1st Health Visitor Visit

[Cheffie100]

To drop round baby record book. Well that's an hour of my life I will never get back!

I'm seeing mine tomorrow, is that all they do?

Mine came over and i cleaned the house to within an inch of its life, she came for 15 mins, stayed in one room, didn't give me any handouts or anything but asked me some bizzare questions about how i think i will cope as a mother, she also wrote down my answer which made me feel abit like i was being tested

Is this a new thing?

Are you 1st time mums?

They come to you before you have the baby, blimey this is new! And rather pointless imo!

Came round to bring baby record book and stayed for an hour. Was very slow and didn't really do anything, just ramble on about anything. Generally I think our NHS is a wonderful thing but today was awful- better ways to spend taxpayers money!

Mine also visited today... no red book though...? Went through a questionnaire as to family health/general type stuff that it seemed to me we'd already said to the midwives through the appointments over the past 35 weeks.... hey ho.

Similarly cleaned the house to godliness quite frankly.... and she only then sat in the front room!! Oh well! At least that's over with for now!

They're supposed to come out before all births so you don't have a stranger turning up when you have a new baby.

I've had the same one for 8 years so she just gave me the red book one day when I saw her in passing at the doctors surgery to save herself a trip and said see you in July!

Haha I got told off for my house being clean as it was clear I wasn't resting as much as I should be! I find you get more out of them if you ask them plenty of questions, at least then I don't feel my time has been wasted. My dm is a health visitor so technically I have all the information that i'll need but I still see mine as I like to get a different perspective every now and then and someone new to tell me how lovely ds is :-)

How far gone are you all? I'm 34 weeks and not heard a scooby doo yet (not that I'm overly upset by this, I find the whole thing sounds weirdly invasive, quite stressful and a teeny bit big brother).

My mw ticked the box 'has heard from HV' at 32 weeks, even though she never asked me and I haven't heard anything lol!

I am 29 weeks and I had an appointment with her at the local health centre this morning. She was very nice, asked lots of questions and talked lots about the benefits of breast feeding and how to prevent SIDS. Said we would next see her a week or so after the birth at home. I did feel it was a little intrusive but she didn't judge and was just doing her job, ticking all the boxes.

We met the HV at our last antenatal class. She was pretty useless, asking us lots of questions about newborns (we don't know, that's why we're there...) and was very unprepared and seemed out of her depth and nervous.

She said that the midwife drops by your house every day after the baby is born which myself and the other ladies found well OTT and that she herself phones in advance to tell you when she's coming.

Being a private person, this is definitely Big Brothery and intrusive (bugger off and let me get on with it, woman!)

No visit here, but it is DC2. HV only came once after DD was born and was about as much use as a chocolate teapot. Did the PND questionnaire and asked where DH was (at work, you muppet, is that not where most men are during the day? Think she was primed to ask by my MW as he hadn't come to any appointments because, guess what, he was at work...).

Then got told to drop into the clinic on a Tuesday if I needed anything and cleared off. Never seen since. Maybe other people have different experiences but I didn't need their help.

MW came once to the house when DD was about 5 days old. Checked us both over and officially discharged us. That was my only contact with her until this new pg.

As I'm due Monday I doubt I'll be seeing anyone this time either!

Big brothery? Good grief. Yes, they do come round every day at first. And a good thing too! They check the baby is feeding ok, any jaundice is clearing up, and that any stitches you have aren't getting infected. And that you have sufficient support, and are recovering from childbirth ok.

I think the Big Brother element is knowing they have a social services-style job to do, and also the fact that no-one has told me anything about why they want to come around, what their function/role is etc so there is this great mystique about them. My only knowledge of them still existing (I remember them from when my youngest sister was born 24 years ago) is from Mumsnet!

As for checking stitches and feeding, I was under the impression that it was midwives who did that initially, and the baby got checked at clinics for weigh-ins and the like. Then there's a 6-week appt at the GP to check everything is 'sorted'.

I have no idea where HVs fit in to the system, and why they need to come to your house (unless you're restricted and can't easily make it to local clinics etc).

To check you're coping, have some support and you're not in the grip of PND / domestic violence. Ours only came round a couple of times. Frankly, it's not really about you. It's to be sure that the baby is safe.

How do they know you are pg/had a baby? Are they linked to the hospitals our the local surgeries?

I am expecting twins and have 100% of appts at hospital with doctors and specialist midwives. GPs in my area of London do no antenatal care at all and just refer you (or self refer as in my case) directly to the hospital of your choice for all the care.

When DD was born our HV came to see us loads as well as referring me to a bf clinic as I was finding the whole thing tough. We had a rough delivery, DD spent time in NICU and we were in hospital for 6 days. Although I thought I was very prepared for motherhood before all this, it was a huge shock and I was very relieved to have the support afterwards.

It's brilliant if everything goes to plan and you don't need them, but I guess they are trying to provide a comprehensive service to everyone so that people like me don't fall through the cracks, as well as making sure the baby is eating/growing etc.