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???

DS's weight plateaued (sp?) at 6 months just after we started weaning. I was advised to give him a cup of formula despite ebf for nearly 6 months. I went online and found out that avocado and sweet potato have more calories per gram than bm. He put on enough the week after to make them happy, then I didn't go back to the clinic again! He's still skinny - that's just him!

With dd1 a HV told me as I was BFing I should drink loads of milk and eat high fat foods, especially cream. Well I didn't need telling twice and by time I got pregnant with DS I was t stone overweight.
It didn't occur to me that cows and any other mammal don't suddenly down cream and nilk to make milk, still the black forest gateaus were nice

"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" - yummymummy, wouldn't that advice mean each feed lasted 110 mins in total or am I misreading?

In hospital with DD1 I was having serious trouble establishing feeding. DD1 got very bad jaundice and was not really feeding, just trying, then falling asleep. Lots of MW changes in hospital meant lots of inflicting advice. One said try to express, then half an hour later when I told someone I was waiting for the pump, they said "Oh, we've changed our minds" Another just came through in the middle of the night when DD1 was crying, trying to feed, falling asleep then waking 10 mins later hungry, with the stunning advice of "You're just going to have to make up your mind about how you are going to feed her then aren't you." I think that secretly she was a bit frustrated by the fact that at my local hospital they are not allowed to give you advice about how to feed in case it conflicts with the 'breast is best" message. After 6 days of no sleep and a fretful baby I broke down and she was given some formula. We didn't look back. About a week later, my milk still hadn't come in and that was when my GP told me that nearly dying in labour and losing so much blood probably put a severe crimp on my bodies ability to produce milk. Her jaundice quickly improved, but I think that was more down to it being a proper feed and lots of fluids rather than the breastmilk/formula debate. My friend was told to keep breast feeding her DD by her HV, only to have to go to SCBU with an underweight and dehydrated baby. Consultants words: For God's sake, someone get this baby a bottle of fomula now."

With DD1 I was told by HV that she may have spina bifida due to her having a slight bit of downy hair just at the bottom of her spine. I was confident she didn't, but it could have seriously upset someone to hear that.

With DD2 the HV prescribed some horrid goo for putting on her exposed navel where the cord had come off, leaving an angry, exposed part that looked unpleasant. I got the prescription filled, then took it back to the HV as the pharmacist recommended they applied it, not me. Glad I did when a completely different HV looked horrified at the thought. Apparently the stuff was quite caustic and could have burnt her skin. We threw it away.

love - how long did it take for you to work the 110 minutes thing out? lol I meant 1st feed -1 min each boob, following feed -2mins each boob etc sorry lack of sleep atm= lack of grammar!

Oh, sorry! Only a second, oddly enough I'd just had to do the same thing for a RL (work) problem (but to do with buildings, not boobs!). Wow, yes, surely she'd have been starving in that case?!

one HV told me not to give my DS more than 4oz at a time as he was being greedy.he wanted more but i didnt give him coz i didnt think i was allowed to!!it took a family member to step in and say he wants more he's hungry-come on woman!!oooops.if only id found this page 19months earlier...

Mine asked how 12 week DD was sleeping - I replied she was brilliant - slept 8.30-6.30am waking only once at 4ish for feed (EBF) and commented how I lucky I was compared to my friends. She suggested I leave 12 week DD to cry in the hope she'd drop that feed!!! 12 feckin weeks!!!! Stupid bloody woman. Have not been back.

HV came when DS was a couple of weeks old. Told me that 'formula would have wiped out his jaundice by now', thanks - really helpful making me feel crap for bf'ing him & him still being rather yellow. The next bit of the conversation went like this:
HV: "Have you thought about contraception?"
Me: "Not yet, I'm not up to it as my EMCS was only two weeks ago"
HV: [rolls eyes] "Well you should because you WILL get pregnant again"

Has she ever thought that I may have wanted two DCs v.close together & that it is none of her fricking business!?

She's horrible. The last time we were due a visit in July she was on holiday & we had a lovely HV who unfortunately covers the other half, I may ask to switch!

Not exactly advice, but I took DD2 to be weighed aged 8 weeks as she had been in hospital for a week scarily ill with bronchiolitis, on oxygen, feeding tubes, drips etc and I knew she'd lost a lot of weight. The helper weighed DD2 and remarked on weight loss (2lbs) then sent me to see HV. I explained what had happened to DD2 and she nodded, plotted weight on the chart, wrote "good weight gain" in the notes and dismissed me!
I was so stunned and tired from not having any sleep (DD2 continued to choke and turn blue 5-10 times a night until she was 6 months plus) that I said nothing at all.
Stupid, stupid woman. I never went back.