First health visitor visit

[i5kiwiii]

hello! i had a phone call from the health visitor today asking if she could call tomorrow as she has had a cancellation. i agreed to it but i am so anxious as me and my boyfriend are currently living with my mother and everything is quite cluttered. my auntie has told me that if the house is messy and disorganised that they will get social involved to possibly take my baby away from me, so this has made me really anxious. we have most of her stuff ready, we just haven't set anything up but we know where we are going to put everything. what can i expect from the visit tomorrow? i am so anxious...

p.s. first time mum, and me and my boyfriend are trying to get our own place!

They're not going to take your baby away for your house being messy! Your auntie is sprouting BS.
I've never had a prebaby visit but it's probably just to introduce themselves, maybe discuss how you're planning to feed, discuss safe sleep etc.

Top tip is to ignore your auntie. Messy and disorganised is fine. Dirty and dangerous isn’t.

What @FuzzyGoblin says - your aunt sounds charming - I would keep my distance from her if I were you.

This. They will have to make sure that the baby is in a safe environment (but surely you know and want that anyway). Removing a baby is pretty extreme. There is a threshold and a few clothes left lying about wouldn’t hit it.

I'd try and use the visit to get as much information out of the HV as possible. They're there to help you & to give you advice. Perhaps you could ask her how you can keep working to make your mum's place as perfect as possible before baby arrives. I agree the last post - they would only intervene if the environment was unsafe, which it doesn't sound like it is. Try not to stress, I'm sure HVs have seen everything x

In my district first health visitor appointments happen at the community hospital, not even your house. That's how little they mind about what your house looks like 😂and when they visit after birth even the most organized together people tend to be living in a complete mess within a week of a baby being born. Honestly as long as there's not vermin or anything that would be a risk to your baby then it's fine - and even if the house isn't safe they wouldn't take your baby away, they are there to assist you access more suitable accommodations. I know HVs get a bad rep but they just want to help.

They will take into account the state of your house but they will not be worried about clutter. They would be looking for things that are damaging to health so if every surface was covered in thick layers of dust and moulding food they might say something. Or if there were overflowing ash trays everywhere or evidence of drug use on display. If there were animals and there was signs of faeces and urine. If there were hoarding levels of possessions which posed a fire risk by themselves or blocked fire escape route from the house then they might have something to say but their first action would be to support you making chances so that the risks can be reduced - especially if baby isn't here yet!

Houses come with things the more people generally the more things and then that astronomically increases once one of those is a baby. They will be absolutely used to seeing house with stuff but that it in the vast majority of cases wouldn't have an impact on health on babies.