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

[waitingtobloom]

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

The MW who helped me give birth to DD2 was fantastic. I even ignored my husband as she was so good I only wanted her to tell me what to do. I also asked her to help choose DD2's middle name which she did. So a hug thanks to Mika. Can't be too many of them around!

My HV absolute star. When I had PND she dropped everything and was knocking on my door within half hour, GP appt later that day, counselling the following week. When I had DS she kept a close but not claustrophobic eye on me and has been fantastically supportive.

The only thing that makes me cross about my HV is that she is supposedly only part time and gets paid on that basis yet has a full time case load and they are cutting back round here so will only get worse for her. The fact she is not appreciated and her skills could be lost to other local mums makes me very very cross.

I wonder if any hv's or mw's will come on here and see their names...wouldnt that be lovely.

Am in a recovering from pnd warm fuzzy mood and would love to show them just how much of a difference they all really make.

With DS my midwife was really rubbish and the HV was worse.

This time round with DD they have all been fantastic. The midwife at the doctors who I had check ups with was ok. The community midwives have been amazing though. I've seen 4 in total. 1 had the pleasure of giving me 2 sweeps and was really nice, 1 booked me in for the homebirth and 2 delivered DD. 1 that delivered DD had also booked me in at the start and made sure she did as much of the follow up as she could.

I was actually thinking of writing a letter about how fantastic they have been, especially the one I had the most contact with but I'm not sure who to send it to.

I meet the healthvisitor on wednesday so I'm yet to find out what shes like.

I've had thre DCs at NNDH (Barnstaple, Devon) in the past 4 yrs and have nothing but praise for the MWs there. Same for the paeds and staff on the Children's Ward there - esp Ed who is a fantastic doctor

My local MWs and HVs have always been good too and have been especially supportive when they realised what was going on at home ....

Purpleflower - send it to the head of midwifery perhaps - she will be their line manager as such. Not sure who is above her in the heirachy.

Yes, send a letter purpleflower. I sent a thank you card to the maternity ward after DD's birth as they had all been fab.

I did actually write a letter to the Head of Midwives about my fab care, never heard anything back though

I had great community midwives all geared up to deliver my baby at home, then wonderful hospital midwives (always at least one by my side) when the home birth did not work out, then fab ward midwives who could not do enough when ds was in NICU very ill and we did not know what would happen. Gave me a private room, got dh to stay, let visitors in at ungodly hours, always had time to talk about it you name it.

To top it off had a fab health visitor before we moved (the one I have now not bad either!): Verypro bf and supporting/attending local bf cafe and fab job of helping me make transition from anxious scbu mum to fairly normal out and about with baby mum.

No praise high enough for scbu nurses and some of the doctors too, including ds's consultant who visited me on the ward every day to tell me what she knew and hoped and worried about and made lots fo time to check I understood and to ask questions.

Any wonder I am planning when pg again to hav the next one in oxford too despite living 1.5 hours away? (will need elective section, which helps)

My CMW and hosp midwives, were by and large great. ONe lovely midwife in the middle of an all-night feedathon told me I was doing the best thing for my baby, and it was perfectly normal to feed like this. And oh,I must have lovely breasts for him to like them so much . CMW did tell me to pump and dump if I had a drink, but I think that was the only piece of duff advice.

HV similarly good, although I didn't really have any issues for her to get wrong. She did tell me not to eat pate while breastfeeding, which is obviously not correct, but a pretty minor thing. She (and the rest of the team) were very strong on not giving solids before 6 months, and I have to say I don't know anyone round here who didn't exclusively breastfeed for 6 months.

I feel certain I would not be breast feeding DD if it had not been for the support of my wonderful fairygodmother community midwife. I went to her "mums and tots" group when DD was a week or so old as I mistakenly believed it was a breast feeding support group. I was in floods of tears, at the end of my tether because BF was just not working. She sent me home and promised she would be out to see me later that day. She arrived after hours and stayed with me for over an hour until my DD latched on. I continue to see her once I had the correct day for her BF support group She always tell me how well we are doing and makes a big fuss of us! She is lovely.

The infant feeding team at the Liverpool Women's Hosp also kept me going in the first couple of months when DD's weight gain was relatively slow.

When I read some people's experiences in other threads I feel so lucky we had such a positive experience.

Oh and our HV is great too!

I had two different HV and they were both fantastic

My community midwife was lovely - after I realised she wasn't really stern and saw what the alternative was, all jollying along, calling me Mum and referring to 'THE baby' as 'baby'.

My health visitor also lovely. Was worried she would be a terrible battleaxe - but she came round and sat on my living room floor, we had a bit of a laugh, she checked I wasn't depressed answered my questions, which could have sounded silly, without making a patient face and I have only seen her twice. I miss her!

THE baby and I are both well and healthy so no reason to call her out.

My midwives were great and came to see me after I had been transferred to hospital.

HVs, I've never seen the same one twice, one couldnt tell me how long it would take for my stitches to disolve. I explain the same thing every time I took dd up to be weighed. She is healthy and happy so I dont any more.

I had to take her to A&E her excema got so bad when she was about 6 weeks old. They called me to follow up 7 months later!!!

Lets hope it goes a bit better this time round.

Goodness

My MW was the best one i have ever had - over all 3dc, she was the best. Mimi (db3; first time bf'er) was born on a Friday night; on the Sunday i was finding BF hard - she came to my house 3 times that day to help me...she even came when she wasn't 'working' to help me get established.

My HV rung my GP to get him to prescribe me Fluconazole when we had oral/nipple thrush.

Alot of support here - very pro BF, pro BLW, pro HB.

The midwives who attended the home birth of my daughter in Cambridge fourteen months ago were fantastic, and my health visitor was also great, really supportive, helpful, non-prescriptive, even when baby was not gaining weight very quickly and dropping down the centiles...

idontbeliveit Anne Marie is on of my best friends, we trained together, she doesn't come on mumsnet, but i will save this thread and show her!

I have been exceptionally lucky - I haven't met a midwife that I haven't liked and that hasn't tried her very best to care for me.

The first health visitor that I had though... the best thing that she did was to tell me that it was my fault that DD1 almost died after birth because I'd had a half dose of pethidine 8 hours before she was delivered. I won't go into the worst things that she did as I just get too upset and angry.

Mind you, the HVs that I've seen since have been very nice and very complimentary that I breastfed, but I haven't had any problems, so I wouldn't know if they were any use.

Curlywurly - woohoo! Ive got my dream of one of these fab health professionals seeing a positive message about them.

Can sleep peacefully now (actually I doubt that with a 6 week old!)

xxx

My HV is a star. I had the same one with dd1 and with dd2. He was a real support with dd1 and her low weight and eating issues.

I dind't like the midwife I had for home visits I found her to be a bit condescending but the midwife I had during the birth of dd2 was very very good.

I had the most fantastic midwives with dd3 (community and hospital). Have just written to the head of midwifery to praise them. If you get in touch with PALS at your hospital, they will tell you who to write to.
Have had the same HV for all 3dds - Sue in Cambs, you are great

bump xx

I had two mw's (Scarborough claremont surgeries) and they were both fantastic and my hv although quite blaze bout things she is very nice! However community MW was crap and told me that because DS had lost more than 10% of birth weight I shouldn't be breast feeding and to stop and give him formula! Was told by own MW that this shouldn't have happened cos there wasn't really a huge worry as DS was quite large to begin with and was obviously healthy! My sister then had a baby and while at the hospital this same MW was telling this new mom not to BF cos she didn't get it straight away! I thought they were meant to encourage those who want to BF!!!