Do we HAVE to take our baby to be weighed at the HV?

emsywoo123

I took DD religiously every week, but have taken DS twice (he is 10 weeks) and plan to do it vaguely every couple of months.......perhaps!

They would have no idea if I went, I do not have a named HV, and there is a team of them at the clinic I have been to that just sit and chat, it is a self weigh clinic.

clairec79

Don't they weigh them when they are vaccinated? If so as long as you are planning to vaccinate them they will be getting weighed monthly at the present anyway, that'll be the only times from now on I expect my youngest will get weighed.

He was seen at 2weeks after birth and had dropped 10% almost so saw again week after (so 3 weeks old at that point) and was back to birth weight - she just said then see him at the 8 week check for his jabs

soupdragon10

Sounds as though you are having regular checks anyway. Found my HV less than helpful, with a premature baby sleeping no more that 2 hours at a time I was on my knees.

On one visit she suggested that it might be an idea to vacuum the carpet as it was dusty. No suggestions about getting baby to sleep how to cope with virtually no sleep for days on end.

This was years ago, but it doesn't sound as though things have changed much

sassyblue

Not sure why you would want to NOT have your baby weighed every month or two, even reading all your reasons l'd still take him just to be sure.

So he's well and he's following his line on the chart, great - if you had a problem you'd find out quicker, great too. :cool:

indebtinsussex

I take dd every other week as its on the way to the baby group I go to and use it as a mini meet before I go onto the group, other than that I probably wouldn't bother getting her weighed x

Gingham_Ribbon

Sorry to see so many women having similar issues with unhelpful (or worse) health visitors to the ones I had with mine. :mad:

It's a shame because I'd put money on it that there are more good ones than otherwise, but this is a time of our lives where we really NEED decent support and when we don't get it, or someone makes it worse, it's not the kind of thing that's easy to forget.

Teenie_D

jaibaby wrote: »

The HV managed to miss the fact that my daughter had a dislocated hip, which was only picked up when she was 11 months, at what was supposed to be her 9 month check up. And even then she missed it, a trainee nurse picked it up whilst I was changing her nappy.

Mine too, well she never missed it, she just wouldn't listen to me when I kept saying to her that I felt there was something wrong as DD wouldn't put any weight on her foot. This was at 6 months old. The next time I seen her I mentioned it again but she told me "she will grow out of it when she starts walking"! Went to see doc, straight away she knew what it was and things did happen quickly from there but DD was 1 year old before she got the plaster and it was a complete nightmare, it would have been easier on all of us if she had just listened and the problem was sorted that few minths earlier.

It wasn't the fact that she didn't pick it up, it was that I was just another neurotic first time mother. I found her very patronsing and she really didn't like my DH and never looked pleased when he was around LOL.

Becles

I took my eldest every few weeks and he was always underweight. They kept telling me he wasn't feeding enough and all sorts, but he was breastfeeding until he'd had enough and was content all the time, so I didn't see how he wasn't eating enough. They had me so wound up and worried about his weight.

He's 14 now, absolutely stick thin, eats more than I do, but he's fit, healthy and never ill. They've just done BMI in biology at school and he's still officially classed as underweight. I guess he's just a naturally skinny person.

Never took the rest of them to get weighed. They looked ok and I could see they were growing and feeding well and I had no concerns. I didn't want to go through all the angst of them not conforming to centile lines again, so I just didn't bother going. They're both fit and healthy too and was happier as I wasn't stressed about their weight.

andrealm

No, you don't have to. I didn't take dd2 very often, it was obvious she was growing well,and I didn't want to trail her and dd1 there for no reason, then have to keep dd1 amused while we waited.

All the surgeries in our town used to have baby clinics every week,ours for for an hour and a half, now they have done away with them and expect the whole town to go to the health centre between 2 and 2.30 once a week. I can't imagine what they would do if everyone brought their babies to be weighed once a month. Also, younger kids get out of school at 2.00 or 2.15 here, which makes it difficult for anyone with a baby to go. It would have been a lt more inconvenient for me as well as I don't drive and our surgery is closer to walk to than the health centre, which is quite far away.

They do still have a baby clinic at the surgery for jabs, but I've heard they won't weigh them at the same time, which they used to do.

andrealm

Alikay wrote: »

If you aren't seen to be following the advice of healthcare professionals there's always a risk that you'll get flagged as a problem, maybe even going as far as baby going on the "at risk " register. Pretty OTT I know, but I personally wouldn't lock horns with the HV for the sake of few minutes at the clinic. If you've already had him weighed at the hospital within a couple of weeks I'm sure you'd be OK not seeing HV until the next month.

These days HVs usually have a huge number of families on their books so I doubt they'd even notice if you didn't go.