Who would you trust the advice from most?

the latter of course. If the midwife isn't a mother herself make it hard for her to give advice other then what she is advised by her work to advise u to do or not do. but usually it's only advice and u do not have to agree to it or do as they tell u to. I would rather go with my gut instinct. = )

Me, personally, a midwife. You do not need to have children to be a qualified medical practitioner. That is what a midwife is, she isnt a friend you can call when you want a gossip about your children. She has been to university and studied for 3 or 4 years to learn all about her PROFESSION. Thats like saying you wouldn't take advice of a doctor or surgeon if they didnt have children, but we still place our children's lives in their hands when we need to.

Yes, i also have been given incorrect or bad advice over the years, but that happens all across the land. Human errors occur and medical science progresses so more and more in learned, making somethings appear stupid in hind-sight.

I would never blindly believe anyone. If for some reason you have a gut instinct, or have reason to feel you are not getting the best possible care then you have the absolute right for a second and third opinion.

*Edit* It really depends what type of thing you have in mind. If your thinking coughs, colds, feeding habbits etc, then yes maybe so. But those are minor compared to some things they have to deal with. If i had a ruptured placenta, i wouldn't want my mate treating me (as lovely as she is), if my baby had cleft pallet, i wouldnt expect my next door neighbour to know how to feed it, if they had something wrong with their pelvis, i wouldnt expect anyone to know how to treat it. These all the things i expect from my midwife and much more.

But yes, minor childhood niggles are fine. As i say, a midwife isnt there to gossip about your kids, she is there to pick up and treat important medical problems.

I think it can sometimes depend on what the topic is. Our pediatrician likes to give out parenting advice. Ok she IS a parent but unless I meet your kids and I like them. I dont listen to your advice. Besides Pediatrics doesn't give her a degree in parenting, just sick kids.

That said. . I dont think parenting is what your talking about. And while I know there CAN be something of value from health care professionals its not easy to find good Dr's sometimes. Here are a couple of my experiences.

I was always a mildly sick kid. Low grade fevers and felt sick all the time. My mother had me tested for everything and in the end the Dr told her it was all in my head. As I got older I continually got worse. At 26 hip and knee pain would keep me up at night and have me literally limping home from work. I had severe reflux so bad it would come out (throw up) if I bent over and sometimes if I did not. I would feel like I had eaten glass after lunch every day and sharp sudden pain in my stomach would bring me to the floor once or twice a day. I was also having IBS symptoms almost daily. I got a upper endoscopy while they looked for ulcers. Which I dont have. And different meds that didn't work until my aunt was diagnosed with celiac disease. Since its genetic I started eating gluten free and ALL of my symptoms disappeared.

My daughter had colic like crazy and after meds that didnt work the Pediatrician said maybe it was "Just Colic" And told me not to try to stop eating dairy (cause I was breastfeeding and I had asked if I should) But she screamed from morning till night non-stop and I couldnt accept that so I started the total elimination diet. And guess what? Dairy and fish. . .

There is more but I'm pretty wordy. Anyway there are good professionals out there but there are a lot who really aren't. So my answer is neither. Dont take anything anyone says at face value.