Robert L Bjork Jr, MD

Dr. Bjork is amazing. He has taken care of both my boys since birth (3 ½ and 1). His text message system is amazing whenever they have been sick or had something going on he is so quick to get back to me. I recommend him to everyone. The office is clean and the staff is very nice. Another great part is that the wait is always minimal. When you go to the doctor with your kids you never want to be there longer than you have to and Dr. Bjork’s office is great at getting you in and out.

Our son recently left for university; he was 2 weeks in to his 1^st semester when he called to say his knee was injured while at rugby practice. A friend took him to an urgent care facility close to the school where they did an x-​ray and determined his MCL was torn; nothing we could do but wait for it to heal.
Our son came home on a break from school about a month later and we decided to see if we could get him to Dr. Bjork on literally no notice once we could see swelling and little/​no healing had occurred.
Dr. Bjork MADE time in his schedule to assess our son’s knee and told us he felt that there was likely a problem with the meniscus, ACL, and possibly even his PCL. Dr. Bjork gave us a prescription my son could take back with him to school (several hours away and given he couldn’t miss class time) to get an MRI; provided him with a knee brace and arranged for the results of the MRI to be sent back to him for his review. (Our son is at a school where we don’t know anyone in the area.)
Sure enough! Dr. Bjork was right. The MRI was completed within the week and Dr. Bjork immediately referred us to a top orthopedic specialist/​surgeon and the surgery was completed this past week.
Truthfully, I’m not at all certain we would’ve been able to schedule surgery on such short notice (and during the week of Thanksgiving) without Dr. Bjork’s introduction, intervention, care and assistance. He stayed with our case through the recovery room to be sure everything was going as planned and words cannot adequately convey our appreciation for the care our son received as a result of Dr. Bjork’s proactivity.
I highly recommend Dr. Bjork if you’re looking for a top notch pediatrician who cares and knows a lot about kids (and sports). Our son loves him (and as parents so do we)!

Dr. Bjork has a great rapport with my teen, which was missing with previous pediatricians, who don’t always know how to talk to older children. His new office’s ocean-​themed décor appeals to all ages and makes teens feel welcomed, not an afterthought. He put us on the right path with some difficult problems and really cares about my daughter.

With today being my first visit, I was very happy! I have a good friend who recommended Doctor Bjork, and i’m so glad I went to him. My son is only 3 months and I was so lost with his last pediatrician. It’s so nice to have a doctor who will explain EVERYTHING to you. I’m also a first time mom, therefore I have a million questions and concerns and I feel like Doctor Bjork will be able to answer all of them! I’ve done a lot of research on doctors (after his first one wasn’t good, at all!) And Doctor Bjork has been in his practice for quite awhile. Which is great! That means more experience! Oh and a major plus, they allow you to text appointments AND questions/​symptoms! Doctor Bjork answers pretty fast and you don’t even have to worry about trying to call during nap time! As the baby is screaming in your arms, you can shoot him a text! Lol I’ve actually have had that situation. You won’t be disappointed if you choose to come here!

Great pediatrician. Highly recommended.
We have been seeing him for 15 years and he has always provided top notch medical service for both of our sons.
He really cares. And is very knowledgeable.

We have six kids and have followed Dr. Bjork through several different office locations throughout San Diego. He is one of the most knowledgeable, patient, caring, and up to date with latest research doctors that I know. I’m a nurse and know many, many doctors who do not provide the same level of care that Dr. Bjork provides.
Dr. Bjork has always made us feel as though we are the only patients he has to see — he spends a lot of time with us. He has always been very forgiving of additional phone calls, etc, after an appointment when there was «just one more thing…»
You will not find a better pediatrician in San Diego!

We have taken our 2 kids to Dr. Bjork for a long time. I have the pleasure of knowing a lot of pediatricians in town because of my job and we love Dr. Bjork! He is so knowledgable and will take extra time with you if you need it. His new office is amazing! It’s got a really cool ocean theme with tons of toys and activities to keep the kids busy. So spacious, clean and comfortable for the whole family. The staff is awesome and makes you feel like you are a part of their family. I would absolutely recommend him for any family seeking a caring and trustworthy pediatrician.

