I have 6 children, ranged from 16 years old to newborn babies. I have been taking my kids to Streeterville Ped since my 10 year old was born. This is THE only doctor's office I have loyalty to. My experiences with any and all of the doctors here has been top notch. When our main doctor - Dr. Barrows - has not been available to see my little patient, I have been very pleased with any of the other doctors that have cared for my children. Certainly there have been times when I have waited some extra time. Did I like it? No, but considering that they always take a sick child (and I have brought my children in on no notice more than once), I am willing to wait a bit for that consideration. I have no problem with making room for distraught parents with very sick children - just as room has been made for me and my kids before. The staff is warm and friendly - and certainly very competent. In ten years, I have never had a medical insurance claim botched - how many doctors' offices can say that? In the instances when I have chosed to make the after-hours or weekend emergency call to the office, I have only ever been answered with courtesy, assurance, and good advice. Lastly, as far as my opinion of Dr. Barrows, I will say that he is tops in my book. Sure, he has a somewhat offbeat sense of humor. That doesn't bother me; my kids think he is funny and they like him. Yes, he offers advice, but he is a DOCTOR. Getting advice from him about my kids is not like getting investment advice from the guy who washes my windows, or dating advice from a priest, people. He was dealing with babies and kids in a health and wellness sense since most of his patients' parents were IN diapers - or at least grade school. And he will be long after those parents have donated or handed down their diaper genies, diaper bags and high chairs.

Dr. Brown visited us in the hospital and was understanding and wonderful. He is a great doctor. However, our first appointment at the practice was with Dr. Barrows - it was horrific and we left both shocked and I was very tearful. After waiting 90 minutes to be seen, he didn't do us the courtesy of even an apology for keeping us waiting, which I think is just basic common courtesy. He then went on to confuse us with another patient, and then another, before asking 'so why are you here?' After all of this he spent 10 minutes saying that she looked great, but criticizing our parenting skills - in particular breast feeding and sleeping patterns. If I had to see him again, I would find an alternative practice rather than subject myself, my husband and my daughter to that. He may be smart, but lacks basic skills in communications. Healthcare costs enough - surely when you pay for the best, that is exactly the experience you should get.

Dr. Brown is amazing. He has great energy and is just a great doctor. Dr. Starr is also a wonderful doctor. I saw both of these dr.'s in the hospital after I had my daughter and they were just fabulous. However, we have seen Dr. Barrows and I do not recommend him. He made an inappropriate joke to me during my daughters 1 month appt. My daugher also had severe cradle cap on her ears tha the dismissed and as a result we were back in the office 2 days later to see Dr. Brown. Luckily, Dr. Brown understood the severity (as she was only 5 weeks old) and under his care, it cleared up in 24 hours. I will never see Dr. Barrows again unless its absolutely necessary.

We loved Dr. Brown. He came to our hospital room twice after delivery, gave the vibe that he had all the time in the world to answer our questions. He said he wasn't available for our first visit, but would be available for all subsequent visits. We saw Dr. Barrows. Condescending presence. He cracked bad jokes the whole time (trying to impress a resident who was shadowing him), instead of giving us much needed new parenting answers! I called to ensure that we would see Dr. Brown for our 2nd appointment; was told that he had a wait list of 7-8 patients & that I could not get in. They had stuck us with Barrows again. Barrows might be smart & knowledgeable (gleaned from the other reviews), but I was in near tears after our appointment (he was harsh re: the way I was breastfeeding). His communication and people skills are lacking. I would go to Dr. Brown again, and we have recently seen Dr. Starr. She is GREAT and understanding.

I think it says a lot that my kids look forward to going to the doctor here. The waits are short for a doctor's office, especially in the morning. It is a small and busy practice so while you can always get an appointment for a sick child, it may not be with your child's primary doctor. The nurses and support staff are great with the kids. The docs all a bit old fashioned, but Brown and Starr are willing to work with and support you in your parenting decisions. Dr. Brown was recommended to us by many people during our first pregnancy, and I've in turn recommended him (and Dr. Starr) to anyone who asks. My 2 cents on the Dr. Barrows discussion. I have decided to find a back up pediatrician for the rare occasion when I have a sick child and Dr. Barrows is the only available physician. We've had many negative encounters with him, mostly because he doesn't want to listen to parents--he wants you to listen to him. He's twice tried to convince us we aren't seeing the symptoms we report, which affects the diagnosis he's willing to give. When my first child was a year old and we called the after hours line (at 2:00 on a Saturday), Dr. Barrows told us we shouldn't have bothered him since "if we called after hours we obviously felt is was a life and death issue, so we should have just taken him to the emergency room". That isn't 'not sugar coating it', that's refusing to be a doctor. He thoroughly demeaned a medical student in our presence when she didn't have a correct answer to a question (rather than teach her, he took 5 minutes out of our appointment to yell at her, asking the same question over and over and over while she shook). We gave him many chances since obviously his partners must trust him, but we finally decided our kids' care was being compromised by his reluctance to listen to us lowly parents. A note about how it affects your kids: we only ever speak to our kids about all doctors in the same positive terms (to keep them trusting doctors and letting us know honestly if they feel unwell). Our young son has recently started adding names to his play acting. When he pretends to be Dr. Brown, he heals people and is exceedingly kind. When he pretends to be Dr. Barrows, he puts on his stern voice and only orders people around "Sit down! Move that! Be quiet!". Our kids pay more attention than we think.