to do something different - girls may want a female and boys may want a male.

My son had a female pediatrician until he was 19. He never had any issues. For some of those years, she had a male partner in her office, and occasionally my son would see him for a sick visit when he regular physician wasn't free or was on vacation. So my son experienced both male and female physicians and he never had a problem. I did tell him that, if he ever was uncomfortable with a physician for any reason, we could try someone else. He never felt the need.

When he went to college, he usually saw someone on campus just because he was there so much. When he graduated, he formally switched over to a male, mostly because the same medical group had a sports physician/osteopath who met my son's needs as a distance runner. So he handled all sports injuries and also took on the role of PCP.

If you have open conversations with your son, he'll let you know. Give him options but don't put thoughts in his head. There's a great advantage to sticking with a physician who's known your child for a while, barring any problems. I think it's important to note that kids need to feel that a professional is a professional, and there's nothing sexual about a doctor seeing private parts or discussing male problems. My son had severe nocturnal enuresis (nighttime bedwetting) and we had (and he had) many conversations with his female pediatrician as we settled on a course of treatment. I had a male OB/GYN whom I had worked with for years, and I thought he was wonderful. I had a male fertility doctor. My husband has a female PCP and a female specialist in another field. It's about how you click with them, their bedside manner, and much more.

Have you ever thought that you shouldn't see a male doctor for your well woman visits? A doctor should not be thought of as a man or woman, they are a professional doing a job. With my family being military we have had a few doctors for our boys over the years, some have been female, I never thought twice about it. My boys are 15 and 13. But if your son expresses discomfort then of course request a change, if he is not comfortable he may avoid asking important questions.

It's never been a problem for us.
It shouldn't matter what gender the doctor is.
I've had male and female ob/gyn s too.
People should not be embarrassed about what ever is between their legs or concerned about what is between their doctors legs.
I would not bring up the possibility of embarrassment with my child because it's not something I want to teach to him.
If we want some equality between the sexes it's our generation that needs to get over this embarrassment nonsense and quit passing it on to the next generation.

Also - it's very easy to do a Google search and find out what examinations are performed for a well child check up for every age the child is.
No one here is going to discuss anything about their childs genitals on the internet whether it's related to a doctors examination or not.

Honestly it's not really possible to control. I remember switching my son's doctor to a male when he was 14 or so, and he STILL ended up seeing a female doc, because they are part of a GROUP! So unless you literally go to a one person, one man office, you just don't know.
Also my girls have always had male doctors, and loved them. My youngest one especially, she is 19 and has seen her dear regular pediatrician (or sometimes other doc in the group, some of them female) since she was 8. He has seen her through immunizations, puberty, severe anxiety and even birth control.
It's ALWAYS embarrassing to have an adult look at your privates at this age, regardless of sex, so try to focus more on the person's character than their gender.

I never worried about that. I chose the peds based on so many other factors - not based on gender.

ETA: Interesting responses. I actually do consider gender in choosing my physicians. If I have to see a specialist for something, I'll see whomever is most highly recommended regardless of gender. But for ongoing care like primary or OB/GYN, I'll choose a woman over a man every time, all other factors being equal. I feel much more comfortable in the care of someone who as the same body parts that I have and is on the same hormonal journey that all adult women go through from adolescence through post-menopause.

Original: If there is a male pediatrician in the practice and this becomes an issue as he gets older, it should be perfectly fine and understandable to have that physician do the annual exam. My kids have a female pediatrician but she has a male partner in her practice. When my oldest got to be in high school and was dating, etc. I wanted him to be able to have candid conversations with his doctor and know that he could get factual information from him on protected sex, substance use, etc. so I used to step out of the room for the bulk of the exam (and did the same for my daughter) and I had the male doctor cover the annual exam. My second son is in high school now and still sees the female doctor. It hasn't been an issue yet, but he's immature compared with his older brother so there really aren't awkward conversations for him to have yet. He hasn't been embarrassed by the exam either yet. My youngest is 13 and still sees the female doc.

Mine did. I just never thought about changing and they are hard to come by, and my kiddos didn't care. I think (honestly) kids would be embarrassed one way or the other if they are going to be. We raised our kids to think of dr visits as necessary.

i've been to plenty of male docs for female plumbing check ups. my boys' pediatricians were men, but that wasn't why we went to 'em.

rather than switch due to a kid's embarrassment, doesn't it make more sense to work with the kid on overcoming little mental stumbling blocks like this?

the only time it's been an issue for me was the last dermatologist i went to. he was a young man, and there was a nurse present. i peeled off unconcernedly (i've never been worried about nudity, even now that i'm old and extra large) and lay there for the full body exam.

he was SO uncomfortable that he made me uncomfortable. i could even see the nurse shifting a little.

not going back to him.

but in almost 60 years that's the only time i remember a male doc making me feel weird.

khairete
S.

When we moved here, we ended up with a male family doctor - he kind of took our family under his wing as he had raised a very high needs special needs kid himself and understood some of our unique issues better than most folks. When my daughter was 15, she came to me and said she felt she would be more comfortable if she had a female doctor for herself. I made sure she understood that if she went to another clinic or ended up in the emergency room, she could very likely have a male doctor examining her. She understood, but stated that she felt for her everyday issues, she just felt more comfortable with a female. She picked out her own doctor from our clinic selection and that was who she saw until she graduated high school. She is in the military so she has no choice who sees her for stuff much of the time, so obviously it didn't make her "fussy". The rest of us still see that same male doctor to this day (well, until we move).

I wouldn't preemptively switch doctors just because of gender. I would, however, listen to a teen who didn't feel comfortable with their doctor for whatever reason. Doctors, especially family physicians, are supposed to be "safe" people to see and talk to - don't limit your child's ability to share important information just because you want to teach him (or her) that we shouldn't care about the gender of our medical care provider.

Good luck!

I pick doctors based on their skill set not their gender. If she's a good fit for your family then there's no reason to change. Women see male doctors all the time and nobody blinks an eye or gives it a thought. If your son becomes embarrassed over this he'll be embarrassed with a male doctor too.

I have 2 daughters and they see a male doctor. He’s been their pediatrician since birth. He always jut takes a little peek in their underwear. They never think anything of it and he always makes sure they know he only looks because he’s a doctor. I imagine when they get older they may start to feel uncomfortable. If they ever express to me they feel uncomfortable I would change their pediatrician. I don’t feel like you need to change quite yet. You may even want to talk with your child’s pediatrician and see what she thinks.

My teen sons have had a female pediatrician since they were tiny. It was never an issue.

Ask him what hes more comfortable with

Usually my daughter sees a female and my son sees a male. We go to a children's pediatric office with 6 different doctors. But sometimes we just see who is available. We have gotten to know all of them and they are all great. My kids both have their favorites though. My daughter's favorite doctor happens to be a female and vice versa. I would continue to see your female doctor but ask your son after each visit if he minds seeing her or would rather switch to a male doctor at his next check up. I would go with his lead. He might not mind in the least. PS - I like seeing a female doctor myself. I just feel like I relate better.