health visitors.do you love them or hate them?

[mum28]

after a spell of mental illness,i was put under the microscope and baby was checked up on all the time.they were more of a pain than a help.how do you get on with yours?.

[badjelly]

Health visitor - what's one of them?

We've only seen ours twice and dd is coming up 9 months.

Say no more.

[Linnet]

my health visitor was on sick leave when my dd was born I think my dd was nearly 6 months old when I first met her. And she was very ditzy, is that even a word?

the HV that we saw while mine was off sick was lovely. Even though my dd is now 6 and no longer sees her for vaccinations etc, if we meet her in the street she always asks after dd or speaks to her if she's there and always remember her name which I think is a nice touch. Obviously not every Hv can do this but we live in a fairly small city.

[Davros]

Ditzy IS a word as I saw it once on Call My Bluff!

[Ghosty]

Floreneuk ... re. Shoes in the house ... you are a kiwi aren't you? All NZers take their shoes off when they go to people's houses ... mind you, I know many kiwis who don't where shoes at all!! On the local primary school's uniform list is says "All children must wear a sunhat in summer and shoes in winter!"

My HV was totally useless! When DS started projectile vomiting at 11 days old she would come round, every day at my request, watch him feed, watch him throw up and say, "Yes, oh dear, he is a bit sicky isn't he? Just try and keep him upright" and then told me to give him sugar water in a bottle (?)....... Two weeks later, I took him to hospital ... he had pyloric stenosis and needed urgent surgery ...
When she came to visit she said in a wishy washy voice, "Ooooh dear, yes, I could see that was going to happen!" When she had made me feel like a neurotic mum and that there was nothing wrong.
Then when DS was 8 weeks old DH asked her to come and see me as I was so unhappy. She patted my arm and said, "There there, never mind, you'll feel better soon."
DH took me to the doctor who diagnosed PND and put on AD's and life began to be bearable. Her reaction? "Oh dear, yes, I could see things going that way!"
I had been almost suicidal!
Anyway ... she was crap and I never saw her again ... the next one was crap too ...
The one here in NZ (called a plunket nurse) is a veritable dragon but is marvellous ....
Why are there no HVs on Mumsnet?
It should be a compulsory part of their training to subscribe!

[rainbow]

My HV has changed recently."distributed to allow better access" yeah right. My old hv, Lee was based at the clinic at the top of my road, my new HV Linda is based at the clinic on the other side of town. Better access? I think not. Although I did not really get on with Lee, I found him a little young and not much experience, spouted from books alot, I absolutley hate Linda. She is very condescending. My youngest has hypertonia, muscles which are more elastic than 'normal' she has come round to check my house. It is too cluttered with furniture, I must get rid of my dog because of germs, i must get new carpets etc.etc. I then find out she has three dogs and children. how dare she criticise me! There I got that of my chest

[misdee]

my old hv when dd1 was born were ok. nothing spectular, tho they did call me one day after i had been down the hospital with dd1 as she had swollowed a hairclip which fell from my hair as i put her down. she coughed it up, was sick, i just took her there to get her checked. i felt much worse after the hv called and went thro safety things with me. grrrr.
ones in stevange were great, always remembered who i was, helped brilliantly with dd1 asthma ans ezcema, even had a go at the doc for me when he perscribed more steroid cream. (this was after being perscribed steroid creams every time i went to see the doc, only meant to use really for 7 days at a time, they were perscribing constantly).
one at harlow was o, but was always rushed off her feet poor dear. ones here are ok, not had much dealing with them yet.

[rainbow]

You all mention her, have none of you had a male HV?

[misdee]

nope. not yet!

[Nome]

My first hv was a man - he read all the leaflets he had with him to me and that was as useful as he got...

[motherinferior]

I've had one visit from the HV this time (home birth), plus exhortations to 'visit the baby clinic asap'; when I've actually gone to said clinic all that happens is baby is weighed. This is particularly ironic as I have had depression in the past and the midwife was terribly concerned I didn't get PND and made me visit a specialist at the hospital (I got an obstetrician who told me to cheer up and put on a bit of make-up, but that's another story). I have to say I have also interviewed very good HVs in the line of work but they tend to be running mobile health clinics for homeless people and suchlike.

