Health visitors

[simonethebeaver]

I'm interested to hear your experiences with local health visitors. I'm expecting my first baby and have heard lots of not particularly positive stories about health visitors, not only in East Dulwich but in general.

I have lots of friends with children and many of them, after having irritating encounters with HVs for their first children, have more or less opted out of the system for subsequent children. They've had problems with bad, sometimes verging on dangerous, advice on feeding, weight, vaccinations etc.

What are the good things about HVs as opposed to a good GP? And how much involvement am I expected to have with them? I'm good at taking advice and will take it from trusted sources, but some of this lot sound a bit pointless.

[Lochie]

I think in the main HVs are there to check on the health and wellbeing of mother and child after discharge from midwives (I believe MWs legally have to hand over care after 28 days from birth?). They are there to discuss any developmental concerns the mother may have, provide developmental checks on the baby (inc. weigh ins etc), and check on the emotional health of the mother (screen for PND etc). I would imagine GPs are there for more medical issues rather than welfare and developmental issues (might be wrong but that is what I would have experienced).

I had an outstanding HW who I saw regularly after the birth of my son, so much so I wrote a letter to commend her to one of the Southwark Directors of that area of healthcare (and I have never felt the urge to do that before in the NHS) as she really helped me overcome a horrible bout of PND (e.g. by taking me herself to a mother and baby group and by coming to see me ever week or two at home for 6 months). I believe she is now attached to the Townley Road clinic as she moved on last year from the surgery I used. She was also really good to chat to about baby nutrition and minor baby ailments.

I think like any other profession, when you have a bad HV they can give their job a bad name. I think I was lucky to have a really good HV as I too have never heard anyone else have a positive experience of one!

Most of my new mum friends rarely come into contact with them as far as I can tell....it might be you only meet your HV once after the birth of your baby ...

[katgod]

The community midwives who come immediately after baby is born are great - helpful and a welcome resouce. HV in East Dulwich are based at Townley Road clinic. I have 3 children and am pleased to say the busy body HV i saw at Townley Road clinic appears to have left, however I find the rest of them to be patchy at best in the qaulity of the advice given. There is no requirement to see them at all if you don't want to.

With first baby I went regularly (fortnightly) to the baby clinic, with subsequent babies the lack of organisational skills shown by the HVs (and to be fair the other mothers) meant that it was taking longer and longer to be seen and with a toddler it wasn't feasible. I think once you are over the initial 'is baby gaining weight' stage, if you are happy and relaxed there is no need to go at all (except for the routine checks at 8 months, and possibly one slightly earlier). Baby 3 has been to clinic 3 times in a year. If you don't go to clinic you don't see the HV.

For those that do go - a suggestion - keep an eye on the name of the baby in front of you in the list, and when that baby is called, start getting your baby undressed out of the multiple layers of gear you have him/her in. It would all move along a bit quicker if people anticipated their name being called!

[edanna]

Like others have said there are good and bad. I've had pretty positive experiences. Compared with GPs - if you're worried about your baby's health, always see a GP. HVs can be helpful with advice about feeding and sleeping etc and a good one will help you just by listening to all your worries and reassuring you that you're doing a good job as a new mum. Some of them do give bum advice. But if you're uncertain you can always get a second opinion from a GP or on here! Most of them really do want to help.

[sillywoman]

Hv's tend to be based at & connected to your GP practice.

Personally my experiences have been a mixed bag. Our first one was just lovely, lovely lovely. Took a personal interest in all my children (she probably didn't, but I felt that she did & that's what counts) and even delayed her house/job move to another part of the country so that she could be the one to do the baby checks on baby number 4 after he was born. She said she felt that she was 'completing the circle'. She was just very reassuring & 'on my side' as edanna says.

Her replacement has been worse than useless. I didn't bother with the baby clinics as I could see he was putting on weight & was healthy, he had his innoculations though but I do have a history of PND which our first HV was at pains to explain to the replacement. I was struggling badly when baby 4 was about 6 months old & left several messages on her answerphone asking for contact & to see her. No reply. None. Thanks.

Haven't seen her since.

As everyone says they're a mixed bag. Take whatever advice they give you re weight & feeding with a massive, huge, enormous pinch of salt. Some of them (not all mind) have very outdated views that simply aren't backed up by current research. Do your own research & ask around your friends with babies before making any decisions. HV's can be very useful as link people though, can connect you quickly into other services if there are any developmental issues that you would like to have explored further.

[simonethebeaver]

Thanks, all.

The weight thing is one thing that worries me slightly. I can't count the number of friends I have who have been unnecessarily worried about their babies' weight at the clinics - one was even sent to A&E. I have no reason at all to think I'll have a small baby - MrBeaver and I are both pretty solid - but I don't really fancy torturing myself over the odd oz here and there for no good reason!

I've heard that they tend to concentrate resources where they think they're most needed so would be unlikely to chase someone who appears to be managing well. I have a history of depression so PND is already flagged up all over my notes and I'd feel comfortable talking to my GP about it I think, rather than someone I didn't know well.

I will see what happens. I love my midwives so much that I'm already feeling a bit sad about the day when they sign me over to these health visitor people.

[Fuschia]

I made a complaint about my hv for child no 1 after she gave wrong advice so aggressively she made me cry

Outcome was an apology And training for all hvs but I have never really bothered with them since

[Monkey]

I would try not to plan too much in advance if I were you. Just see what your HV is like, listen to what she has to say and if in doubt go to your GP. I was with the Townley Road clinic and I thought my HV was great and very friendly. She was a reassuring presence and I valued her advice. However when she told me it was not normal that my baby was sleeping through for 12 hours aged 10 weeks and that it must mean I was overfeeding her during the day, I ignored her and continued as I was doing. I could see that Baby Monkey was absolutely fine - gut feeling and I was right. As you grow more confident as a mum, you'll soon learn to make your own decisions. Be prepared for people to give you lots of advice, HV, MILs, complete strangers... My MIL is horrified we don't give orange juice to Baby Monkey... She and lots of others said I should not put her in nursery, evil places for evil people... etc etc...

[Moos]

I went to the GP yesterday, as Twosling is a bit ill, and he deferred some of my questions about weaning to the HV. It struck me that it makes sense for the HV to be the source of information about baby care: weight gain, skincare, weaning, etc. ie anything to do with normal changes, questions and concerns about a healthy baby. GP remains place to go when baby is sick. There's probably a bit of cross-over (is the temperature to do with teething, or is it an infection?) but if the HV is good she should be able to provide you with up to date and specialist information which it's not realistic to expect a GP to maintain knowledge of.

That said, a lot of comments on poor HVs resonate with me - the first time I met mine, tiny Moosling was howling the house down, and she casually said "oh, he has colic". Which luckily wasn't true, but anyway can't be diagnosed that fast! My current HV is both sympathetic and well-informed, and I am now really seeing the point of the system. In a practice where there is no longer a family doctor who knows ones children, a good HV who sees them from birth to five is very helpful.

[jollybaby]

Simone I've been really happy with my health visitor. She's always been very reassuring and given very sensible advice- far better than my midwives but that's another story. I think the internet is far more dangerous when it comes to worrying new mothers. Use with caution in the early days (apart from the EDF of course).