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Infant feeding

Get advice and support with infant feeding from other users here.

Original poster

Does anyone really like their health visitor or midwives? Praise where praise is due!

50 replies

waitingtobloom · 20/10/2008 20:01

It sadly seems to be the experience that loads of mums get given useless or even harmful advice by their health professionals or end up feeling unsupported or upset by them. They always seem to get a really bad press on boards such as this.

Has anyone else been lucky enough to have fantastic health professionals? I feel I have been so so lucky. Although I have come across some pretty miserable midwives in the hospital who really upset me my team of community midwives and the midwife who delivered DD this time have been absolutely fantastic. I also have a fantastic health visitor - I had had pnd twice and would have been lost without them all. I also have a great doctor and had a lovely down to earth pro home birth consultant. Reading other peoples stories I feel incredibly lucky.

Knowing my health visitor has young children herself and so do some of the midwives - and could well read these threads - I wanted to say a big but anonymous (lol) thanks to the great ones out there.

Does anyone else have/had fantastic support?

Axxx

OP posts:
chequersandchess · 20/10/2008 20:05

No, my m/w is pretty useless (though nice) and my H/V is dreadful.

However, I had a maternity care assistant who came to see me to help with b/feeding and she was brilliant. She helped one of my friends at the same time too. We both saw her together in Starbuck's recently and she remembered us. She was great.

Thanks Mandy if you're a mumsnetter

chequersandchess · 20/10/2008 20:06

Oh, oh, wait. The m/w who was present at DD's birth was absolutely fantastic.

Thanks Hannah @ Bedford General if you're a mumsnetter

Original poster
waitingtobloom · 20/10/2008 20:06

Lol - hope you bought her her coffee!

Yes thanks Cath if you are a mumsnetter lol

OP posts:
Original poster
waitingtobloom · 20/10/2008 20:08

oh gosh if we're naming everyone who has been fantastic then thanks a million to...

Sandra, Alison, Maxine, Sylvia, Carole, Sharon, Helen and Becky. Not forgetting my fab doula Kath of course.

Think thats it

OP posts:
nooOOOoonki · 20/10/2008 20:10

I LOVE my MW - she was my community one with DS1 anmd 2 and delivered DS2 at home. She was great - gave me a massage afterwards!

expatinscotland · 20/10/2008 20:11

i love our HV!

some of our midwives are good.

others i don't really like.

FAQ · 20/10/2008 20:12

I had a lovely MW when I was pg with DS1, hv was ok, nothing to write home about.

MW I had for DS2 and 3 - well I'd get pg again just to have her as my MW again . My HV's (have 2) have been fabulous as well.

AttillaTheHan · 20/10/2008 20:14

DD's health visitor is wonderful.She was very supportive when I was having problems breastfeeding, she reassured me when I was getting paranoid that my baby would never gain weight. She pointed me in the direction of other help and support and she is generally really informative without being patronising. DS's HV was truly awful so it has been a relief to know a very brilliant one.
Thanks Alison if you are a Mumsnetter

traceybath · 20/10/2008 20:17

The midwife who was with me when i had my second c-section was wonderful. DH wasn't there and she did a fab job.

Also first midwife on the maternity ward was fab as she realised how poorly DS2 was and got him admitted to NICU. She also gave it to me straight about how poorly he was where as paeds Dr was vague and gave me the totally wrong impression.

JollyPirate · 20/10/2008 20:18

I had a fantastic HV with DS - sole reason I persevered with BF. Also encouraged baby led weaning too and that was 5 years ago when it wasn't so known here.

liahgen · 20/10/2008 20:20

fantastic mw's in fau unit at maidstone.

Thanks for all support Maria and Julia.

Also fab mw's on delivery and for all the women centred care they are trying to keep up.

Hv's very nice too although a little outdated. at me bf solely till past 7 mths, and blw.

NBheebieGeebies · 20/10/2008 20:24

My HV is ace. So is the other lady that works with her.
June Bindoff and Karen

She diagnosed ds1's reflux straight away, got us an appt with a GP there and then.
She visits me whenever I ask her, didn't give me funny looks when I told her about BLW and more recently, she put a referal in for ds1 to see a SALT.

