to think HV are a bit of a waste of space?

[kaymondo]

Just wondering what other people's experiences have been as I have found the ones in my area extremely unsupportive and not particularly knowledgable when i ask them for advice on certain topics.

As an example, despite DS being perfectly healthy and happy, HV has been telling me he is not putting enough weight on because he has dropped from the 91st percentile line (he was v big born as 2 weeks overdue) to the 50th. He has now been tracking the 50th line for about 4 months. He is exclusively breastfed and i feed on demand but was made to feel so insecure about it that i almost stopped feeding him myself. Only didn't because i had to see the consultant peadiatrician (sp?) due to an unrelated issue (reaction to jabs) and i mentioned to him that the HV had been monitoring his weight - he basically laughed at it and said that ds was absolutely perfect. Next time i saw HV she said still worried about weight, i told her what the consultant had said and she still said it was an issue Saw her this week and starting discussing weaning - have just started DS on solids at 5.5months and she was completely clueless when i was asking some questions about BLW and basically was implying i should have started on solids ages ago (which i know is a hot topic this week, but this was before that hit the headlines and i thought i was doing the right thing by holding off and didn't get to 6 months anyway!)

Not sure if its just our area but i always go in feeling tense and come out feeling rubbish. I'm a fairly strong minded person so, despite a few wobbles, i carried on bf'ing and am happy that i started ds on solids at the right time for him, but i do worry that other people in my position may have stopped bf'ing due to unsupportive attitudes, or been pushed into starting solids early.

I'm genuinely interested to see if my experience is typical or whether others have had a better experience.

My HV was fantastic. And it was a male HV. He gave me so much support with my PND. My kids are now 8 and 6, but I know I could still ring him and ask for advice on anything. He's amazing!

Quick question. My HV comes to the house. My baby is 3 weeks old. when will she stop coming, or am I stuck with this forever? She's ok but I'd quite like my Tuesdays back.

I once had to give an award for a team of HVs who had come up with the revolutionary idea of getting together once a month to go through the journals and update their professional knowledge.

Good for them but blimey, you'd have thought that kind of thing was obligatory... apparently not, HVs don't get any protected time or funding for updating their skills so lots of them don't bother (I queried this with the HVs professional association, btw, who just moaned about primary care trusts not providing protected time - which is a fair point but you still have a responsibility as a healthcare professional to check the advice you are doling out is current.)

Having said all that, my first HV in London was fantastic, incredibly encouraging and supportive. She turned up when ds was a couple of weeks old to find me sobbing in pain with cracked nipples and having nightmares b/f. Bless her, she took ds from me, changed his nappy, made me a cup of tea, diagnosed mastitis, then went to the GP to get me a prescription AND to the pharmacy next door to get it made up AND delivered the antibiotics. She was an absolute star.

The ones when I moved were about as much use as chocolate tea pots but I didn't really need them by then, thank heavens.

DS1's health visitor was a lovely bloke called Brian. Luckily DS1 was fit and healthy baby and we had no problems.

DS2 had developmental displacia of both hips joints from birth and was in a splint then a harness for most of the first year of his life. We also had to attend the local hospital every monday for his consultant paediatrician to assess him, scan him, remove his brace so he could have a bath and a cuddle and then reset the brace to its new position.
His health visitor saw him once, didn't notice the brace till she went to weight him - then said she couldn't because i would need to find out what the brace weighed so they could alter his records accordingly. Ok no problem. But we never saw hide nor hair of the HV again till last year when they phoned to say they were coming out to see if everything was alright because i had been at local A & E with DS1 twice in the last 6 weeks. (DS1 had jumped up and hit his head on the door handle at my mums leaving a gash that needed to be glued. Then he fell over on our driveway and cracked his nose against the coving).

When they arrived we were playing rugby in the front garden. I was at the bottom of the scrum being totally beaten up by my two boys.... if anyone needs protecting in this house its bloody well me.

So in answer to your questions - SOME HV's are a total waste of space.

