How Old Is Too Old For The Pediatrician

I saw mine till I was in college.

I would say 21 - 22

I was with mine until the end of 17.

I saw mine until I was 18.

I never had a pediatrician growing up , my mom was not a doctor type but i am sure she took me when i was young but from age 5 and until i was 18 never saw a doctor just a dentist , my mom didn't believe in getting sick

My pediatrician referred me to an adult GP when I was 16. It felt weird, but I quickly adjusted. I worked with a guy who was in his early 20’s, and was still being seen by a pediatrician. I drove him there one day, and I saw only infants and children in the waiting room. I felt really out of place, and was thinking that if it were the 60’s or 70’s again, would they be using rectal thermometers on young adults?

You would think there would be a set age when one is no longer considered a pediatric patient.

Originally defined as age 18, raised to age 21 in the 1960s, the upper age limit for pediatric care was eliminated by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2017. The rationale: Transition to adult care should be specific to patient needs, not an arbitrary number. Deciding when a child is ready to see an internist or other “adult doctor” is best determined by the patient (and/or family) and the pediatrician. Anyone under age 18 needs parental consent for things like vaccines, but teenagers are encouraged to visit doctors alone to develop their own relationships and become comfortable talking about any issue.

I've mentioned before that I was kicked out of my Pediatrician at age 15. She said I was too old...lame doctor...

In the US:

"Originally defined as age 18, raised to age 21 in the 1960s, the upper age limit for pediatric care was eliminated by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2017. The rationale: Transition to adult care should be specific to patient needs, not an arbitrary number. Deciding when a child is ready to see an internist or other “adult doctor” is best determined by the patient (and/or family) and the pediatrician."

https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/how-old-too-old-see-pediatrician

i know this is a repeat post of info, just adding the quotes and original author

These discussions are really interesting for me living in the UK. The system for monitoring and supporting children, young people and their parents in a country like the USA seems much better to me than UK.

In UK, a paediatrician is only a hospital specialist for diseases and problems of kids and young adults. Some general practitioners specialise in paediatric issues but not like pEdiatricians do with annual exams in the US, Canada, & some other countries described here. But there aren't annual checks after 24 months old.

In the USA or Canada (for example), do the pediatricians include mental health in their checks on children and young adults?

18 should be a good age to transfer out of the pediatrician to a regular GP PCP.

Most of the doctors my brothers and I went to were general family doctors rather than pediatricians, per se, but I remember two of them - one which was a clinic within a large hospital complex and another which was a pair of young doctors who did mostly a home-visit business - specifically called themselves "pediatric and adolescent medicine" practitioners. So, I'd say in general it is fine to see them at least through your mid-teens.

Never to old, lol. Joking. But I liked seeing a pediatrician. I liked how later in life when I wasn't a child anymore he still talked to me like a child. Why do they do that?

I love your comment. 😆 I think the same, this is the reason why during a play exam I ask the Doctor to be treated like an high school boy, I like school medical exam role play and I like the age gap between the patient and the Doctor and of course the resulting psychological aspect you mentioned.

Depending on the patient. Some kids see a pediatrician up to 21 or longer if they have an underlying health conditions or autism. Most stop seeing a pediatrician when they are teenagers.

In the US:

"Originally defined as age 18, raised to age 21 in the 1960s, the upper age limit for pediatric care was eliminated by the American Academy of Pediatrics in 2017. The rationale: Transition to adult care should be specific to patient needs, not an arbitrary number. Deciding when a child is ready to see an internist or other “adult doctor” is best determined by the patient (and/or family) and the pediatrician."

https://www.cuimc.columbia.edu/news/how-old-too-old-see-pediatrician

i know this is a repeat post of info, just adding the quotes and original author

This is interesting. Back in the 70s and 80s, my parents took my brothers and I to a number of different doctors, but there was one large clinic that was pediatric/adolescent specifically and some of the doctors there saw the younger kids while others saw the older ones.

I went until I was around 19 or 20

I would say 18 is the cut off. However it could be sooner depending on the child in question.

I saw mine through college because insurance covered it and it just made more sense to keep with the same physician until I absolutely had to change. Still, I think I would have preferred to start seeing a different doctor starting at age 18. It was a little embarrassing driving myself to an appointment only to sit in an exam room that was obviously decked out and tailored to grade school kids (cartoon prints on the windows, a basket of picture books, etc.).

As someone who still goes to their pediatrician (20 years old) I’m honestly fine with it since the doctor treats me how I would expect to be treated at an adult doctor. The exam rooms I’m in aren’t decked out with kids decor. Actually, when I had my last exam, I saw into an empty exam room that did have kids stuff on all the walls so it looks like the have specific rooms for little kids and others for teens and older.

I saw my pediatrician until I was 22 only because they didn't send to the form to my new doctor (who ended up being upstairs in the same building with the same practice but for adult medicine) so I saw him one last time for an exam for camp (cause I needed to get it done and there wasn't enough time for the new one) and then a month later visited the other one for my first visit.

I would think 18 but it would probably be up to the dr?

All through high school, so just shy of my 18th birthday.

I loved my pediatrician and would have kept going to him but for my college physical my parents thought it would be best for my father to take me to his doctor instead of my mother taking me to the pediatrician. I wouldn't say that I loved my father's doctor but it was an interesting experience going to the same doctor that he did with him.

I am going to assume that with most pediatricians, age 18 is when they would ask the patient (patient's parents) to start sending them to a family practitioner. I myself went to the pediatrician until the age of 17 and then it was to the doctor my parents went to. It was a relief being able to drive myself to/from and not have anyone else in the room during the exam. But, this doc was an old man and was definitely ex-military so I had even less modesty than I had at the pediatrician.

In my case it was 18. I turned 18 in June 1980 and was heading off to college in the fall. The college wanted medical records of all incoming freshman which I assume is still standard practice though this was before HIPAA. My pediatrician had all of my medical records going back to when I was born. So my final visit at age 18 was to basically get a quick once over and sign the release for my records to go to the college (they were probably most interested in making sure my vaccinations were up to date).

From that point on I did not, like most healthy 20 year old males, have a physician until the early 1990's. I had some mild illnesses when I was in college but I just had to pay a visit to the college's free clinic to be taken care of. The full time nurse (a nice WW2 veteran) would usually see you unless it was something really serious or a prescription was needed.

My last visit was when I was 17

All through high school, so just shy of my 18th birthday... for my college physical my parents thought it would be best for my father to take me to his doctor instead of my mother taking me to the pediatrician.

So @Tighty_Whiteis_Now your mother was there for your pediatric exams through age 17? Was your father there for your exam at 18?

So @Tighty_Whiteis_Now your mother was there for your pediatric exams through age 17? Was your father there for your exam at 18?

Yes to both. It was not unusual back in my day for a kid to have a parent in the exam room with him. My mother sat in on all of my physical exams - and anything else - all through high school.

When my dad took me to his doctor at the end of senior year for my pre-college physical exam he came into the exam room with me. I expected that he would.

I was with mine until 17 then I moved on to the "regular" doc. I've been with him ever since.

@Tighty_Whiteis_Now: - "My mother sat in on all of my physical exams - and anything else - all through high school."

Usually, until entering puberty, the boy's privacy is not a concern of either pediatricians or their chaperones, who are almost always females.

Well, back in the 1960s, when I was starting puberty, a boy's privacy was the last thing on pediatrician's minds. Nothing changed from my pre-puberty to post puberty physical exams. And it was not just my doctor. All of my friends physical exams were conducted with their mothers in the exam room, both before and after puberty. Boys just were not expected to be modest in such situations.