Worst piece of advice from HV?

[yummymummy345]

Just off the top of my head...
put vaseline round bottom for excess bottom wind??????
breast feed then top up with formula after every feed- surely that defeats the whole object of bf and depleats your milk supply???

Mine criticised my husband and I for the way we stacked our washing up on the draining bored. No joke! She felt quite strongly that we were doing it wrong & when we went in the kitchen after she'd left, we noticed she'd moved the items that bugged her when she popped in to wash her hands.

soh i'm suprised to hear that his findings have been replicated. The little i know about him is from a radio four doc quite recently and i don't remember that being mentioned at all. Sorry for hijack op.

No, the science was not good. The BMJ exposed how every single case was a falsification.

Sorry to ignore the OP but .....

I thought that the Dr was struck off as it was found that he had close links with a few families paying him to find out why their children had autism, it was found that he had falsified his findings so that he could give them a reason - even though it wasn't true....

That you need to consume an extra 1000 calories a day postpartum. Really? Great!

who would count that even if it was true??

Our DS had jaundice after birth and wouldn't latch on therefore making bf near to impossible so we also had to give him formula to flush it out. Fluid was fluid at that stage and I just wanted his jaundice fixed do was happy to take their advice.

Another- feed for 1 minute on the boob each side, then next feed 2 mins up to 10 mins. 'Surely baby would be starving' I said (I feed mine for aout 45 mins (an hour first couple of weeks)), to which she just shrugged

In order to night wean you will first need to wean your (bottle refusing 11 month old) onto formula in bottles so you can water it down!

Oh and this time round with DD just the fact that I've seen hide nor hair of the HV since week six, was never asked about PND despite DD's prematurity, stay in SCBU, oh and my notes being full if the fact I had PND last time and ended up referred to mental health services. Fortunately my DH, family and friend's were fab and I've been fine this time but the HV wouldn't know that!

First time Mum, haven't seen HV since my DD was 6 days old. Have had her weighed a couple of times at a baby clinic, but if I want to actually see a HV I have to travel another 20 minutes away from where I live.

Was never told when I should contact them or what exactly they would be able to help with.

Was told to drink hot chocolate to help with breastfeeding too (more than happy to oblige).

My ex-next door neighbour was moving and gave us an unopened box of formula as she said she was told by the HV that she must have one in the house even though she was breastfeeding successfully. So now I have this unopened box of formula, which for some reason I haven't thrown out.

Our HVs were great.

We had 7 midwives through our house in the first week though!

The stories of 'well meaning' suggestions around formula reminded me, one of the midwives, #2 I think, suggested we got a carton of formula in 'just in case, for the weekend'. Despite a slow start, DS was bf for a year. When I pulled out the carton of formula out to use on cereal when we started weaning, I noticed it went out of date in 2 months time... I then noticed the year... it went out of date 10 months ago! Good job I had lots of supportive bf'ing friends and didn't need 4 month out of date milk!!

Had a look in the shop, the next time I went in - they still had it in stock!!

I'm extremely boring and possibly very rare: my HV is lovely and has only ever given me really good advice. Visited me at home before baby was born, encouraging and supportive all the way, never makes me feel silly for asking what in hindsight are silly questions. Absolutely pro-breastfeeding and strongly encourages waiting to wean, but gives good advice to people who are determined to start solids early (I overheard someone at weigh-in). I think I might hire her out!

Really though it amazes me the rubbish talked by HVs that I hear reported: I thought they had to be qualified experienced nurses, then do extra training to be HVs and surely they have to do regular CPD?

Also have great HV. I really struggled with DS first growth spurt and the fact he wanted to feed constantly. HV gave me lots of support to continue BF but also suggested keeping some unopened fomula just in case. I bought some and thankfully never had to use it, but just knowing it is there is reassuring. I know that if I really am struggling again DS will not go hungry and I won't lose my mind (which I was pretty close to at one point!)

"Add message | Report | Message poster hester Wed 03-Aug-11 17:31:27
That I should do controlled crying with a newly adopted, traumatised baby."

:(

(Although warm feeling from the thought that that baby's mum ignored her and presumably wasn't mean with the cuddles)

"only feed newborn DS every 3 hours"
He was unsettled and lost weight in the early weeks, as it turned out due to a cow's milk allergy aggravated by small amounts in my breastmilk.
After 2 weeks of spending 2 hours jiggling him to settle, half an hour of him asleep, then half an hour trying to wake him up again for a feed, I gave in to my instincts and fed on demand. He then put on 3lb in 3 weeks. Not impressed at the hell I went through for that fortnight though .

"We don't want to see him going over the 99th percentile line, that would be a problem".

Really? By definition 1% of babies are going to....

He's 99th for height too.
I stopped taking him because he got too big to fit on their scales.

What happens to babies born over the 99th percentile line? Do they send them back...?

When DS went for his 6 month check I was given a Tommy tippee sippy cup and was told that if I didn't stop bottles immediately and make him drink from that specific cup with its specific shape (as opposed to other brands) he would suffer from speech delay. I nodded politely and said thank you but didn't take her seriously. DS is 3 and known as a chatty little boy despite not using another shaoe and brand of cup.

stopped seeing my hv

all i ever get is i told you so, and oh she shouldn't be able to do that yet

"DS3 needs more milky puddings to help him sleep through the night"

DS3 was 8 months old and waking 3-4 times for a feed. HV told me to make semolina pudding and give it to him after every meal and before bed

I was told that all kids will fall down the stairs and/or end up in A&E at some time, it's just one of those things!

Luckily 11 years later I'm hoping we've avoided these.....

Feed every 3 hours and wake after max. 3 hours sleep to help them get into a 'routine'.

Tosh

At our first post natal class, the HV told us first time mums that we should never let anyone else (that included our husbands/partners) take our babies out or look after our babies as we were the only ones that could understand them and care for them properly .

I think someone complained as the next week it was a completely different HV and we never saw her again. I have sometimes wondered if she was just masquerading as a HV.

Told to wake ds1 a minimum of every 3 hours at night to feed him... He was 95ptl, feeding and sleeping well....why wake him?

This 3 hour feeding seems to be a bit of a recurring theme here. Why would people think that works. Perhaps we should have turned the tables on the HVs and suggested they eat a full meal every 3 hours too, even through the night, whether they were hungry or not!
As for the centile discussions, my son was, and remains, on the 0.4th centile, a whisker away from dwarfism. I used to worry that I could be doing something different to make him bigger, but he's just so active he burns off everything he eats. I am quite jealous of that trait, I'm short but not skinny.