I'd like to think there were nice ones but I'm yet to find them!
Every one of my HVs (I've had 4 in 2.7yrs) have been awful.
First my son put on too much weight, went to pediatrician who wasn't concerned, they continued to pressure me. This was defo a contributing factor to PND, which they then thought it was necessary to tell SS that I was a risk to my son (even then I knew that was NEVER an issue and I'd always maintained that it was how I was feeling toward myself, not my son) which resulted in child protection conference (with PND!).
Now his speech is a concern, and its my fault for carrying on with a bottle at night (bizarre!).
I'm changing doctors when this baby is born as I hate the current HV so much so hoping I will get a good one.
I won't hold my breath!

YANBU you dont have to see the HV, just saw her a couple of times when dd was a tiny and not then until 1 when she had her 1 year check, than 2 year check and so on. Ignore her, you know your child, the consultant is more qualified to give you advice.

I have met my designated HV once in 14 months. After every hospital admittance we have been told the HV will probably be in touch to make sure all is ok - not even a phone call!

When DS came out of hospital after 2 weeks in seriously ill at 10 weeks I took him to be weighed. First she lectured me because he had lost weight (after I had told her the full story including being nil by mouth for 3 days then very gradually food being introduced via tube (5ml at a time!)) then she lectured me the importance of wrapping him up warm (it was January)if he had had any more layers on when we arrived it would have been overheating that would have been the risk. I haven't taken him to be weighed by the HV since as I hated how patronising they were.

At the 8 month check (which he had at 11 months) the HV I met was lovely because she was realistic about things. Shame they aren't all like that.

Mine were lovely.
I'm still in touch with Ds's now and he is over 5yr old. She's still a great help!

We are not all dreadful and most of us are snowed under with work (especially child protection). As a Mum with a child on the autistic spectrum I am also not blind to the red flags which might suggest this.

Speak as you find (and you might find dreadful ones) but we are not all terrible and out of date.

My experiences with two HVs are that they were quite set in their ways re exclusively breastfeeding and were unwilling to listen to me or acknowledge that I had serious problems with it. It was a case of 'try harder'. I felt like a failure and almost deranged with grief at not being able to do it. I ended up combining reasonably successfully until 4 months, and that worked for us. The last time i saw them DS had poo-ed and I changed his nappy and the HV commented 'Ah, that is the poo of a properly bf baby'. At the time I had been ffeeding for two months exclusively. When I said that i had stopped I was told (and this is a quote) 'If you really wanted to, you could relactate'. I felt completely unsupported. (This was the same HV who when I asked for advice how to preapre a bottle properly told me that she would not tell me, because if i knew how to do it I would be more likely to give up breastfeeding'. )

I am just not impressed really. However, that was MY experience.

(I just want to add, I do not want my post to be turned into a bunfight over ff or bf, please. MY experience is that although i so badly wanted to bfeed, I found that it just did not seem to work for me (trying for 4 months remember) and I wish very much it had. )

They're a bit like a selection box of biscuits - very few really good ones, a few nice but could be better and mostly not worth the space they are taking up!

Hopelesslydisorganised - I think you are one of the chocolate coated ones

Yep complete and utter waste of space and NHS resources and money.

I can think of atleast a hundred other areas in the NHS where I would rather have my money go!

Yep waste of the local authority's money frankly.

I would LOVE to meet a Health Visitor who wasn't a waste of my time and everyone's money. Unfortunately, I haven't yet and nor have my friends! The two year check was a farce. DS could have had all manner of problems and they wouldn't have noticed. On her first visit after DS's birth, HV said she wanted to talk about smoking. I pointed out that we are a family of vehement non smokers, which only served to cue a ten minute lecture on the evils of smoking. Best of all was when she arrived when Ds was asleep upstairs. I said I would get him, she said there was no need. I had to insist on bringinging him down as there was no way she was writing down that she visited but had not been given access to the baby! What is the point of a visit in which the Health Visitor does not assess the health of the child? And no wonder cases of abuse are missed.

I didn't bother with HVs when mine were little. I'd take them to the clinic for the first 2 or 3 wks to have them weighed and once I knew they were gaining and thriving, that was it...I didn't bother again.

On the whole I have found mine very good. I was a bit anxious with first dc as he was small baby(iugr) and put on weight very slowly,so used to get him weighed every week.Was always encouraged to pop in if needed a chat about anything.
Also my hv came round to see me when she found out I had lost my baby at 28 weeks(even though I am not in her practise-noone from my own gps surgery even rang!).
However one thing that did annoy me was certain comments she made about my lifestyle(I am sahm,dh works v long hours) and about our living situation(3 dcs in 2 bed house).Felt like that wasnt really any of her business.

