ABOUT CARA FAMILIAN NATTERSON, M.D.

photo credit: Deborah Feingold, "Your Toddler Head to Toe" cover photograph

Cara Familian Natterson, M.D., is a nationally known pediatrician and author of two acclaimed books, Your Newborn: Head to Toe and Your Toddler: Head to Toe (both published by Little, Brown and Co.)  She is in private practice in Santa Monica, California.  She is an attending on staff at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, St. John's Hospital, and UCLA Medical Center.

Dr. Natterson was graduated from Harvard and has her medical degree from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.  She completed her pediatric residency at the University of California at San Francisco.  A contributing editor to Cookie magazine, Dr. Natterson has appeared numerous times on the Today Show, CNN, and is covered often in many other media outlets on health and environmental topics relating to babies, children and teens.

 
TASTY TALK WITH DR. CARA

1. Who are your kids? 
Talia (3 ½) and Ry (22 months)

2. Who's your husband?

Paul Natterson, cardiologist

3. How did you meet him?

His sister brought her kids into my office for a sick visit and made it her life’s work (well, okay, her next year-and-a-half’s work) to introduce us. Incidentally, we had the same answering service who was also trying to fix us up, and we take care of many of the same families. (Paul the grandparents, me the grandkids.)  The parents would tell me, “I just took my mother to the cardiologist. You need to meet this guy!”

4. How many hours of sleep do you get?

On a good night, 8. On a typical night, more like 6-7.

5. What do you do to de-stress?

Hang with my kids. Paul and I will often run (one jogging stroller apiece) and then grab a coffee with the kids.

6. What's your ideal day with your family?

It starts with a morning run followed by breakfast and coffee – sort of a ritual in our house. Then we try to do some sort of activity — we could go to a museum or have squirt gun fights in the back yard, doesn’t matter. We have lunch together and then both kids nap. (You did say “ideal”, right?). We grab an early dinner at our favorite local Mexican restaurant and then the kids love to run-off their quesadillas for about an hour afterwards. We all fall into our respective beds nice and early!

7. You were a pediatrician before you had kids. How has having your own children influenced you as a doctor?

I often tell patients that I am slightly embarrassed by the advice I used to give. The medical content hasn’t changed at all. It’s just the empathy piece. I really didn’t appreciate how difficult it is to give a child medicine or take an accurate temperature. I had no idea how well 3 year olds negotiate!

8. What keeps you up at night?

Sick patients. Really, anyone I am worried about. My husband and I are each up at least 1 night per week worried about someone we saw in the office.

9. Are you ever "Wasty?" (ie: NOT hip, efficient, planet-friendly & health-conscious)

Yes. Guilty. I am not the best about eating during the day because I see patients back-to-back in order to get home to my kids. And I am looking for a hybrid car that will fit more than just 2 car seats in the back. But our family really does try to practice what we preach.

10. What's your biggest indulgence?

Ice cream

11. Do you have shoe fetishes or handbag cravings?

I am definitely a shoe girl! Handbags less so—I can pretty much throw everything in my old-fashioned doctor’s bag.

12. What makes you Tasty?

People laugh when they come over to our house. We live a very uncluttered life, with all of the kids toys stored in drawers and cupboards, and very little kid paraphernalia hanging around the house. It’s a very kid-friendly place to live, just a clean one. I think it will teach my children to be respectful of their world and to organize their lives.