Coastal Kids - Laguna Niguel

This is my favorite pediatrician office and I’ve been going here for 8+ years now. However, this last appt was possibly the worst experience because they turned us down for flu vaccine the day of because the type of insurance I have and this is after we have already had a scheduled appointment which I purposely scheduled in advance so that all three kids could be seen at the same time. When I arrived at my appointment on time, I still was waiting in the room for the doctor for 45 additional minutes before being seen. By then my three kids were going cabin crazy and I finally decided I need to leave and reschedule. Then the staff told me the doctor is almost ready. So I went back in and she was there within 5 minutes. Still an extremely frustrating experience. Plus no flu shots given.

I’ve taken all three of my children to Coastal Kids (Irvine location) for over three years and have always had positive experiences — until today. My 3-day-old newborn had her routine checkup, and the visit was incredibly upsetting and concerning. Her weight was initially recorded incorrectly, and I was told she was down 14%, which was framed as a serious issue requiring an immediate follow-up visit the next day. I questioned this because it did not align with her feeding or output, but was told their scale “would never be wrong” and advised not to reweigh her. I ultimately insisted that she be weighed again. Only after that insistence did they recheck her weight, at which point it became clear her weight was actually within a normal range. The nurse practitioner also visually estimated th

Our insurance changed. I was hoping we could still go to this office!. So i called my insurance company and made sure we were still in network. but we worked it out so we can continue to come here to this office. The front staff were all friendly ! The Nurse Practitioner Gene was super nice and energetic! My 6 year old daughter loved her.

I am leaving this practice after many years because I feel the doctors in this group have never been supportive of my kids needs or proactive with anything. Both my girls have had differences with growth and needed a specialist, and the Dr just wasn’t seeing them drop off the growth curve. I advocated for a diagnosis & the Dr trailed behind. That’s far from ideal. They routinely botch lab work orders so you end up waiting hours at the lab for your orders to be faxed over! They are just incompetent even with the easiest of tasks.

I absolutely love the doctors and nurses there. The front desk and check in process needs some serious revamping. I hate having to check in by phone and wait for them to issue a text while standing in the lobby. Apparently there no other way they can let the back know that my child is there for an appointment. It’s not possible to slide the door directly behind them to say that the next patient is here. According to the front desk the parents phone number is the only way to let everyone know that my child is standing in front office and ready to be seen. What if a grand parent or a big brother brings my child because I’m on an airplane? It’s so stupid. It’s the worst system ever.