Pah.

[WideWebWitch]

I am interested to know what training HVs have. Might look it up actually. This thread and others show that women's experiences of HVs are so variable and they don't half dish out a load of old cobblers sometimes. Mine told me that mango was fattening and I should get ds into a routine when he was 10 days old. I also particularly liked being asked about contraception at 10 days post natal too, I should have just cackled at her and asked her if she'd ever given birth (she hadn't). It sounds to me as if they're capable of doing an awful lot of damage and are completely inadequately trained.

[WideWebWitch]

Here's a quick overview of HV qualifications.

[scottiebabe]

hv with ds was old enough to be my gran and was full of useful info and had dealt with loads of families -hv with dd was young had no idea and i was nearly old enough to be her mum and did not visit very often saw her if went to baby clinic!

[twiglett]

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[Angeliz]

Docs can be bad too!!!(as we know!) When my sis's little boy was a few months old he was constipated and her doc told her to put wshing up liquid up his bum!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!HONEST! I was appaled,,,,,,,

[jennifersofia]

Questions - have HV's stopped doing developmental checks on new babies? Haven't seen or heard hide nor hair of our HV since the 6wk check on dd2. Maybe it is because it is my 2nd child and she could see I didn't seriously injure the first....not that we mind terribly, a nice woman but basically a waste of time. Also, as nearly everyone seems to think that HV's are a bit useless, why hasn't the system changed? Or perhaps they are targetted at a non-mumsnet type of group, eg under educated and not very clued up? Mind you, when I had dd1 I wasn't that clued up about things like coming to terms with leaving my old life behind and coping with a new one. We could all use helpful support at such times, couldn't we? My MIL told me that when her daughter was born her HV (or similar) came every day and did tasks around the house for an hour or so - like hoovering, shopping or looking after baby so she could have a bath, etc. Now that I call helpful!

[MBB]

I found the HV at the weekly baby clinics to be absolutley useless. The only thing they would do was weigh DS, they never offered any useful advice on anything I ever asked. They would just tell me to make an appt to see the GP. I felt that they were just there to check for bruises (as DS was undressed to be weighed).

[pronto]

HVs are nurses with additional specialised training, I've had quite a few now and they've all been different, none perfect, but I do go for advice on develoment issues, and see the Dr if its medical. I've learnt to trust my own opinion and gut feelings more, ignore the HVs if I don't agree and push something if I feel I'm not being taken seriously. I don't like them around right after I've had a baby, they seem intrusive, but that's their job, to see you're coping ok.

[Janstar]

There was a male HV at our clinic for a little while, he was training. A large dopey Kiwi guy.

[bundle]

when I asked about developmental checks for my 3 yr old dd, the hv asked if I was worried about her. she said they're so short of people now they only do them if you specifically ask. can't' really see the point of them really, cos you see a doctor if it's something medical and there's Mumsnet for everything else

[bundle]

when I asked about developmental checks for my 3 yr old dd, the hv asked if I was worried about her. she said they're so short of people now they only do them if you specifically ask. can't' really see the point of them really, cos you see a doctor if it's something medical and there's Mumsnet for everything else

[bundle]

when I asked about developmental checks for my 3 yr old dd, the hv asked if I was worried about her. she said they're so short of people now they only do them if you specifically ask. can't' really see the point of them really, cos you see a doctor if it's something medical and there's Mumsnet for everything else

[bundle]

whoops! sorry..

[Ness73]

I had one offer my daughter a sugar lump today. She must have thought she was a horse.

[Rhubarb]

Never see mine. We didn't click from day one, she's too fuddy and dismissive. I'm sure she does her job well, but I never hear from her and I don't get in touch because I feel there's no need. If I did have a question about my daughter's development I'd probably ask other people first, she'd be the last person I thought of really. But I'm sure for some mothers they can be useful.