Onslow Pediatric Associates

We’ve been going there since my daughter has been 5 months old and our experience up until today was pretty good. However, I’m here to let everyone know why we are leaving the practice and hopefully will inform any other parents about my experience today.
Today was my daughter’s appointment with her doctor, Dr Max. But upon our escort back to the exam room, I was told that we’d be seeing the PA (physician’s assistant). I found that odd and a bit annoying to begin with because there is a practice in Sneads ferry that is all PAs that is a mile from my house, and I drove 40 minutes to OP to have a doctor. That being said, during the appointment, I was told that my daughter should be saying words like «mama» and «dada», and that because she’s not saying them yet, that she was marking my child as having a speech delay. When I tried to tell the PA that she makes other consonant sounds, she interrupted me and told me that my daughter may be deaf (TRUST ME… this child is not deaf. She responds to all sorts of sounds) and when I told her this, she told me that I’m not talking to her enough and I need to «try harder». For all you military moms out there, you know that our kids are our only people to talk to the majority of the week so you KNOW I’m talking to my daughter A TON. When I told her THIS, she insinuated that I was a liar and said «well you’re obviously not talking to her because she’d be saying these words by now if you were.» Not only did this PA insult me as a mother she then told me that my 9 month old should be eating «table meats»…this is absolutely NOT true. She doesn’t even have teeth yet. She should not be eating pieces of chicken and steak. (If you feed your child these foods at 9 months and they can handle them, good for you… definitely not saying you shouldn’t do that… just saying my daughter should not be!!).
Needless to say, I’ve been working so hard to teach my daughter to crawl, stand, mash food, and make noises and I left that office today feeling completely inadequate and defeated. WHICH IS WRONG.
(Please note: Dr. max is a great doctor and very nice person and I know my experience today would have been very different if I had seen him like we were supposed to.)

My kids both go to Onslow Pediatrics, and the doctors that we see, I love. I recommend Onslow Peds for those specific doctors.
There are definitely doctors there that I do not like — and one in particular that I absolutely HATED. My older son, who is only 21 months old now, saw Dr. Kale twice when he was a baby. The first time was the Saturday after we got out of the hospital from having him, and he was the only doctor there, I think. He seemed drunk, honestly. He was slurring his speech, for example. And he was extremely rude. I saw Dr. Kale again a second time, when my son was a little older, and he was terrible again. He made my son cry throughout the appointment, largely because of how rough he was with him. This was a baby we were dealing with, and he handled him roughly and was very short and mean. His demeanor was almost like he was angry at my son. I honestly don’t understand why this man is a pediatrician when he seems to literally HATE children.
The clinic owner, Dr. Gant, is all right. Some visits with him left a good impression; others, a very poor one.
For the most part, though, my kids see Dr. Max and Kim Lewis, a physician’s assistant. I cannot say enough how much I love, love, LOVE these two doctors. And my kids both love them too. Oh my goodness, they are wonderful. As bad as Dr. Kale was, this is how great these two are. Dr. Max is who my older son sees almost exclusively. He’ll come in and sing to him, for example, and is so sweet and fun. I’ve noticed as Ben gets older that he tailors his methods for him… letting him play with the stethoscope now that he’s older, for example, and singing to him on the exam table when he was younger. Kim Lewis is who my younger son with Down syndrome sees, and she is great with him as well. She’s very knowledgeable. I don’t have to ask her to make referrals for anything. She put in his thyroid checkup at six months, for example, without me having to ask. And while I’ve heard from other DS moms that they have to fight their doctors to put in some therapy referrals, that’s not the case with Kim. I’ve never had to fight her for anything. Dr. O is also a great doctor who I like very much.
This is a very busy clinic, and sometimes you’ll have to wait, but as I’ve said in other reviews, that’s the case with almost ALL doctors’ offices. You can specify which doctor you want to see, so if you find one you don’t like (ahem, Dr. Kale) you can avoid seeing them. So I’d recommend Onslow Pediatrics… just give it a few visits to find which doctor you’re most comfortable with and then stick with them.