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Gender Bias in Healthcare is Failing Women and Their Children
It’s not “all in our heads.”
“You call.”
I’ve said this to my husband more times than I’d like to lately. When our children have had illnesses beyond your run-of-the-mill ear infection, I leave it to him to speak with the doctors and nurses, even though both of us have healthcare licenses ourselves. Why? Because the general attitude towards mothers is dismissive.
I’m not alone in this and it’s not contained to one healthcare provider. Other moms I’ve spoken to have experienced similar dismissive behavior from their OB/GYN, family doctors, and their children’s’ pediatricians. When my husband calls or attends doctor appointments, this rarely happens.
After our first son was born in 2016, he didn’t sleep. He’d scream and cry all the time, writhing around in our arms. I could tell he was uncomfortable. He made strange whistling noises and he began to hold his head in only one position. I took him to his pediatrician on three separate occasions to share my concerns, completely exhausted and overwhelmed. On all three occasions, I was told he was “just a colicky” baby and to keep soldiering on — it’d get better eventually. I’m just a “new mom”, it’s probably not “that bad”.
