About Katie

Dr Katie Tuck is a specialist paediatrician who has established a private clinic in Karaka, conveniently located for patients in the South Auckland region.

Katie’s special interests include social and emotional development, learning and behaviour issues as well as children’s sleep.

Katie trained at Otago Medical School in Dunedin, moved to Tauranga for her early post graduate career, moving to Auckland in 2001 to pursue a specialist career in Paediatrics. She completed dual subspecialty training in both General Paediatrics and Community Child Health which includes Developmental and Behavioural Paediatrics.

Katie has a passion for seeing children fulfil their potential within the context of their family. She takes the time needed to understand you and your child and will support you to find the help that you need.

As well as working in her private clinic, Katie works at Counties Manukau Health as a Developmental Paediatrician in the Disability Paediatric Team and Whakatupu Ora, Infant Mental Health.

Outside of work Katie is a parent to three children who keep her both busy and grounded. Being a parent is hugely important to how Katie practises medicine – it means she has read widely the parenting literature and advice that is current as well as medical literature in addition to having lived experience of what it means to be doing your best, to do the best, by your kids.

What is General Paediatrics?

General paediatrics is the specialty care of infants, children and young people aged up to 19 years for a wide range of health issues. This can range from newborn checks to the care of complex and ongoing health difficulties. General Paediatricians can help when a more in-depth assessment of problems is required than can be covered in primary (GP) care or when treatment plans are more complex.

What is a Developmental Paediatrician?

Developmental Paediatricians have specialty interest, training and experience in the development of children; how they grow, how they acquire knowledge and skills, how they learn to behave and socialise. We use our training to understand children from a medical point of view, in order to determine the reasons for different problems of development and behaviour.

We can then use this knowledge to help others (parents, teachers) understand children – what they can and cannot do, the reasons for the current difficulties, and provide a sense of what the future may hold.

Our major work is to support and guide parents in the journey of raising their children to achieve the best development and mental health/wellbeing by the time they become adults. This may include the use of medical treatments (such as medication), diagnosis (e.g. for school system), advocacy (to help others understand children and adapt their expectations) and specific recommendations regarding treatments and therapies.

We like to achieve this by being pro-active, working towards the best development possible rather than waiting for problems to occur and responding after they do.

*Adapted from Child Development Network website.