I'm a health visitor

[HurricaneLane]

So you can AMA?

But as we seem to get such a bad reputation I'm thinking of starting a blog or a social media account to try and show that we are helpful, want to help and really aren't offering what people alot of the time think of us?

Can I ask if you would find this helpful, and whether a blog or social account would be better?

Why do none of you understand percentiles or how breastfed babies grow?

I havent RTFT but wanted to ask something that I've been wondering. Is there like an enhanced service if babies have been ill / prem etc compared to a straightforward birth?

My DD was born at 38w but very tiny and then developed GBS sepsis so a two week NICU stay. She dropped to 0.4th centile and with all the trauma around her illness, i was in a bit of a state.

Our HV was absolutely unbelievable - we had weekly home visit weigh ins until 12 weeks then a monthly visit until DD was 1. She got us referrals to the infant feeding team for bfing support, helped me navigate the GP to get reflux meds, helped me refer to our MH services for PND, chased the physio for concerns re hypermobility / late walking and explained "pick up put down" sleep training to us when DD hadnt slept for more than 90mins from 7-9months. I honestly dont know what we would have done without her.

But this is completely different to the experience of all my friends with babies in the same borough and same age. Did we just get lucky? Or because of DD's illness, would we automatically have been assigned a more experienced or specialist HV?

Thanks for the thread!

As someone in media I'd say an Instagram account works better. Very few people read blogs now tbh. Unless they're recipes or travel.

Mmmm sorry as a DN in the late 80s we always called you the lazy arses of nursing. Too much chat and no work. Too much paperwork and no action.

Sorry :)

Just wanted to say thanks- my health visitor is great. ☺️

My health visitor wasn't great with my first. She didn't listen to me about my concerns and just kept saying "he'll get there". He did get there eventually (with considerable support from paeds and physio) but it wasn't a helpful thing to keep repeating to a worried first time mum. I told her over and over that I suspected autism and gross motor skill delay and wasn't listened to. He wasn't even in reception a fortnight when his teacher picked up on many issues and now we're heading down the right road.

With my second, the original HV was off sick. I was obviously sorry she was so unwell but was relieved to have a different HV who was sympathetic and reassuring.

I wish my first HV had done better. I couldn't wait for DS to turn 5 so he could be under the school nurse instead

So the guidelines and policy on this often changes between trusts but you should be familiar with your guidelines

Safeguarding absolutely should be done like that.

Centiles, we are trained in them pretty heavily tbh and so many different pathways

Mandated contacts are for straightforward universal cases, everyone should get an antenatal, new birth, 6/8 week and 1 and 2 year development review.

In regard to talking, definitely give your health visitor a review and be firm, or ask for your review now.

In regards to premmies, there are members of teams who are neonatal trained, so allocation is done that way in our team altho we all have some premature training. There should also be joined up working with nicu, and often their outreach teams.

@HurricaneLane so what do your local guidelines say then out of interest? I’m confused why it is that so many babies are left permanently disfigured, scarred, unable to feed or see or with huge painful ulcerations. Mothers I speak to wonder why they’ve been told no treatment is necessary by health visitors for haemangiomas when clearly for some that’s not true and goes against NICE guidelines

We use the evidence from NICE and GOSH then have a pathway and protocol upon observation of them in specific time frames as does the GP and Paediatric team. Our local Paediatric hospital are very very helpful.
I wonder if our guidance needs to be more visible as they are very common.

Sometimes there's so much to remember hence I always have crib cards, so If you ever meet me I'm normally scribbling things I need to remember when doing my notes.

@HurricaneLane that is definitely not going on widely. I had to educate my health visitor who was absolutely shocked that my daughter was on medication to reduce hers on her eye. She had no idea there was even treatment options for them. I’m sure if I had only raised concerns about it with her she would have told me nothing needed to be done.

Maybe this isn't the same in your area buy why did weighing clinics disappear with covid and not return? My daughter was born in lockdown number 3 and we have never been invited to get her weighed or told about any clinics we can access.

I'm puzzled as to how this was seen as such an essential contact pre-covid that this has now disappeared completely. It seems like a useful brief way of checking in with families who don't have major concerns but could do with a bit of support.

Do you know the op then. Do t be so ridiculous. Probably because they have to deal with people like you ?

So they are actually around but they are via clinic slots only due to being able to give families one on one time. We tell all our families. They run in the family hubs and can be booked by ringing the health visitor duty lines normally

Hi op. When you want to say "you are" it's you're, not your.

I'm pointing it out because you've made the same mistake a few times on here - I don't know if you're ever in written correspondence with families, but personally I wouldn't want to take advice from a HCP who couldn't spell.

@HurricaneLane ok great thanks.

Autocorrect often makes my text into ungrammatical or frankly ludicrous statements ( I’ve seen many examples in other posters’ ,as well).

please share your provider, so we can post perfectly.

Apologies for my grammar, as someone has said I'm on my phone.

I'd like to think this thread creating insight into health visiting has been beneficial to posters, much more so than my grammar. I often find that people tend to prefer the support than correcting my vocabulary which I actually am quite cautious about.

And no, I'm don't mean to sound either patronising nor condescending, passive aggressive or other I just feel the above....

My baby was born 16 years ago. We live in an inner-city diverse area. Baby was born 8 weeks early, I had pre-eclampsia, she was born by emergency caesarean.

I found the HV and the rest of the primary care team to be utterly judgemental and biased against us.

I earn a decent wage but it was perceived by the HV as "manual labour" (nope) and DH is a postal worker. For that reason we were a "problem" because of our perceived socio-economic group. I mean, these things matter, but I know plenty of families with a lot less than us do fantastically, and why shouldn't they?

Because of our occupations everything else was judged against it. My DD was developmentally delayed but she was catching up. She sped up once she started nursery and seeing other kids do things she wanted to do. But the HV still made comments about our living situation (a modern 2 bed flat in a nice area) and our finances. Well sorry, we can't all afford a three bed victorian terrace with a garden in London. Also, she insinuated that DD was born early because we were working class doing ordinary jobs. Like I made it happen!

Needless to say, I made it my business to steer clear of her as much as possible.

No AMA , I just hope things have moved in since then.

I had my children in a country where there are no HV’s. It would be inconceivable that a health professional would visit you and your child. I would have found it very intrusive. Appreciate it’s the norm here though!

I know you have explained what you do but I’m interested to know why there is a need for it in this country but not others.

So I've been asked this lots, it's mainly due to what the public health agenda and funding is like in those countries, its also cultural and generational. Its rather complex.

There are lots of countries who do use a health visiting model, the institute of health visiting publish on what's going on globally for us to stay informed

I have no time for HV as previously said but correcting grammar or spelling in a debate is beyond wankerish. Grow up

do h/v secretly judge teen parents. Like I always felt they judged me cause I had my first son at 19

Absolutely not, I come from a family with teenage pregnancy. I've had a teenage pregnancy, none of us judge and we have specialised HVs who can help with the social sides of things like housing etc

@HurricaneLane I'm not a HV but I supervise, train and support them in child protection. I take my hat off to you guys going knocking on doors meeting a variety of responses, evasion and deception. But there are also families who want that support and input and want everything you have to offer and I know HV's who move heaven and earth to help them be the best parents they can be. Then there's the middle ground who go with the flow. HV's save lives, they save babies and young children's lives and they save post natal mum's lives. You can't count the bad things that didn't happen.