Its a great concept: the Health Visitor. However, in RL, in my experience of HVs in three different areas of London, they are all mostly poorly informed, not up to date on latest guidelines and often unnecessarily opinionated and unhelpful.

The two year check with my first child was awful. The HV was 'concerned' about the fact that he 'couldn't build a tower with four blocks' or some such shit. He is 2 yrs old and was bored stiff after a long wait - he just didn't want to perform like a monkey, and I tried to explain this to her, but she wrote it down in some sort of report, referred him to a Paed and generally made me feel really worried. He was fine. In fact, at 6 yrs old, he in the top 1 per cent for his age group in both verbal and non-verbal reasoning. Stupid woman.

I have also been: criticised for giving up breastfeeding too early, criticised for not weaning early enough, insulted in about a dozen different eways.

Mostly, I come away from the experience thinking HVs are mainly bonkers.

I've seen a HV twice since DD was born 2 years ago and I like it that way!

Mine was useless...some bit of a kid with all the latest fashio, no idea about babies.

My health visitor used to turn up without warning and insist that I was depressed.

She turned up the day after Boxing day, looked askance at the black bin bag (full of wrapping paper) and asked if she could weigh ds2. I told her that as he was now eight months old with never a single weight gain problem since he was born, that she could NOT come in, she could NOT weigh ds2, and that she would not be welcome back until she had made an appointment.

She then launched into a discussion on my doorstep, in front of my friends, about how she was "concerned about the voices you hear".

a) I don't and have never heard "voices". I think she may have become3 confused because I mentioned that I talk to myself when stressed.

b) She should NEVER have said ANYTHING in front of my friend.

So I put in a complaint about both issues, and never saw her, or anyone else, again.

Mine has been very supportive after a hard birth and subsequent PND. She's older so has given me some mam like advice about stuff I was worrying about. They have a nursery nurse attached to them here who came to teach me massage techniques when my DD had reflux and also a breast feeding advisor who came before and after the birth. I also found her far less judgey than the midwife about me using formula top up.
Think it's like any profession, you get the good and the bad.
I live in a city where I would say BF is below national average and child poverty is higher so maybe that's the reason that there seems to be good investment in the services.

useless useless useless - you see one, they say one thing, you see another, they say something else.

Mine left me to become extremely ill with PND, despite telling me when she came round to my house to do Edingburgh test "you are clinically depressed my dear, i'll be back tomorrow" you know what - i never saw that particular health visitor again. She was more worried about the state of my house than the state of my mental health. Gave me some very good advice on having a cooking day on a Sunday and freezing food etc. I had gallstones, if i ate anything i was in agony, i was breastfeeding, fighting a constant battle with nursing homes up until my father died when DD was 8 weeks old and she was TELLING ME HOW I SHOULD BE COOKING BEEF BORGENION ON A FUCKING SUNDAY WHEN DP COULD TAKE OVER LOOKING AFTER THE BABY .

I am loving all these HVs who come round and look at the state of the house or overflowing bins. I am a HV too - they want to come and see mine . Organised I am NOT hence the name so I never ever judge anyone's home - apart from to wonder how they keep it so neat and tidy with 1,2,3 or more children while mine with one child looks like a bomb went off at times.

Thankfully the fact that I am not judgemental means even the families with massive child protection issues tend to welcome me and will work with me.

Sadly I think most HVs (if not all) spend their time being pseudo social workers these days and lose touch with the normal which is a shame. It's also downright dangerous when things are missed or dodgy advice is given. Our area now emplys breastfeeding supporters (far better than most HVs who have little or no training in breastfeeding) and nursery nurses who are meant to bridge the gap left but it's never going to be a perfect service.
If anyone asked me to define my job these days I honestly think I might be at a loss. It should be to improve public health - in practice it's very different any health improvement is a drop in the ocean - particularly in areas of high deprivation such as where I work.

See if I had a hv like you then perhaps I would have more faith in there ability to help and guide when needed!

Part of the problem, like in so many areas, is that they can obviously only stretch so far and when that is the case things will get missed and people who aren't 'at risk' may slip through the net