Meet Dr. Carole Keim MD | Pediatrician, author, and mom

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dr. Carole Keim MD and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr. Carole, what do you want your legacy to be?
I want to be America’s Pediatrician. I wrote The Baby Manual and I intend for that book to be the number one bestselling baby book, that parents find the most helpful and useful out of all the baby books out there. I want to bring peace of mind to parents all over the world and help them take care of their babies confidently.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I wrote the first edition of The Baby Manual in 2015. I was giving monthly talks to new moms at the Birth Center of Boulder, and made a list of all their questions, then separated them by topic. I chose one topic per month. As I was preparing for the talk, I would write out an outline with all the points I hoped to cover. I soon realized that I could easily expand my notes into chapters, and put them all together into a book. I thought, it would be so helpful for families to have all this information in one place that they could easily reference.

I had my first baby 2 years later, in 2017, so I wrote a second edition with all the stuff I wish I had in there for myself when I was pregnant! I also pooled all the feedback I had gotten from the first edition, and made updates accordingly.

Once the pandemic started, I realized that families were becoming completely isolated. Women were giving birth and having to choose only one support person who could be there for the delivery and visit daily. Meal trains, neighbors dropping by, and friends and family coming to hold the baby suddenly became a thing of the past.

Many parents have told me they felt like they were on top of things while in the hospital, but as soon as they left they realized they were alone with a baby and no training on how to take care of it. Several have described “panic-googling” in the middle of the night, only to be left with more questions and feeling more anxious. So I wrote the book to help answer the questions I hear over and over again as a pediatrician. I distilled it down to the most important information that parents actually need, so they can easily reference it when they need it.

Not everyone reads books these days, especially the newest generation that is starting to have babies. They prefer video format because it’s a more fun way to absorb information. So I’ve started making short (less than one minute) videos with this information, and putting them on Instagram and TikTok. I also have some longer videos (2-3 minutes each) on YouTube about health concerns in babies and older children. Patients say they like the way I explain things, and I realized I could get this information to so many more people out there if I just made the content available. So I did!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Denver museum of nature and science Denver zoo
Elitch’s
Celestial Seasonings tour
Coors brewery tour

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’m inspired by Dr. Sears – actually two of them – Dr. Jim Sears and Dr. Bill Sears. I met them at a Juice Plus conference and was blown away by how kind and down-to-earth they both are. Dr. Bill Sears has written so many baby books that are so helpful and detailed. Dr. Jim Sears heard about my book and my practice, and was kind enough to interview me for his podcast after we had only just met! They have a big pay-it-forward mentality with a goal of helping families with children, and I want to be just like them when I grow up!

Website: http://babymanualbook.wpengine.com/

Instagram: doctoratyourdoor

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drcarolegedenberg/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrAtYourDoor

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/doctoratyourdoor

Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/doctor-at-your-door-boulder-2

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgiFPPz3Zxvr67NO_gplewA

Other: TikTok: doctoratyourdoor

Image Credits
Photos were taken by Michelle Gray (photo with white background), Sergio Fuhrer (photos with grey background)