I read some of these threads and had to respond. Most of you 1 stars are way off. Something more natural than neosporin? Wow what do you suggest tea leaves? The next one ranting about breast milk, breast milk, breast milk. The first 2 weeks are crucial since the breast milk contains most of the anti-​bodies at this stage. After that there is no medical evidence that breast milk is better. After 1 month our boy has been on formula.
Now for my review. Our son was born premature. Dr. Bjork gave us all the time and instruction that we needed to put our boy on tract. He is now an awesome, ahead of the curve 8 month old. We are well educated parents and we don’t take anything for gospel by anyone. We tried 2 other Pediatricians before finding Dr. Bjork. Dr. Bjork is not a homeopathic quack that caters to hippie parents. If you are a CA hippie Dr. Bjork is not for you. He’s a medical Dr. that is very well educated with more experience than anyone we researched. He’s also a quick responder to an emergency, has a nice new clean office and so far his new staff has been great at his new Carmel Valley location.
One more item:
As far as filling out forms. I had a lot more paperwork for my new Dentist than I did at this office so I have no idea what Hunter is talking about.
It’s been 9 months since my last review and my opinions are still the same. Dr. Bjork has been a great find for our little guy as he now is our big guy. Everything about his practice is 5 STARS. Office is clean, new and the staff is great.

Dr. Bjork is a great pediatrician.
Despite being a working dad, I have been able to attend the majority of my kids check-​ups and sick appointments, so I have had many, many interactions with Dr. Bjork.
Dr. Bjork has a great depth of knowledge, but also possess the ability to break things down and make them easily understandable for any parent.
My wife always has a lot of questions and concerns when it comes to the health and well being of our kids. Dr. Bjork has displayed tremendous patience and understanding and always spends whatever amount of time is necessary to explain everything and address all questions and concerns for me and my wife. We never feel rushed.
We have followed Dr. Bjork through several practices, as we want him to be our children’s doctor no matter where his office is.
His new office is beautiful and the staff is great. I’m excited for him to have opened his own practice, as that assures it will be well run.

I have recently visited Dr. Bjork’s new practice. It is called Sea Breeze Pediatrics. I loved it. It was beautiful, clean, serene and had fun toys for the kids.
I have been a fan of Dr. Bjork for a long time. Not only is he an excellent doctor, but a wonderful person. He truly cares about his «little patients» and also their families. I never feel rushed, He answers every question in detail and always returns my calls.
When I became a Grandma, I also had the privilege of becoming «The Nanny,» Unfortunately I was 35 years behind and needed help to be my best. Dr Bjork took me under his wing and gave me extra time, extra instructions, desired expectations for the children and confidence. He is always able to calm my fears. He did this because he cared, not because it was required.
The children love Dr. Bjork and enjoy going to see him. After 7 years, we consider him family. I trust Dr. Bjork and am looking forward to many more years with him. You will love him too.

I have a brief experience with Dr. Bjork. We took our baby to him for circumcision only and then we had a follow up appointment. As for the procedure I think he did a decent job. We are first time parents so we didn’t know much about stuff. He recommended to apply Neosporin (antibiotic version), we followed his advice although later on I researched and wished we didn’t use that but used something more natural. As a pediatrician he comes pretty strong with his views. My baby was of a very good weight/​height but he, for some reason, said that he is not nourished enough and needs to eat more! (my baby is exclusively breastfed and was in 95 percentile on his 2-​month appointment). It was quite a shock to me. When I asked his opinion on giving baby shots (in terms of whether I should spread out or not) he said we should do all the shots at once because that way we don’t need to go to the office very often (basically parents convenience). He recommended that we start giving our baby water??? (what??? at one month??? exclusively breastfed baby??). He was very sure about it. He said many other things which I am not in agreement with but will not mention here. One thing I really like about him as that he supported my view on natural vitamin D vs vitamin D suppliment like all the other pediatricians recommend. I believe that vitamin D should come in its natural form from bright south californian sun not from stupid pharmacy drops. He was 100% in agreement. I do not agree with giving the baby 6 vaccines at once, it’s beyond my beliefs, at the end I decided to do delayed schedule anyways. I also do not agree on giving water to a newborn.
Overall I would recommend this doctor. I know parents who do prefer to give all the shots at once to a small baby, also who do give water, and do other things Bjork normally recommends. So, he might work very well for many parents. I am a bit humble parent and get emotional a lot at doctors appointments so the last thing I need is a bully-​doctor. I already had a few «bully» type pediatricians who were rough with their words and I am trying to avoid that. So, Robert Bjork would not work out for me as a main doctor.

