To think health visitors have a large part to play in obesity in the uk

[Superchop]

Yes I'm being unreasonable to do another health visitor thread
Yes I'm being unreasonable to group health visitors altogether I'm sure there are lovely proactive health visitors.
But...

I would argue there is a ridiculous emphasis on weight gains and loss for babies which causes mothers and fathers to obsess over milk and food intake. I think this pressure and concern from health visitors along with the graphs and centiles leads to over feeding and parents losing their basic instincts and common sense. I.e does my child look like they are healthy/ are they happy the majority of the time.

I'm willing to be told I am being unreasonable. I am not trying to be judgemental to those who use health visitors I personally ignored them and dc has only been weighed by the doctors and midwives at the check ups.
Interested to hear others opinions

I just don't understand why you would dismiss the newest restrictions in weaning etc just because you were alright. Loads of pregnant women smoked years ago with the view of "my mother smoked on me and I'm fine". Scientific evidence proves otherwise and that's why these rules are put in place.

"WRT the obesity crisis, I think it's far more to do with over eating and not getting enough exercise."

This.

I work in secondary prevention and a large proportion of my role is health promotion. You would be surprised at the misconceptions people have. Genuinely shocked that the fish, chips and peas from the chippy isn't ok, "because it's fish and vegetables and they are healthy". "Oh yes I do regular exercise, I walk the dog to the shop twice a day".

It's not their fault at all, there are sections of our local population that might not have received the health messages that are so ingrained into our mindset.

I think with the HVs delivering the healthy child programme the aim is for early intervention - to reduce health inequalities and to give children from families similar to my examples (and they do exist) the knowledge and education and provide the best possible start.
They are wanting to tackle the obesity problem, not add to it.

Baby's of 3 months can't generally sit up unaided which is a necessary thing for them to digest properly.

It's not that they'll die but that their stomachs are not equipped to digest properly....early weaning can lead to sensitivities as an adult.

Why risk that?

When I was a baby, parents were told to crush rusks into formula from 8 days.

Doesn't make it right.

I have this strange little foible which means I tend to trust people whose training means they know more than me.

I do think statistically there will be shit HVs. Just like there are shit parents.

I'd say its the latter, rather than the former to blame for the obesity problem though. Given that it's not the HV doing the burgers in most family's homes.

I never took dd to be weighed much to HV's concern who seemed to think regular weighing would prevent dd starving. It was somewhat satisfying that when she was weighed by the paediatrician 18months later she was on exactly the same centile as she was when she was born.
I wouldn't say HV's are responsible for obesity though most people I know never see the HV unless they go to clinic and are generally dismissive of them anyway.

I think that folks should also remember that what is fine for one baby isn't for another, so saying don't feed because they can't digest properly before a certain age is going to cause problems for the babies who genuinely need more than just milk until 6 months. My dc were losing weight and feeding nearly every two hours and were still hungry, unsatisfied and unhappy.

If I had followed guidelines with my son (as when I had my daughter it was my hv I had with her who told me to wean at 3 months) he would have spent another three months seriously hungry and probably ended up extremely underweight. But I was wrong for doing what was best for him even though as soon as I started him on porridge he began to gain weight again, stopped being so hungry and unsatisfied? I can see how dreadfully wrong I was...

prettypictures why would you tell your HV you did that? Surely you realise that guidelines have changed now, and the HV is obligated to inform you of that . I'm pretty old school (1st baby in 1988), the advice then was to wean at 3-4 months on baby rice. If was doing the same thing now I sure as hell wouldn't tell the HV. That's just common sense really.

IME the HV's weren't bothered about weight gain after the first few weeks. And I don't think it's unreasonable for them to look at this in the initial period when a baby's first learning how to feed.

I think there's plenty of other, more significant factors at play in the obesity crisis. Such as the easy availability of junk food, less physical activity at both work and home...

This is why I never got my babies weighed! My DS was weighed aged 3 and he was exactly average for his height!

