Condescending health visitors

[Belle82]

I’m on my third health visitor now, two babies one change of doctors surgery.

Is it just me or does having a condescending tone a pre requisite for the job? 😂

I used to work with a lot of health visitors. As with any professional group, some are great and some are awful. Some definitely enjoy talking down to parents and treating them like idiots. In their defence however, they do work with some parents who know absolutely NOTHING about parenting or babies and have zero interest in learning either. I can see how they might get stuck in over-explaining mode, and I can see how you would find that massively irritating too!

You don’t have to see them, I never did

What happened Op? Hard to know unless you say.

Mine wasn't condescending.

Now some of the midwives I had to deal with.....

@Belle82 I think the same goes for any profession tbh - you get some good and some not so good.

My HV is a genuine angel. Even during covid when most people never saw theirs she went out of her way to make sure she checked in with all her mums and babies on Zoom or in person as much as she was allowed.
She does what she needs to do, answers questions we have and then just sits and chats like a family friend - I’ve never felt any judgement or anything from her!

A friends mum is a HV a few towns over from us though and I can’t think of anyone I’d less rather have as my HV. She’s the most judgemental and critical person I know 🙄

I saw a bonkers one who suggested that I should apply for a village school several miles away, instead of the local school, so my children were with 'others of a similar class' (I.e... the local school wasn't posh enough). And was aghast of the nursery we chose to send them too.

On the medical side, she was fine. Especially as it was supposed to be a visit about the number of A&E visits we had had...

My HV told me for months My baby didn't have reflux abd scoffed when I told her the consultant at the kids hospital had diagnosed her with reflux. She also gave me a row for having a baby monitor for when DD was sleeping in the other room because "I didn't live in a bloody palace." Another time she told me that DD wouldn't nap longer than 30 mins at a time because I walked her in the pram/bounced her on the exercise ball/fed to sleep. Just take what they say with a pinch of salt and don't let them upset you.

I've largely been impressed with the HVs I've seen actually. The midwives were a mixed bunch though.

I’ve never seen one. DS is 20 months

I haven’t been that impressed with any of the ones I’ve spoken to but don’t know if that’s a covid related short staffing type of thing