Where to take children for vaccinations - Munich

I recently moved to Munich. My daughters both are due for vaccinations according to our booklets, my eldest due for her booster MMR. Can someone please tell me, do I take them to a pediatrician or a general practitioner or other for this? I don't know how it works in Germany, do all children go to pediatricians? Mine are 3 and 5. thx

You should go to a Kinderartz. They sort it all.

"Kinderarzt" being a pediatrician, for those not Germanically inclined...

A GP will also do this, no problem. You don't need to go to a Kinderarzt.

Yeah, when I tried that, the GP didn't have the proper vaccinations on hand, and wanted to give my son another one, which he had already had. So I would rather go to a Kinderarzt myself. They know exactly what to give when, and have it on hand.

That sounds like an incompetent GP. If you make an appointment you say what it is for, so he should have everything he needs ready. Your children (should) have their Impfpass anyway, so he can see what they have/what is due. We always found it much easier to go to our GP for this because it was much easier to get an appointment and with less waiting than with the Kinderarzt. I guess it is local conditions.

Is this also the case with regular health concerns? Can I take them to a GP, or do I have to take them to a pediatrician?

Our GP also sees children. Many do, I think, but I took my kids to a pediatrician because I felt she was more competent and specialized. The choice is really yours.

And it also depends on your insurance (which yes is unfair but...) If you have Private insurance the pediatrician/orthopedic/... will see you immediately and there is next to no wait time when you arrive. My friends who have Public insurance tell me this is not so for them.

You can go to either GP or paediatrician, but I take my kids to the GP for vaccinations as he is better at them - has a lovely manner with the kids and they never cry, where the paediatrician might have more specialist knowledge of children's ailments but lacks the charm with the kids and the one time I took them to him for vaccines there was much howling and a temporary anxiety about them on the part of my older child, which she has never had in relation to vaccines from the GP (or in the UK where they are done by a specialist nurse!)

Paediatrician isn't always the best for everything, but unfortunately unless you have a personal recommendation on a doc who does vaccines without tears, it's trial and error! Obviously you need to know yourself what your child needs when you are changing countries, as not all doctors are knowledgable about international variations in the vaccination schedules.

I take my kids to the paediatrician on the rare occasion I have a specific health concern, and also for their scheduled "U" check ups, but to the GP for routine things like inoculations, as the kids like him better an enjoy going to see him lol and also for the reason somebody else mentioned - apts are easy to get. We have standard insurance, and I have no idea whether this influences the fact routine apts for the check ups involve a longish wait with the kinderartz (up to 5 weeks, but then you know when these are due and can book as far in advance as you want), but the one time I rang up and said my son had a rash we got an apt the same day, so going to the kinderartz is a viable option on any kind of insurance.

All the best

Hilary