Doctor Doctor

So I have decided I really dislike going to the doctor in China.

1st of all, there's the translation issues.

My conversation on Friday (by phone, in English)
Me: "Hi, I need to make an appointment for my baby's four month check up and vaccinations."
Them: "Okay, do you have her vaccination record?"
Me: "Yes"
Them: "Okay, be sure to bring it to your appointment on Sunday at 2" (another reason I dislike them, appointments on Sundays?)

Sunday:
Me: "Hi, I'm here for my daughter's appointment"
Them: "Hi Ruth! So you're doing her vaccinations by yourself at the municipal hospital?"
Me: "What? No, that's why I'm here."
Them: "Oh, we can't do them here."
Me: "What? Then why am I here?"
Them: "To see the pediatrician. But if you want, we can take you to have them done on Tuesday at the hospital."

So now I have to head back on Tuesday, to have them take me to the hospital, to get her vaccinations...which I could do by myself, if I think I can speak enough Chinese. I'm going to go with them this time and see how it goes, and probably skip out the middle man next time.


Reason number two: Scare tactics

Since she was not getting her vaccinations, all she had done yesterday was weighed, measured, and the doctor looked at her stuffy nose (which I had already had looked at by a different doctor on Friday, but that doctor can't do the vaccinations-of course, neither apparently can this one.)

After being weighed, the doctor informed me she is way too small, and wants me to supplement with formula (which I'm not about to do after the Chinese melamine issue and babies died). I went home and looked at her stats, and she's still in the 45-55 percentile range, while she was born at 55%. If she weighed as much as they wanted she would be in the 82% range! (according to some websites) But Chinese doctors are formula crazy (much like the states a few years ago) and the doctor is going off the old adage that a baby should double her weight by three months (and Lizbeth is already four months). Never mind that my baby is active, chubby, alert, and super strong (rolling over from back to front already!)

What makes me really mad is for all the poor women who don't have access to good information or wise friends to encourage them, and therefore stress out needlessly about their perfectly healthy baby's weight. I do have these things, and still scoured the internet and books for hours last night comparing charts and websites, stressing myself into a tizzy.

She also said that her height is only "barely" enough (also maintaining her 55-60%), that she should have medicine for her runny nose (which the other doctor said was no problem) and that her losing her long baby hair is early "rickets". Everything online says that losing any baby hair before 6 months is no problem, and nothing mentions it having to do with rickets. Now I don't know what to think.