People dismiss govt guidelines because they a) don't like being told what to do b) spout the " I know my baby best" crap

I honestly don't get it. We follow guidelines on how to feed our fucking animals more to the letter than we do our children. We follow the guidelines on how cold our fridge freezer should be.....but our kids? How dare a medical professional tell me what to do? It's insane.

pretty, the guidelines are put in place for a reason, they are there to give babies the optimum start and to educate us parents. We are always learning, science is always evolving and therefore things are always changing. I think it's ignorant to close your mind to that fact.
I'm no stickler for the rules myself but when it comes to my child I would be inclined to take the advice of years of research. Plus I think baby porridge is pretty much nutritionally void though I could be wrong on that.

Agree Sangria, I'd never go into Health Visiting, they are the new Social Workers it seems on the 'Interfering, useless busybody' scale.

I have friends who do the job and I'd imagine they are very good at it, they are so passionate about what they do and it's not the easy, weighing babies, pottering from home to home career people seem to imagine it to be.

My own HV saw straight through my "Everything is Awesome" facade and helped me to admit to and recover from horrible Post Natal Anxiety, she noticed the signs, though I was doing my best to hide them, my family hadn't suspected anything... I'll be forever grateful to her. A good HV is worth their weight in gold.

@fatlazymummy cause I wanted her to know that he was getting enough food to eat, she'd said that his weight loss with how much he was feeding from me was a bit concerning the last time I had seen her. She had weighed him before I had told her he was on porridge and said he had put some weight on and she wasn't concerned about it anymore. I told her I was giving him breakfast which suddenly became a problem even though it had led to him regaining weight

My health visitors have always been relaxed about how often I had my babies weighed if I thought they were doing fine, but mine have always gained well, so maybe that affects the interaction I've had.

Weaning guidelines having changed aside, I think all the professionals in prettypictures post sound unhinged. I don't have much of an opinion on what other people do with weaning and when etc, it's up to them, but I will say this 'he was hungry so he needed food at three months' doesn't ring true in my experience, as my babies are as big as they come and have got that way on milk alone for 6 months. Wean earlier if you want to, but it's not necessary before then (except for medical reasons perhaps) and it seems common sense to wait until they can at least sit up and their tongue stops poking it all back out!

@Fanfeckingtastic I know why the guidelines are there and I'm not closing my mind to it either, I'm simply saying that both my children needed food before 6 months. If I had a baby who was quite happy and healthy just being fed on milk until 6 months I would not suddenly decide to wean earlier than that

Fish, chips and peas from the Chippy are perfectly ok, imo.

I done what I thought was best for my dc and that's not going to change. Debate away, I'm not going to follow anymore though. Not really feeling up to having folk jump down my throat on what I should and shouldn't do in regards to my children when no other professional in my life has a problem with my parenting right now

Fair enough Pretty, we all do what we think is best but I find it hard to believe that they needed food at 3 months. Even my hefty little ten pounder was fine on just milk until 6 months.

Of course they are, just not every day.
Everything in moderation, don't ban anything, ensure the largest proportion of your diet is unprocessed, low in junk food etc etc.

For the first five years one would hope parents have absolute control over their childrens diet.

Therefore obese children are quite simply caused by poor parental feeding choices.

HVs have absolutely nothing to do with it.

Milk/feeding/bottles/charts etc etc are only for a v v short part of a persons life.... A year max??

It's the rest of the child's life where it's important to ward off obesity. Hv are involved for just a short time. What about the rest of childhood.... Teens etc where kids start to make their own food choices

Ok, looking back at my thread title I should have said contributing part not large. So deff being u about that.

I do feel I am in a position to comment on hv even though I have avoided them. I am bombarded by texts trying to encourage me to use the weigh in clinics and make appointments. Furthermore, my friends that regularly use the hv service are really aware of their babies weights and get pushed into increasing and decreasing feeds introducing extra meals and they get panicky when they don't eat a full portion.

I did originally say I was being unreasonable about grouping hv and I do believe they provide a service that is beneficial. I'm concerned at the way it's delivered and really believe there should be more unity between the nhs and in the ideal world into nurseries.

I suppose I am viewing this from a young baby centred perspective. So this has skewed my stand point

I think you could have a point because they often aren't great at breastfeeding advice which can result in more formula use. I think formula particularly when used to overfeed so babies will sleep through the night from day one has a role in childhood obesity.

Cherrypi

Formula has a role in childhood obesity?

Bollocks.