To think the health visitor shouldn’t be optional anymore?

[Belindaminder]

Over the years I’ve been aware of situations that may not have escalated if a professional had noticed and intervened.
A previous neighbour refused any visits from both midwife and HV after the birth as they are ‘know it alls and it’s not necessary’. Her baby needed an emergency operation due to an illness that hadn’t been noted. Also it was discovered later on he had partial deafness which would have been picked up during the hearing test.
Someone I know well opted out of seeing a health visitor when her baby was born. As a result she has never been weighed (since birth), and has never reached out for advice or support with several issues the baby has had ‘because she’ll grow out of them naturally’.
I worry babies like this disappear into the shadows and miss out on health or developmental support they may need. Also the potential hiding of abuse (in parent or child or both), neglect, depression etc that may not be picked up until nursery age or later.
I’ve heard many horror stories that could have been prevented with a professional being aware.
I was thankful for my HV when my eldest was born. I was in an abusive situation. I really wanted to breastfeed but I was ‘forbidden’ from doing it. The HV was great at giving me a confidence boost and reassuring me my baby was healthy. The support I was given lead me to the happy situation I am now in, which wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for her. (I’ve had awful ones too, I’m not praising them as royalty, just that their profession is necessary).
I know I will see responses that it’s our human right to decide and many babies and families are absolutely fine and gain nothing by the HV visits, but what about the ones who aren’t? In my eyes as a HV I’d be concerned and suspicious about why someone opted out of something that was to provide advice and care for their child. There were no ‘repercussions’ for the people who refused a HV when they needed one. Shouldn't it be viewed as neglect?
Does anyone agree that HV visits should be part of the deal of having a baby or face the consequences, or am I on my own here?

I can see where you are coming from - it's very easy for for young child to slip through the cracks. But personally, I haven't found health visitors to be useful. They didn't pick up on any of the issues my eldest had (partial hearing loss, not picked up for 2 years....). The one I saw on day 5 upset me so much that I asked my parents to come round for the day 10 check in case it was the same one (it wasbt, thank goodness). She accuses me of lying about how I was feeding my baby, I istes that no bf baby stayed above birthweight and as i "must" have been lying about that what else was I making up? She was aggressive and threatening.

Non-issue with my other 3. But also rather pointless and felt like a waste of time/resources. We weighed them at home and didn't need any advice. It's easy enough to find guidance online for weight &developmental milestones.

If their only use is to check for lack of abuse I don't think it's worth it.

I agree with you on the whole.

In my eyes the families vehemently refusing the health visitor because they're 'nosy' or 'interfering' would be the ones i'd be wanting to see the most. With those kids most in need of an outsiders watchful eye.

Probably not a popular opinion though!

Hearing test is nothing to do with HV though?

We have only had HV a couple of days after birth (for about 10mins) 10month check and 2 year check. I guess I might have felt differently if it was more heavy involvement but I didn't see the point of opting out- didn't find it useful really but also not a problem.
Hearing check was done in hospital before discharge I thought? Might be remembering wrong though.

I agree, as long as people are able to see a qualified health visitor but in many areas qualified HVs are thin on the ground and focus on Child Protection and manage the health visiting team. They delegate the day to day work to nursery nurses, support workers, HV assistants etc.

ID badges don't make this clear and don't give the workers qualifications so people think they're seeing a HV when they're not.

This coupled with lack of inservice training means that parents don't always get the best advice or care and think that HVs are useless.

The reality in many areas is that it's very difficult to see a health visitor and due to underfunding they (quite rightly) focus on known child protection cases. As with all professions there are good and bad health visitors.

When DD was a baby we had a home visit after she was born and attended a 2.5 year check. The home visit included asking me all the basic questions that she already had in the midwife hand over and asking why the baby didn't have my partners last name. Otherwise we could attend a weighing clinic but couldn't speak to a health visitor without a GP referral. When I had PND my GP referred me to the health visiting service for support. It took 6 months for them to call me and when they did it was clear they didn't have time to speak to me, didn't offer an apt etc.

So in theory, yes I agree that health visitors could be in a great position to spot abuse, provide support, but in reality I don't think that is the case in many parts of the country. I can also understand why people with negative experiences refuse to engage with them.

What would the alternative be, if you don't agree to see the HV you'll have social services knocking on your door?

With my DC, we saw the HV once in the first week then not a sound from them until DC was over 2 years old. Anything could have happened in that time and no one would have noticed, so even if seeing the HV after birth was compulsory, would it make any difference longer term?

I strongly disagree, it's too paternalistic to make seeing a hv mandatory when the vast majority don't require this.

Unlikely that social services would visit just because someone declined HV visits.

They might check with midwife, GP, school (if older children) and anyone else involved with family to ask if there are any concerns. If there are then would phone or write, not just turn up.

I agree with you.
If you are all ok it is nothing more than a quick check up and a bit of signposting to where to access support when needed etc..
If there are real issues it's a vital service.
I also agree those avoiding the service are the ones who probably do need a closer look

My HV was lovely, we didn't have issues she just popped In gave me reassurance and weighed my baby. Mine was a bit slow gaining weight so she did a couple of extra weight checks. All lovely visits where she said nice things about my baby, reasured me and then congratulated me when we got weight nicely up. After that I went to clinic as needed. No stress.
I know I am not of any concern safeguarding wise with nothing to hide. I am also aware the real work for the registered health visitors ( not the staff nurses or nursery nurses on the team these are the people who do most of the simple work) is safeguarding.

