About this site

I’m Dr. Roy Benaroch, a general pediatrician in practice near Atlanta, Georgia. I’m also an Assistant Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at Emory University, and a father of three.

Several years ago I realized I had been writing quite a bit about topics in pediatrics and parenting. Many of these were short, stream of consciousness essays I had just wanted to get off my chest; others were answers posed to me by patients and parents. I spent about three years organizing and rewriting, and these “early works” were published in two books in 2007.

But the questions kept coming, and I kept writing. A blog was born.

The central theme of almost everything I write is to tell parents exactly what they need to know. I keep no secrets about what’s best for kids. I’ll give you the inside scoop: what pediatricians really think, what we do, and why we do it, even when we’re wrong or even when we don’t know the answer. I rely on the best current state-of-the-art knowledge, not just the whims and traditions of the experts. At times I contradict the “common wisdom” on which many doctors rely, because newer and better information often contradicts the stale old advice that the experts have been repeating for years. Although some of the best parenting advice will come from the most seasoned and experienced doctors, it’s the doctors young and old who continue read and learn that give the best advice of all. The best questions I get are the ones that I answer “I don’t know.” These send me scurrying to the most recent journals and literature. Hardly a day goes by in my practice when I don’t end up looking something up, and that’s the information that I want to share.

If you meet a doctor who never says “I don’t know,” it’s time to find another doctor.

The Pediatric Insider blog is meant to be a conversation to educate parents and to educate at least one pediatrician. Please post your questions and comments. Don’t be afraid to contradict me or tell me when my answer was off—you might just teach me something, and that’s why I’m here. Thanks.

 

Disclosure

I have no financial relationships with any drug or device manufacturer. I am on no speaker’s bureaus, I accept no honoraria, and I am as clean as the driven snow. Though I think a few times in residency I may have had a drug-co-paid sandwich. Sorry.