Dr. Kimberly D Gerhart, MD

We began seeing Dr. Gerhardt at the university medical center following the birth of our son. He was born healthy follow...ing a difficult 30 hour labor, at the end of which I was given several liters of IV fluid. He weighed 8lbs 2 ounces. He was born on a Weds and Dr. Gerhardt discharged him on Friday. We were to see her the following Monday as she does not have Saturday office hours. On Monday afternoon, we went to our appointment, were kept waiting over 40 minutes, and finally taken to have the baby weighed and measured. We were shocked and devastated, as first time parents, to learn than our baby had lost enough weight in dr gerhardt's mind to warrant hospitalization. I had to leave the room while 3 nurses made 4 attempts to put an IV in my screaming newborns arm. After this occurred we were made to stay in the office room for 7 hours waiting to be admitted to the hospital. Once there I was encouraged to supplement my baby with formula because my milk was not fully in 4 days postpartum. I felt like a failure, unable to complete the most natural act of feeding my baby, and accepted the supplementation with the assurance that I could still brrastfeed as my milk came in more fully. What followed was a vicious cycle of nursing and supplementing every 2 hours. I asked dr gerhardt when I should sleep in all of this as she told me I wouldn't be able to for a few days. I accepted this as my duty and nursed my baby for 30-40 minutes in each breast, then pumped while my husband fingered the baby formula. The baby would sleep for 45 minutes and then we did it all over again. My milk supply, which arrived fully by Tuesday, became diminished by the supplementing that I was encouraged to continue and by my exhaustion at having to nurse and pump all day and night. Though I succeeded in establishing a Breastfeeding relationship, it was not without a lot of hardship, and I never had a strong supply due to the interference of supplementing in those early weeks. I asked dr gerhardt how often this occurred, hospitalization of babies who lose weight in the days following birth. She said all the time, that she was admitting another couple right now actually. I have since moved from Tucson and have questioned subsequent pediatricians about this and they have said they would never hospitalize based on this information and generally handle these issues on an outpatient basis. Additionally, dr gerhardt implied, when I told her that Id lost 20lbs in 5 days after leaving the hospital and was finally starting to decrease the swelling in my body, that I was not drinking enough and that could be affecting my milk supply, thus adding to my feelings of guilt. In reality there was nothing wrong with my supply and I was drinking quite a lot of water to encourage the edema to dissipate. I brought this up to her to suggest that perhaps, as I was overloaded with fluid, maybe the baby was as well, and the weight at birth was indicative of that. She chose not to listen to me. However, studies completed recently have shown just this very thing. I found dr. Gerhardt to be brusk and self important and not really looking out for the best interests of her patients and their families. She also over schedules, leaving patients to wait for long periods of time. This always implies greed to me. As does admitting families to the hospital when it is not necessary. more details