The HV came out once after my very prem twins came home. She told me to put hats on them (in the middle of a heatwave) completely against the advice of NICU and was here for a maximum of 5 minutes so my faith in them isn't great.

The HVs I had for my four were useless. It may just be that I had 3 really poor practitioners but they offered no worthwhile help or advice and just moaned about other families. Twice I needed specific intervention and both times I got it via midwives who I was lucky to still have access to.

One of mine arrived with a bag emblazoned with an SMA logo, and when DH and I told her she was promoting artificial feeding, she got huffy.

Out of the four I endured, none was helpful.

which would have been picked up during the hearing test.

That happens in hospital before you're discharged, it's nothing to do with the HV.

And the person who hasn't been weighed must have missed the one and two year checks, too?

I haven't seen my HV since DS was 6 weeks and discharged from the midwife. She came round to introduce herself, booked to come back the following week, got Covid and we never heard from her or any other HVs again. DS has had one and two year checks at the local children's centre, with the staff there.

Mine was an appalling waste of space. There was a good one near us - we met her later at the baby clinic - but honestly I've never heard anyone talk so much rubbish in my life as the one who came when DD was newborn, so we declined further visits. I can't see that making it obligatory would help anyone. (DD is 14 now so my experience is probably out of date, though.)

I didn’t like mine, she was useless. After my second and subsequent children I asked to not see one. I found them patronising and rude. Also they would say they visit between 9-1 (often be late) then then get annoyed if you weren’t home. I was out and about with my baby as I also had a toddler who would be bored at home, also had to do the school run.

Artificial feeding?

Yes.

In my eyes as a HV I’d be concerned and suspicious about why someone opted out of something that was to provide advice and care for their child. There were no ‘repercussions’ for the people who refused a HV when they needed one. Shouldn't it be viewed as neglect?

You’re advocating for a totalitarian state. It’s great that you had a good experience with the HV, not everyone does.

No it’s not

It's like a lot of things, though, where you could put measures in place 'for the greater good'. You could have somebody visit every house with under 18s in it once a week - they would probably catch some wrongdoing. In fact, you could put cameras inside every room of every family house, so a government official could monitor them whenever they liked - would cut down on a lot of domestic crime. We could regulate access to the internet like they do in China.

The thing with HVs is that, as well as helping many, they often cause a lot of stress and unnecessary worry to new mums. You hear loads of reports of bad advice, negative judgments on petty (or imagined) things, downright dangerous advice, patronising and just getting in the way when you're tired, emotional and vulnerable. When you've just had a new baby - exhausted and your house probably not at its tidiest etc. - you really don't want to have to be frightened that something may be misconstrued, reported and escalated, all based on one person's (often personal) ideas and opinions.

Going from the basis that all new mums need to be 'checked up on' in case there is abuse, they are bad mums or any other crime going on - and that anybody declining it must have something to hide - is creepy and Kafkaesque. When it's not your first baby, you already know the ropes anyway, so any claims about it being for giving advice on caring for a baby and the absolute basics is clearly just a misogynistic pretext, because you 'obviously can't trust women'.

I also don't get the concern about a baby not having been weighed since birth. How old is the child now? Has this caused long-lasting damage because nobody weighed the baby - and a woman who is a new mum is clearly too stupid or neglectful to be able to see how her baby is eating and growing, and to seek help herself if she has any worries?

I had a health visitor, who, in the weeks running up to birth told me the baby was breach (wrong), that I had gestational diabetes (wrong), that I'd need a C-section (wrong).

Then she tried to bully me into having a sweep at 9am on my due date, wouldn't back off and in the end I hung up on her.

After ds' was born, she visited twice, and then was never heard of again. She added no value but generated an awful lot of stress.

So no, I don't think they should be obligatory. She wasted a lot of my time, was a total drama queen, and didn't know her stuff. She also expressed unasked for views on my age and my career.

I had a lovely gp who on the very few occasions I needed help, was able to provide accurate and proportionate advice. The HV was a pointless addition.

One of them totally ignored my developmental concerns I had and basically spoke to me like i was an idiot...asked me really pointless questions like do I brush their teeth and take them out. Now I understand these questions might be appropriate but I was not a vulnerable, young mum nor did I have any particular problems which would prevent me doing those things.

It's madness, isn't it, when they expect you to ignore your baby's (and any older children's) needs and welfare, in order for them to pop in whenever they fancy - and quite possibly tell you off for not doing what they have prevented you from doing?

Of all people in all circumstances, who have nothing to do and so much time and freedom on their hands and who can merrily sit around waiting in on the off-chance for visitors dropping by... brand new mums, really?!?!

Not sure where you live where a HV visits multiple times antenatally ? Certainly not in England….l.you will be lucky to see one once ( as a mandated visit) …..most of them have no experience at all in midwifery so wouldn’t risk their PINs advising you on sweeps and c-sections…..this all sounds a bit Billy bollocks to me🙄