PND and health visitor

[Footygirl6]

Hi, I think I may have PND and my health visitor came last week for my lbs 6 week check. After a long chat she is going to refer me for counselling and has told me she will be back for another visit next week. All of which is fine by me but I'm wondering does anyone else have experience of this? I guess what I'm asking is how many more times do you think she might visit? Could next week be the last one?

Thanks in advance.

I guess it depends how you're doing and if you need more support. I had PND and PNA and went to my GP for support (medication, counselling, then self referred to specialist birth trauma counselling). I saw my HV a little more than others but it was nothing intrusive, just checking in. They have essential checks/visits to do and can then make others as needed.

I have 2 friends who have had extra home visits from a health visit due to different reasons.
They both carried on until the mum bought longer needed them and they both found them so so helpful and supportive.
She just wants to give you support. Don't feel pressure to put on a show or not be yourself. I imagine, as time goes on; you'll be very grateful for the visits

I have some PNA after my second DC's birth. HVs have been lovely and really supportive. They came for a talking appointment and offered to come back again. Also talked about referrals they could set up for me. In my area they run baby massage by referral only for new mothers with PND/PTSD/PNA. They're a great resource if you get one you click with. So unlikely to be last visit if you don't want it to be. I'd take the support (and speak to your loved ones). PND is really rough, I'm sorry you're going through this.

My experience is that my HV is happy to have as much or as little input as I feel is helpful. At the start she visited weekly/fortnightly depending on her diary for a chat and to see how I’m doing. Now I’m established with the specialist services I see her less regularly (something we both agreed), though she called me last week and asked if I wanted her to pop round at some point - as it happens my psychiatrist is on leave for a couple of weeks so I’ve timed the HV’s visit for the gap. Equally if I said I felt adequately supported elsewhere then she would have just checked in again in a few weeks time. And she’s always offered to keep coming in regularly if I wanted despite the input from other professionals.

Basically, it’s kind of your shout. She’s not going to discharge you until your baby’s at school so definitely not going to abandon you after next week’s visit. If it takes time for the counseling to be set up I expect she’ll be happy to continue to support you regularly in the meantime if you would like her to .

Thank you so much everyone, I really appreciate you all taking the time to reply. I am glad to discover that the support will still be there if I need it. I know from other peoples experience locally that the counselling has a long wait list and I think I just needed to know there might be support available in the meantime.