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Weaning

Find weaning advice from other Mumsnetters on our Weaning forum. Use our child development calendar for more information.

Original poster

rant - just came back from baby clinic so angry i'm nearly crying!

67 replies

jetjets · 14/05/2007 15:30

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OP posts:
honeybunny · 14/05/2007 17:01

Never had a good experience with hvs to be honest. My dd only had home visits from the hvs during the 1st 10days post op CS. Never seen one since. Did all my formal hearing checks and vaccs but thats it, same for ds2. If you think your child is healthy and you're happy with his appetite then dont bother going back. Flat head is usually because of the way he lies in bed, always preferring a particular posture. Try moving things around in his cot so he has to look in a different direction. ie mobile or anything attached to the side. It can improve but it does just sometimes stay that way.

theUrbanDryad · 14/05/2007 18:03

LTH. if my surgery had that i'd go and weigh ds every week, so then when i took him for his 3rd jabs i wouldn't get told for not getting him weighed often enough!!

Chelseamum · 14/05/2007 18:09

i don't listen to mine! She almost told me off for taking my dd to see a pediatrician when she had a nasty rash.

They are just nurses not God.

Original poster
jetjets · 14/05/2007 18:27

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choccybickie · 14/05/2007 18:34

I had this too my son is on the 75th and he's 5 months old and weighs 18lb 9. She stood and told me in front of everyone that if I continued to give him his 2 feeds (1 cereal and 1 homemade veg) That he would get a HUGE tyre round his middle and would be unable to sit up. NOT ONCE have they measured his height!!!!!!!!!

Original poster
jetjets · 14/05/2007 19:05

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Hilllary · 14/05/2007 19:09

Oh she'd have loved me then, at that age my dd was about 29lb and rising

I dont go to clinics they are crap to be honest, a load of stupid women with stupid advice making you feel inadequate.

Keep on as you are, your ds is absouloutly fine as he is.

Imawurzel · 14/05/2007 19:19

Reading all this is making me go OO-ER. I'm expecting my first, am only 7+4 at the mo (and keep thinking something bads going to happen)
I'm going to be getting all confused with these people.
Or will my mothering instincts kick in when i'm holding my LO?
DH will more than likely be saying 'but they're pro's, they know what they're talking about' whereas i'll be like 'ooh i dunno'
It's scary thinking.

kittylette · 14/05/2007 19:21

My sisters baby was in special care for his first week,

when he got home in the first 4 days he put on 4ozs - the midwife said thats far too much, stop over feeding him!!

lemonaid · 14/05/2007 19:23

Imawurzel some HVs are marvellous, helpful and well-informed. Some are umm -- not.

I think the key is not to assume that they know best. If what they are telling you doesn't chime with your instincts then do some research (asking here is a good start) before you blindly follow advice.

UCM · 14/05/2007 19:28

I have a 68 year old scotswoman as my hv. She is fab. She doesn't even mind me weighing DD with the fishing scales as I can't be bothered to go to the clinic where I would have to talk to all of the younger HVs who will tell me a lot of bollox. I cannot a baby will eat more than they need at that age. I was a chubba, still am and so was DH looking at his baby pics, like a little Budha he was, he is now 6ft stick thin and has been the same weight since the age of about 22. It's in the genes I tell ya. I would go with your instincts.

UCM · 14/05/2007 19:29

I cannot imagine even...........

misdee · 14/05/2007 19:31

HV is a loooon!!

dd2 was over 30lb at a year old (yes really) off the charts for height and weight, also got told she was fat. she is anow a slim tall 4 yr old.

pics in prfile.

Original poster
jetjets · 14/05/2007 19:53

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UCM · 14/05/2007 20:44

Bless them (HVs) though, they are only telling you what they have been told to tell you.

UCM · 14/05/2007 20:44

I should have added that I would rather come on here and ask than listen to one though.

Aloha · 14/05/2007 20:46

Take no notice of the stupid bint. He sounds fab and you are doing absolutely brilliantly!
Oh, and stop going to see your hv and STOP getting your ds weighed! I have never ever had my dd weighed since the HV stopped coming to the house when she was two weeks old or something. She is now two and three months and still, mysteriously, alive and thriving
I am very serious btw. Stop getting him weighed.

