Dare to question your pediatrician?

Since pediatricians don't always make that distinction clear, here are examples of five parenting issues where there's plenty of room to disagree with the pediatrician.

1. 'Don't pick up your baby in the middle of the night'

Dr. Joyce Zmuda, a pediatrician in private practice in Owings Mills, Maryland, says she tells patients there's lots of "wiggle room" on this issue. "They have to first understand that if they go to their baby in the middle of the night, they're creating an expectation that the parent will always be there when they cry," she says. "But if they understand that and just can't stand to hear the baby crying and want to go to them, that's fine with me. It's a personal decision."

2. 'Baby should be at home with Mom'

"There's been a whole debate about this in the psychological literature," Dr Needlman says. "And the bottom line is that the timing of the day care isn't as important as the quality of the day care. Poor-quality day care is bad for a kid at any age, as is poor-quality home care."

He says that if your pediatrician tells you it's best for your child to stay at home, this is just an opinion.

3. 'Don't give your baby 'triple nipple confusion''

Dr. Laura Jana, Shu's co-author of the newborn book and of "Food Fights," a nutrition book for parents and kids, says some newborns do experience nipple confusion, so she offers this advice: "I tell them if they're concerned about nipple confusion, they can do just breastfeeding for a week or two to make sure their baby's getting the hang of it, and then if everything's working OK, try a paci or a bottle if they want."

4. 'Your baby must eat solid foods by 6 months'

The standard advice for parents is to start their babies on solids sometime between 4 and 6 months of age. But if your baby's that age and isn't interested in real food and wants to get all his calories by breast milk or formula, there's no reason to panic, Shu says. "Some are just slower to take to the textures of food and want just the bottle or the breast."

5. 'You must take the pacifier away'

Some pediatricians get very opinionated about the age at which to wean a child off the pacifier. But experts say as long as it's not interfering with the child's speech, or causing dental problems, it's OK to let a child soothe herself with a pacifier.

Credit: cnn.com