How much do you listen to the Health Visitor advice?

[Eri21]

Hi,
So yesterday we had a HV visit regarding his weaning because he will be 6m next month and there’s a few things I don’t agree with her as a mum for my baby but from her it came almost as a “must”.
I definitely don’t want to start with baby porridges as the first foods although they are in my buy list for later. I definitely don’t want to give him weetabix with cows milk as a breakfast at 6m. And pasta or rice or even meat at 6m is also a no at this age in my opinion.
At 7m he should have 3 meals a day and bottles cut only to 3. (What?)
For me the first month or two is for introduction, showing different tastes, different vegetables. In my opinion there is no need to stuff him with meat or pasta at 6m. He will have plenty of time to eat all that.
And what if he doesn’t have 3 proper meals at 7m then what, end of the world?
Second thing which left me a bit on pause was her very pushy advice about his sleep. At the moment he goes to the bed between 9-10pm and usually sleeps until 6am or so. He kinda made this routine himself and at the moment it’s working for us. Her idea was to put him to the bed at 7 because I have to start preparing him for school - means going to the bed early. Preparing for school? At 6m?
Oh and when he starts teething I should use the normal adult toothpaste which again I think is totally not right.
So how much you listen to your HV advice about different things regarding your baby?

Depends on the health visitor 😆 quality of advice varies dramatically.

It does sound like you’re applying the old weaning from 4 months rules to a baby starting at 6 months. They can eat most things straight away at 6 months.

“Just smile and wave boys... smile and wave.”

Again, thanks for your opinions, it’s really appreciated specially as a FTM.

Also be prepared that your baby might have their own opinion on weaning and milk. DS2 has taken straight to solids, ridiculously fast. Shovels down anything he can fit into his face. Cut his own daytime breastfeeds down quite fast, of his own accord. Can’t force a baby to take milk so just having to be led by him. He’s happy and healthy so fine by. Some babies take to solids a lot slower, also fine. I’d suggest just letting your baby take the lead.

I was advised by both the HV and the dentist to use a plain adult toothpaste. Just not one that has any fancy extras, oxygen, bicarb, whitening etc.
Makes life easier if we're all using the same and they should only have a smear of it.x

Sadly I've never had a good health visitor experience. At best pleasant but useless on a practical level. At worst dismissive and unhelpful despite justified concern on my part. I've since found that everything I could need from a health visitor can be accessed another way, GP, breastfeeding support, Google etc. I just don't understand their purpose in modern times.

A few highlights from my experience. One laughed when I told her my birth story. Yes really. Thankfully I've never experienced any trauma from it as for the record it wasn't the best experience.
One told me my husband didn't do enough to support me with night feeds. DS was a few months old and EBF. Did she want me to leave my boobs for him before heading to bed? I told her I'd much prefer a well rested husband who after working all day is in a much better state to pick up the house work etc rather than one that's just as exhausted as me for no reason. She soon got the message.
Another felt the answer to every breastfeeding problem was to express milk. Because obviously I don't have enough to do and he didn't take a bottle anyway.
When I raised concerns about DS's language development I was told "even if we were worried, we wouldn't do anything because of covid". He's now under paediatrics.
I plan to decline their input for #2.

Very sensible BobbleWobble.

Sometimes I think HVs make it up as they go along.

Im rather of the assumption that the HV is actually to check welfare of mum and baby.

Visiting someone in their home can tell you a lot.