a little medicine

Just so you don't think we're completely negligent parents, today was the baby's first doctor's appointment.

We got a referral for a homeopathic pediatrician, which we were pretty excited about, given what we'd heard about medicine in general in Brazil (basically that it's still practiced like it's the 1950s).

Pediatricians always give a "remedinho"--a little medicine--even if there's nothing wrong with the child, just so the parents feel like they're getting their money's worth.

Doctors generally don't feel the need to explain the reasoning behind any treatment, and parents are generally content to accept it.

So we had high hopes for our homeopath, even though his office was all the way on the other side of the city, and thus necessitated navigating Salvador's traffic, the multilane, crisscrossing highways that rarely have street signs.


The doctor was a white-haired dude in a white coat. He barely looked up from his notepad or changed inflection as he took a cursory medical history.

Then he rubbed his hands with alcohol gel, examined the baby, and weighed him.

He asked if we had vaccinated him, and I prepared for more condescending scare tactics like the ones I'd been subject to in the States.

I guess even the homeopaths here follow the party line, I thought.

But when we explicitly asked what his philosophy on vaccinations was, he opened up a bit more. Technically I'm not allowed to advocate against them, he said, but no, I don't believe in them, and my own son isn't vaccinated.

He went on to tell us what the vaccine schedule here is, and which might be the more urgent ones to get, if you do vaccinate.

I actually felt more informed and empowered than I had before the appointment.

And while he wasn't exactly a scintillating personality, the doc did kind of grow on me.

At the end, he did give us our little remedinho--a homeopathic prescription for bug bites, one for the baby's digestion, and another in case we decide to vaccinate, to help mitigate any potential reactions.

We congratulated ourselves for finding the office among the labyrinthine medical buildings, for understanding the doctor's Portuguese, for generally being such responsible parents.

Then, since the traffic seemed to be letting up a little, we figured we'd let the three-year old drive home.