Two year review

[HeyThatsNotMyName]

Posting here for traffic.

What should I expect from the two year review by the health visitor?

[Merryoldgoat]

Nothing useful. My son has ASD and I mentioned my concerns and she dismissed them. Just kept telling me he was very big. Which is unsurprising when you have an 11lb baby.

Sorry but I’ve never had the good fortune to meet a helpful or particularly competent Health Visitor.

[HeyThatsNotMyName]

Thank you for your reply. Confirmed my thoughts really, just a box ticking exercise!

[CatLadyToddlerMother]

Depends on the HV.

DDs HV is brilliant and listened to my concerns and referred DD to where she needed to be.

She's just had a second review at 3 years old due to issues raised at the 2 year review and she listened to me again and helped me feel better about DD.

[Winterbella]

This isn’t a thing where I live

[Merryoldgoat]

I have friends who have definitions had good experiences with their HVs so there are good ones out there.

[Yura]

Waste of time. They come in, have a cup of tea, moan how hard their live is, asked a couple of questions and leave. Health visitors are a waste of money

[TightropeWalk]

My daughter is 3 in November and hasn’t seen a health visitor since 12 months.

[BrokenLink]

You will probably be sent an "Ages and Stages" questionnaire. The answers are scored and they give a very rough picture of your DC's development compared to the average. There are lots of places to write down any concerns you might have. They will probably also talk about healthy eating, brushing teeth and getting things in place so your DC will be ready for school. They will probably also measure weight and height. In many authorities, two year reviews are done by nursery nurses who work alongside health visitors.

[Confusedbeetle]

Merry old goat, sorry your experiences have not been good. The 2-year review can certainly seem like a box-ticking exercise when all is going well and the parents have no concerns. At this age contact with a health visitor can be unimportant or infrequent. However, it is a big developmental stage and sometimes a parent will raise a concern of an issue that may well become a big problem if not addressed in the early stages. For most health visitors this is and should be entirely parent led. Most parents have a very good idea if all is going well and the child is thriving in a similar way to other two-year-olds. At face value, there may be a framework of growth and development that luckily for most children is a tick box. However, it is an opportunity to discuss any worries that may be nagging. These might be around behaviour, eating, dental health, sleep patterns. For parents who may be depressed, lonely, unsupported, suffering from controlling or abusive relationships, they may need signposting to help and support. And then,sadly there are children who for whatever reasons are not receiving adequate care. It is great that most parents do not really need a health visitor. but in UK it is a free and universal service and as such helps people without targetting and stigmatising so I would just ask you to use the sevice as and when you need, and when everyone is happy it is parent led. If you and your children need m nothing, that is lovely, I am happy for you

[happymummy12345]

Ours wasn't any use really. We tried to tell her about the concerns we had, and she dismissed them completely, saying I can't help with that, it's too early. Which I know it was not.
If anything she made our concerns worse.