During her medical training, Dr. Waite decided she wanted to be a pediatrician and work with children. She now practices at Reliant Medical Group in Holden. “I really enjoy working with children. To me, children are very interesting and challenging to have as patients. They are also just plain fun to be with, which is why I enjoy being a pediatrician so much.”

As a pediatrician, Dr. Waite performs many wellness visits with her patients. “This is a time to educate the parents in terms of what the child will be doing developmentally. It is also a time to check the child’s developmental status, make sure they are healthy, and touch base with the family. Many people think a wellness visit is mostly for immunizations, but 60% of the time is spent talking with parents and educating them about their children’s health and development.”

One of the areas that concerns Dr. Waite is childhood obesity. “Obesity in children in the United States is a big issue and I hope in five or 10 years we will have better ways to help children from developing severe or morbid obesity. For many children, simple modifications can prevent them from falling into a lifestyle of gaining weight. When a baby has a weight issue, you work on educating the parents, but if it is a teenager, you work with both the teenager and the parents. One way to prevent weight gain is to reduce what we call screen time. This is anytime your child’s face is in front of a TV screen, video game or computer. Pediatricians like to keep screen time to less than an hour per day for young children and less than two hours per day for a teenager. Children need exercise and they simply can’t get that if they are in front of a TV or a computer all afternoon.”

In her free time away from Reliant Medical Group, Dr. Waite enjoys staying active and spending time with her husband and two children. “I have two sons who are seven years apart. We ski a lot in the winter and do a lot of biking in the summer. We also like to go hiking together to enjoy the outdoors. My kids are very active and I enjoy trying to keep up with them, although it’s not easy.”