MSE Parents Club Part 14

SusanC_2

Sarah_Joanne wrote: »

Sounds like the HVs round here. DO you remember the last time I went they pi55ed me off saying Alfie was too small, dropped 2 centiles, blah blah, I should wean early or force an extra mik feed into him?

Well thjis time he stayed on the same line (2nd centile) and she starts off by telling me I don't need to worry now, I of course reply (whilst struggling to get tired, hungry Alfie back into his clothes after we'd been waiting there almost an hour) that I wasn't ever worried about him, so she asks me if he's "better now". Better? I ask, there was never anything wrong with him!

She then asks whether he was weaning during the "dropping" but of the chart to which I reply, no I waited until he was 6 months. She then said that sometimes when they are ready to wean (which I read as "you should have weaned him then as he was ready") they can go off their milklied with, he wasn't off his milk though, and he never lost any weigh, he's just small.

She asked how weaning was going and I said great, he's eating steak and yorkshire puddings, to which she laughed! I then spoke, to Alfie, saying yorkshire pudding's your favourite isn't it?! She then asked if he was having some finger foods then, so I said only finger foods. She then said oh BLW, and is that going ok then? Err, YES!


I really ought to have mentioned that he loves his milk, and is still bf, but I was too annoyed so I just left.

Before she came to me she was telling the woman before me that her baby had put on quite a lot of weight since last time and she had to come back in 2-3 weeks to make sure baby was not puttng on too much weight.

She never asked how he was generally, never asked if he was chatting and babbling (he does, all the time), never asked if he can crawl (he can), never asked if he was pulling himself up and cruising (he can), never asked if he sleeps ok (he does). It just seems all they are interested in is the bloody weight charts!

Alfie's not even skinny, if they ever measured his height they'd see he's small on there too, just small in proportion.

What worries me is that other mums who may not be so confident in knowing when their baby is ok will take everything the HV says to heart. What if the woman before me limits the milk she gave her daughter becasue she was so worried about the HV saying the baby was putting on too much weight?! I think it's just a really irresponsible way to go about things.

Sorry, I bet you wished you'd never asked!!!! Thsi is whay I didn't mention it on here when it happened as I knew I'd just rant

This is why I never bothered taking Alice to be weighed.

But I always thought that weighing them was a pretext to get you along so that they could keep an eye on the other things you mentioned too.

If I weigh myself at various times throughout the day and before and after meals etc. I find that I can vary by half a stone. I would expect babies would vary by at least a similar proportion (if not more because they seem to eat loads more relative to their body weight than an adult does) which would have a significant effect on what centile they are on. I think frequent precise weighing of healthy babies with no indications that they might need weighing is counterproductive and creates a lot of unecessary stress for parents.

Krystaltips

The new guidelines actually state that HV should be available and weighing shouldn't be an "in" with them... I think a lot of parents put a lot of importance on weight gain too though and while people want to know which line the baby is following the situation isn't going to change any time soon...

My_Fathers_Daughter

Methinks Sophie needs a Sopie :cool:


I know it is pretty much the same in every walk of life but it does bother me how the care you get from your HV is so very much person dependant. My HV was a little drippy but was overall very helpful and interested in Benjamin and me. She always asked what we were up to and how things were going and asked if I had any niggles that I wanted to talk about. When Benjamin did have a weight dropping incident she sensibly asked if anything could have caused it and then passed it over as 'one of those things' when I could explain (he had been horribly sick a few days before). He was about 5 months at that point and she didn't suggest that I start pouring food down him - which is a good job really!

I hate the way that the 'care' that some of you receive is so devoid of 'care' and all about 'targets' - I sincerely hope that if this government do nothing else of any good then their mass abolition of target related performance will start to see a shift in the way services are provided.


Ooo - SJ - you made me rant too

bexta

MFD, yeah, we were wondering if it might be the start of teething :eek:
She's been a bit of a cranky pants the last few days too. Would you recommend Sophie the Giraffe?

sir_monster

Morning all wanted to say thanks to smartie re the seahorse as he was a bit unsettled after the midnightish feed but the luballies and seasounds helped drift him off. Have a dilema meant to have a docs appointment at 2ish but forecast is for heavy rain at the mo not sure can drive as had c section just under 5 weeks ago so would have to walk or catch bus, is a good 20 minute walk or 10 min for bus so will prob get soaked as maybe would baby. So do I drive, risk walking or cancel appointment for next week, will have to decide before lunch!!

MadDogWoman_2

Morning,

I couldn't help Katie clean her teeth this morning as I'm too upset and stressed - she heard DH on the phone to work for me.

Waiting for a call back from my Union Rep to see where I go from here.

Fingers crossed it's not a bug Susan.

ETA: SirM, do you feel like you could drive? Do you feel able to perform an emergency stop if needed? That was the criteria I was told after my c-section.

My_Fathers_Daughter

bexta wrote: »

MFD, yeah, we were wondering if it might be the start of teething :eek:
She's been a bit of a cranky pants the last few days too. Would you recommend Sophie the Giraffe?

It is my fault that practically every baby on the thread has a Sophie (some have had more than one to replace lost ones!)

I would thoroughly recommend getting a Sophie. They seem expensive but they do the trick and you won't buy any other teethers after you have bought one. They are very cool too IMHO :cool:


If you look at teethers in the supermarket then 'they' recommend that you buy different shaped ones for different teeth...Sophie is shaped so different parts of her body help with different teeth (the legs tend to go to the back of the mouth, the head is more for the front) so if you think about it like that you might actually be saving money!

I think most people paid about £11.

My_Fathers_Daughter

MadDogWoman wrote: »

Morning,

I couldn't help Katie clean her teeth this morning as I'm too upset and stressed - she heard DH on the phone to work for me.

Waiting for a call back from my Union Rep to see where I go from here.

Big hugs hun xxx

sir_monster wrote: »

Morning all wanted to say thanks to smartie re the seahorse as he was a bit unsettled after the midnightish feed but the luballies and seasounds helped drift him off. Have a dilema meant to have a docs appointment at 2ish but forecast is for heavy rain at the mo not sure can drive as had c section just under 5 weeks ago so would have to walk or catch bus, is a good 20 minute walk or 10 min for bus so will prob get soaked as maybe would baby. So do I drive, risk walking or cancel appointment for next week, will have to decide before lunch!!

I thought the 6 week thing was an urban myth? Do you feel ready to drive? Your insurance company will say as long as you feel ready you are fine.

Edit - I wouldn't be going out in this rain if I didn't have to!

CAFCGirl

bexta wrote: »

Morning

fingers crossed still for Susan

Krystal, that sounds like a lovely birthday treat for your hubby.

Does anyone with a roughly 3-4 month old find their baby is obsessed with munching on their hands? Sophie is always eating her hands, I've tried offering other things for her to gum, but she only wants her hands.

Errr yes, Landen.... although he's fascinated by eating anyone's hands......especially mine, eurgh.......

Quinny returned... muahahah!!!!!

SusanC_2

Krystaltips wrote: »

The new guidelines actually state that HV should be available and weighing shouldn't be an "in" with them... I think a lot of parents put a lot of importance on weight gain too though and while people want to know which line the baby is following the situation isn't going to change any time soon...

The trouble is changing the guidelines doesn't change the culture and people think that they need to have their baby weighed all the time because that's the impression which has been given. My mum said when we were born the HV kept coming to the house to weigh your baby until you started going to the clinic.