Weird HV Reason to Give Formula, #568

[NotQuiteCockney]

At her baby's six-week check, a friend was told that his head was growing faster than his body, disproportionately so. And to sort it out, she needed to ... give formula!

my dp has a vast head. he can hardly get throuh doorways never mind find hats to fit. and hey presto ds (breastfed) has a huge head too. it's also oddly square like kryten's out of red dwarf. hv has never commented!

mad - completely mad

Great!

Those people in (I think) the Amazonian jungle who collect heads as trophies and shrink them... always wondered how they do that....

Now I know.

Pickle them in formula presumably...

LOL welliemum. Reading this one brought a surreal ending to my day at work. I turned off my laptop and mumbled away thinking I must be dreaming.

I was feeling a bit low til I read this! Hilarious!

Honestly, someone should collect mad rantings from HVs in a book as it would be a best seller...

LOL can't believe health visitor would say that. I'm still bf my ds at 12 mths and my hv has been brill. Even suggested I become a bf supporter working with other mums who are struggling

My HV is very pro breastfeeding - she did so with her own kids. It just seems to be my friends and family that think my DS needs some formula or a milky bar or something. Apparently, every time he cries it's becuase my milk isn't feeding him well enough and he's always hungry...

Seriously though, Tipex is right - this needs to be challenged.

I think midwives and HVs get away with saying a lot of very peculiar stuff because mums with newborns are knackered and vulnerable and don't have the emotional energy to argue.

NQC, has anyone taken this up with the HV?

FGS!

Some HV@s DO know what they're talking about here- some have done the Unicef course- and some are very, very un clued up! Challenge, please!

Was hv impling that formula would slow brain growth & just add fat around the tum? would have loved to ask her that!!! what rubbish advice - good job it was ignored by your friend.

I was speaking to a friend who works with the very poorly preemies and told her about what this hv said. She was irritated and said that it annoys her that some hv's obviously do not have any interest in updating and extending their knowledge which goes hand in hand with the duty of care they have to the public. She says sometimes preemie babies go home only to have the mother come back shortly, in tears, their confidence ruined and v. upset at what some hv has told them and they have to undo all the crap information they have been given.

WWB, I'm just enjoying your first post on this thread all over again.

Aah.

Just read this to DH - he said, "If a HV had said that when DS was a baby, I'd have started lactating, just to piss them off"

He's odd, my DH

babies actually suck harder on the breast than they do a bottle. And if nipples where so bad, would do manufacturers make 'nipple-like' teats ?

I'd report her & get her sacked yes, I'm in a bit of a mood today

My dh's head is so massive that he couldn't go go-karting on his stag do because they didn't have a helmet to fit him . He was formula fed! nb: unfortunately dd takes after him - got stuck on the way out. She is exclusively breastfed, but it isn't shrinking her head yet

Cant believe the bloody HV, what is she on??! Never heard such rubbish! Wouldnt visit her again if it was me. Sounds totally useless and believe that she needs to redo her training, if she ever did any....

I don't know the HV in question, as the mum doesn't go to my practice.

But I'm going to raise this with our local BFC, and mention it to the mum again (I expect the local BFC already knows? They're good friends). It was the middle of a coffee morning, I didn't want to get into it right then and there. (Her baby is 7 months or something now, so it was a while back.)

I don't know about the basic training ( i think RN with post grad?)but HV@s Do have the opportunity to do BF training. I got sent on the bfi unicef course, loads of HV's (including mine, my previous one and my mw too! strange that!) there.

Oh bonkers,utterly bonkers.
Debbie psml at your big headed consultant!

Our local BFC is running the Unicef course for HVs. Also, we're organising a weaning talk and hopefully getting our worst HV to attend (he keeps telling people to wean at 12 weeks!).

There are some lovely HVs out there. A woman from our running club is an HV manager, and she's very au fait with BF practice, feels giving formula is almost never necessary, etc etc (I'm sure she supports women who choose to FF, obviously). I'm sure her practice is great for BF support.