Community midwives/health visitor - do I need them

[cahoots7]

Hi MN, long-time lurker, first time poster here. I'm due in just over a week and have recently moved to a new area (for background, we were supposed to move in the spring but our house purchase was delayed due to Covid and we ended up moving last month). I'm giving birth in a hospital in central London but I'm outside of the midwife catchment area so have been wondering whether I need to register with local midwives. I know a health visitor is supposed to visit your home a few weeks after the baby is born but I'm not sure how to contact the right person. I've tried self-referring to my local hospital but they are notoriously bad and still haven't responded. Any thoughts would be welcome.

Yes defintely need to register yourself. You will see the midwife after the birth, they do an essential blood test for the baby on day 5 and also re weigh the baby to ensure he/she hasn’t lost too much weight since birth. It’s really important you see the midwives after you’ve had the baby as you can still have complications postnatally. The health visitor service I believe isn’t compulsory but I saw one around 12 days after birth then at 6 weeks, she just ensured my baby continued to put on weight, was meeting milestones and gave me lots of useful information about groups, breastfeeding, safer sleep etc☺️

I'm giving birth in a hospital outside of my area, so my midwife/health visitor is not part of the same Trust. I would either try a self referral form online if your Trust have one or contact whatever GP you have registered with and ask them for Community Midwife details

It’s up to you. MW and HV were absent and or useless when DS was born. They didn’t do this 5 day blood test PP mentioned not did they provide any useful information at all! Having said that it’s better to be registered and reject any help offered than to need the help and not have it offered if you do need it. Good luck with your baby.

Thanks all for your responses. I was finally able to get through to the local community midwives but they said that I can't register with them now and will need a referral from the hospital where I'm giving birth after the birth (in case anyone else has this issue).