Unfortunately, our experience with Dr. Bjork was more like Hunter R.‘s than Vicki C.‘s. Before our daughter was born, I did a ton of research on various web sites before we chose our regular pediatrician, Dr. McCormick (AMAZING doc). I really wish I’d done the same research before agreeing to meet with Dr. Bjork.
We met Dr. Bjork at the Escondido Children’s Primary Care Medical Group during our daughter’s recent 4-​month appointment. Dr. McCormick was unavailable due to scheduling conflicts; otherwise we would have seen her.
While Dr. Bjork certainly appears to have a wealth of knowledge, his «one size fits all» approach to parenting is off-​putting. I couldn’t help but feel like I was talking to a mechanic about servicing a car rather than caring for the precious human being that is our daughter.
He came into the room, introduced himself, and soon after mentioned how we were a bit late for our 4-​month appointment. No big deal. He started talking about all the things we could have been doing since the day she turned 4 months old several weeks earlier. Things like giving her solids even though we had already decided not to start this phase until she was 6 months old. But of course Dr. Bjork had no way of knowing this because he was too busy making assumptions about us rather than ASKING QUESTIONS and getting to know us. Had he asked, or at least familiarized himself with our file, he might have discovered the following:
1. We are first time parents. He didn’t find this out until well into our appointment, when he finally asked the question, «Is this your first?» When we said «yes», what was his reply? «Ohhh». The tone of voice seemed to say «You’re one of ‘those’ parents.»
2. Our daughter is exclusively breastfed and will be until she’s 6 months old. Again, that means NO SOLIDS.
3. Thanks to a good supply of breast milk, we are avoiding formula like the plague. It works wonderfully for a lot of babies, but for us, it is a last resort.
Perhaps the good doctor is too used to working with parent’s who don’t care enough to do research on their own and therefore don’t come into an appointment having already «done their homework». These parents hear what he says and because they know nothing else, I’m sure they just go along their merry way obeying every word, happy he was so quick and efficient with them. That’s great for them! Not for us though!
Our regular pediatrician, Dr. McCormick, was fine with our daughter’s health/​weight during her 2-​month appointment, and she’s still on the same path. She’s not a terribly chubby baby, but it’s not like she’s starving to death. She is «long and lean».
Dr. Bjork on the other hand acted like she was some malnourished UNICEF poster child. He was pushing for us to start solids right away to get her weight up. Um — WHY? Does she have a title fight coming up or something?
He really lost us when he said to give her formula with no consideration for whether we wanted to go that route. He seemed insistent until my wife told him in no uncertain terms «WE ARE NOT DOING FORMULA.»
This is about the time Dr. Bjork really started to step up his scare tactics, which is probably the worst thing you can do to an educated person. Suddenly everything we were doing as parents was wrong. Every comment or piece of advice from then on was condescending and/​or laced with scare tactics.
«Oh she’s sleeping through the night? Well she’s missing a lot of feedings. If she gets sick she won’t be able to eat for a few days and she’ll have no reserves, then you’ll have to bring her in and put an IV in her.»
Wait what? So you’re saying… there’s no way for her to sleep through the night… AND gain weight? How about some options?
«You don’t want to start solids until 6 months? Well there are two problems with that. #1, by the time they get to 6 months they’re putting EVERY-​thing in their mouth — paperclips, thumbtacks, pushpins — and before you know it they’ll have swallowed it!»
Thanks Doc — hey you forgot to mention the hypodermic needles and silica gel packets we leave on the floor!
«Another problem with waiting till 6 months — grandma’s going to be giving her cookies and hot dogs and she’ll eat it! You want to be the one to introduce her to those foods.»
Oh yeah — hmmm, hadn’t thought of that. Oh wait — we did. It’s a little thing we like to call «being responsible parents». Our family will know quite clearly what our daughter is allowed to eat and what she is NOT allowed to eat. That’s pretty much a condition of being allowed to watch her… but you’ll never know that because… you’re an assumer.
Last time I remember feeling this way was when some shyster car salesman was asking through his forked tongue, «What will it take for you to buy thissss car TODAY?» Well I’ve seen what Dr. Bjork is selling, and if not for his approach I might have actually bought it. Instead, he has convinced me I need to take my family to not just another salesperson, but an entirely different dealership.