Children First Pediatrics

The doctors are good. They are knowledgeable, experienced and approachable. The staff is terrible. I’ve been left on hold for 45 minutes, I’ve been chastised for not having the right paperwork (it hadn’t been given to me), I was given an appointment in a different office because the person answering the phone «confused» the books. Nurses are rude to the children as well as the adults. One of them scared my son on one visit. The doctor is the only reason I have stayed as long as I have, and if I find another doctor, I will be leaving this practice.

I’m only giving 2 stars because we like our NP AB. We chose this practice because it was close to our home four months ago as we had a baby. Biggest mistake ever.
At first, they would keep trying to send you to the rockville office as they claim they don’t have open spot for newborn «a week» and «2weeks» appointment. It’s almost like getting punished for just having a baby and not being able to notify them to get appointment in advance like I knew when I would have my baby.
Secondly, front desk receptionists are just so rude. Especially Ayanna; she is not apologetic or professional at all. I don’t know how they hire such unprofessional and unfriendly staff at a children’s clinic.
Lastly, nurses are slow. After the doctors check up we have to wait for a while for the nurse to come give a vaccine for our baby.

Terrible. Just terrible. I’ve been here twice with my child and the front desk (more specifically the woman with the short hair and glasses) is completely rude and condescending. I don’t know what they were thinking when they hired these women. I heard a loud conversation about «turning up» which just goes to show how unprofessional these women are. Do NOT take your child here!

Update — 8÷11÷14. I’m still so pleased with this practice! If I have a concern and I send a message through their patient portal, or call, someone gets back to me quickly. A nurse even called back 2 days later to see how my son was doing. The front desk communicates well, emailing me more than 2 weeks in advance for my son’s upcoming appointment, with forms that I need to fill out prior to arriving. I LOVE good communication! The doctors and entire staff at both Silver Spring and Rockville locations have been superb.

Great lactation consultant but you can only see her at the Rockville office. If you are planning to breastfeed, this may be the pediatric practice for you. Kathy McCue is awesome. If you have insurance, you can get great LC help and it will be covered at the rate of a normal office visit.
The other providers in the group are just so-​so.
I found the Silver Spring office staff to be rude and uninterested. The Rockville office staff is ok– Judy who works in Rockville is super friendly. But I would have to say that the treatment I got from the Silver Spring office staff is what drove me to look for a different practice. Its almost as if they think the world stops turning if one doesn’t take ones’ child to well baby visits on the EXACT DATE they hit 1 month, 2 months, etc,

We have been taking our daughter to Children’s First for the last year and continue to be pleased by the service. The staff is always polite and we’ve never had to wait more than a few minutes for our appointment times. It is a multi doctor facility so if you like seeing only one doctor this might not be the place for you. However, I enjoy getting to interact with different doctors and we have requested a few for multiple visits. You do need to book well baby appointments a bit advance but that’s never been an issue for us. That seems like standard practice at most larger practices. Most importantly I enjoy the time and care each doctor puts into the visits. I’ve never felt rushed and I’ve always been able to ask questions. I feel that the doctors place importance on working as a team with the parents for the overall care of the child. I appreciate being brought in on the team and not just directed at what to do. They’ve also given me great advice on things to do to keep my daughter healthy and her asthma down.
The only thing holding me back from giving it five stars is that the waiting rooms are combined. At other facilities I’ve been to there were separate waiting rooms for sick kids and well babies. Not sure if that actually helps keep the germs at bay but it at least made me feel better.

We have been using this practice for almost 15 years. Increasingly the service has become more bureaucratic. Called on June 4 for an annual checkup for daughter. First appointments available are on Aug. 29 and 30 (!), but the times don’t work. But they CAN’T schedule any appointments in September yet because they aren’t ready. Call back in two weeks they say. Doctors are fine, if you can see them. But the practice is terribly mismanaged and now too large to properly serve their patients. Staff are brusque and poorly trained.