I hear so many people that wait for an age to get help with those kind of things.
I'm very lucky to have great HV's.

mel1981 · 20/10/2008 20:25

My MW is great she was the on call midwive when I noticed my baby wasnt moving and she followed us to the hospital. Unfortunatly I had had a stillbirth and she kept ringing the hospital to check the delivery was going ok (well ok as it could of) she rung the funeral directors for us, even went to my sons funeral and has visited his grave since-unlike some of our own family!
I had to have her through my pregnancy for my DS3 and she was there for his birth and was great throughout. And now im PG she is AGAIN my midwive. wouldnt have it any other way. Shes more like a friend.

idontbelieveit · 20/10/2008 20:26

My midwives on delivery at St Mary's manchester Rudo and Louise were fab. Also the rusholme/moss side community midwife team were generally lovely especially Anne-Marie and Annette.
the community ones in leeds so far in this pregnancy have been pretty useless and disinterested.

RubyShivers · 20/10/2008 20:28

the MW at my delivery was a GODDESS

her name is Leonie - i will never forget her

HVs fairly useless - nice but useless

LadySanders · 20/10/2008 20:28

my midwives were amazing, but i did have to pay for them...

in fairness had lovely midwife at ds2's birth (bola at whipps cross in london if we're namechecking) who totally got the fact that i had been attempting to have a home vbac and did all she could to make my eventual c section easier...

samsonthecat · 20/10/2008 20:28

Thankyou to all the midwives at Cheltenham hospital they were all fantastic. Been there twice for DD1 and DD2 both c-sections and both times the care has been brilliant.

2point4kids · 20/10/2008 20:32

Both my community and hospital midwives were fantastic. Cant fault them at all.

I have a brilliant HV too. Gives me all the correct information. Has got me Dr referrals when needed and the GPs were being slow and has been kind and helpful too!

fullmOOOOOWHOOOOOnfiend · 20/10/2008 20:32

it's going back a decade but both my HV were wonderful. One was older and did wind up me with slightly old-fahsioned advice sometimes, but I will never forget her kindness, insight and wisdom when I crumbled in front of her over a family matter. She gave me an hour of her time and, in effect, 'counselled' me (disclaimer: she told me at the beginning, this was her personal opinion, rather than speaking as a professional )

The other one was a mum of 4 and had realistic views of motherhood/working and small boys.
I remember apologising guilitly over thrusting a chocolate button in ds's mouth when he had his jabs. She smiled wryly and told me ''my last child's first words were ''choc-choc'' so I'm hardly one to judge...'

ChairmumMiaow · 20/10/2008 20:34

My midwives were ok during the birth but the staff were brilliant afterwards, helping me establish BF (no pressure, just helping me to relax and not letting me leave till he was feeding!)

My HV is brilliant. I've not really had to ask her for advice but we have a good chat about how we're getting on and she's very supportive about all the choices we've made, including co-sleeping, babywearing and baby led weaning. She's never judged or offered unasked for advice and has encouraged me to do my peer supporter training (when they have funding again). I've seen a couple of others and they always offer me advice I don't want about sleeping or eating.

ilovemyghds · 20/10/2008 20:35

My HV is really nice (have met a few annoying/patronising ones at my clinic though so am lucky to have the good one)

FiveGoMadInDorset · 20/10/2008 20:37

My main MW was great as were the rest of the community team. My first HV was fantastic but she has sadly moved on, current one is crap.

littlelamb · 20/10/2008 20:39

Jennifer Gardner was my midwife in Exeter and was amazing I'd never met her before she came to my house when I was in labour but I felt so supported by her and it was such an incredibly positive experience- so much better than dd's birth where many nameless midwives ambled in and out. She is a complete star

baltimore97 · 20/10/2008 20:39

My community midwives were great (Edinburgh South Central/Tollcross). When I chose a homebirth with DD2 they were extremely supportive and brilliant at the birth.

My HVs at my local doctor's practice are also great. Nothing but sensible and up-to-date advice and very friendly. I am horrifed at some of the stories I see on Mumsnet, but none of them ring true for me as I can honestly say every midwife or HV I have encountered in the last couple of years has been great.

thomsonf · 20/10/2008 20:40

I seem to have a rare HV who has been invaluable. My DD2 was prem and my HV has been a fantastic support, more for me than for my baby's health. I have been struggling with the trauma of early arrival and almost dying (severe rapid onset pre-eclampsia) and she has been doing regular visits to me at home to help counsel me through the deterioration in my health, birth, dark days of SCBU etc. I could not thank her enough (but will need to think of a way to do just that once this stage is behind me!)

Also, amongst some very sketchy and some downright rude and inconsiderate midwives two stood out - Pearl when I got admitted to the hospital and Andrea on the post natal ward - the only one who seemed to understand the feelings I went through being ill, on a post natal ward where everyone else had their babies when my beloved toddler was at home crying for me and my newborn scrap of a baby was fighting to breath down the corridor in SCBU.

Thank you to the three of you for making a bad time, a little less bad.