Aloha · 14/05/2007 20:48

Looking back it is actually funny how fat ds was as a baby. A complete Bunter. But he didn't move much. Now he's five and not thin, but perfectly normal. Your baby sounds entirely in proportion anyway, mine was REALLY fat

dippydeedoo · 14/05/2007 20:51

hi im new to mumsnet and probably have older children than some of you i have 3 sons aged 13,11 and 6 all of them were big babies all of them reached there milestones early and once they start moving they lose any pudge!! as a nursery nurse i can tell you many babies have flat patches and hardly any teenagers still have them,so id just take all advice offered sift through it and find what suits you and play it by ear......health visitors arent God and can only give informed advice its up to you whether you take it or not ......id go with the mums instinct every time.

ps i know a hv whose own hv made her cry(did that make sense?)[hmmm]

bosscat · 14/05/2007 20:57

Ds 1 was absolutely HUGE I am not joking. People would say to me "wow he's a whopper isn't he" when they saw him which used to really drive me nuts. He was on the 91st for about 2 years for weight and height. I used to say "yes you should see his DAd" till dh pointed out to me that he was actually 6 foot one and slim not a body builder! Anyway, the point of this is to tell you he is now a 5 year old perfectly peachy little normal boy. Also his head was flat and I hate to tell you that my FIL is actually a flippin consultant neuro radiologist and made me take him to a specialist because he thought he had some horrible skull/brain problem. He didnt he just had a flat head. My friend is a GP and when I told her about FIL said "I see loads of babies in the surgery like ds1" and she turned out to be right. Now, ds1's head is totally normal and I was worrying about nothing. ds2 however is tiny ............don't get me started.

throw the book away!

Spidermama · 14/05/2007 21:03

Yep my ds4 was a whopper. At two he still is. He also has a flat bit on his head like one of his other brothers, his father, his uncle ... All healthy, strapping fellers.

I remember a health visitor saying I must rush to the doc to check my ds out because she'd never seen such a monster and it could be gigantism.

My thoughts are with you because it's hard to lug them about when you have a whopping great baby .... Oh but aren't they adorable. I just love my great, comically big giant baby, now toddler. He weighs a ton and it's all muscle. He loves to pick up massive heavy things and carry them around just for the hell of it.

Those fools must be ignored. They should come with health warnings I swear.

PavlovtheCat · 14/05/2007 21:05

I dont go to HV either. Other side of the coin for us. DD a small baby, weighs 16lb? at 10 months. She eats like a horse, breastfed until recently, now around 15oz formula (due to work) and Bf morning and night. She is perfectly healthy, is almost walking, crawls like she always has done, babbles away, claps, waves, blows kisses, and much more besides! I was told she was not putting on weight quickly enough, even tho she was within her lines (albeit the bottom ones) and that if I did not stop BF'ing she would be failing to thrive. I ignored her (mainly as DD would not take a bottle anyway until a few weeks ago).

However, I have always felt a little guilty that her size is my fault, my BF not good enoug etc, and is probably why I have not fought as hard as perhaps I could to keep Bf her without formula whilst working...I really feel resentful for that as I know its not true.

She is justabove the 0.4 line on the charts - which I might add is a bottle fed chart and she was bf only last time she was weighed, but has jumped over the 50% line for weight. So she is a tall skinny baby.

I decided, after her last check about 4 weeks ago, that I will not go back unless there is a prob, and then I will go to the GP.

Your baby sounds absolutely fine. He will grow up to be a strong healthy fine lad. because of you.

PavlovtheCat · 14/05/2007 21:06

that should read '50% line for height' not 'weight'

misdee · 14/05/2007 21:07

no seriously, check out the fat baby in my profile. she was hefty. broke a buggy with her weight.

i havent had dd3 weighed in aggggges.

akaJamiesMum · 14/05/2007 21:11

What's the big deal? I used to be a HV and I just cannot see what the problem is here. They don't HAVE to stay on one centile line - most babies fluctuate above and below a line. This kind of crap is why I left health visiting.

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