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

thatgirlsam

shellsuit wrote: »

I was in pain and was told I wasn't. OK I wasn't writhing on the floor screaming in agony, but deep down I was crying my heart out and the b!tch wouldn't listen to me.

Later on, I was actually sobbing my heart out, I couldn't breathe properly, I couldn't move, my whole body was in spasm and the cow of a midwife wouldn't even give me gas and air. Midwives like that give the rest of them a bad name.

I didn't mean to be condescending sorry, but I've never trained to be a midwife so I don't know what it entails!

you should have complained about her, thats terrible

i think a lot of women think that because they have given birth they are an expert on it! ( not you )

they forget that they might have given birth a few times but midwives have seen hundreds of births so they do know what they are talking about

badmumof1

my midwife told me giving birth was like trying to !!!!!! a rugby ball sideways!!
Incidently I took ds1 every week to be weighed and had a fab team of health visitors at the clinic.
i think the worse part was all the know it all mums that thought themselves big by going against advice but then i guess thats natural if health visitor suggested feed 6 oz some pushed dammed hard to get 8 oz down their bubby's throat

shellsuit

thatgirlsam wrote: »

you should have complained about her, thats terrible

i think a lot of women think that because they have given birth they are an expert on it! ( not you )

they forget that they might have given birth a few times but midwives have seen hundreds of births so they do know what they are talking about

I know how different births can be. The 'experts' say that each subsequent birth should be quicker and less painful. Not in my case :rotfl:

First one popped out. I didn't even wince.

Second one, I winced and I think I might have did a growl when she popped out.

Last one and it WILL be my last was horrendous. I am so scared of getting pregnant again that if I forget my pill I won't let hubby come near me for a month just to be sure!

There are good midwives and bad midwives, same as there are good HV's and bad ones.

I'm not an expert on women giving birth, but I'm an expert on my own body and what it is telling me.

Agutka

My friends and I always have a chuckle when we go to clinic and are met by a nursery nurse instead of hvs and she says 'that's normal' about everything, even if your child had sprouted an extra leg. She's lovely, but unhelpful.

My hv's are happy enough dealing with babies, but when I try to see them about 3yo ds they look horrified. He is not putting on weight, he is not growing out of clothes, he is not eating right, but can I talk to them about it? Nope. Thankfully he's always full of beans and looking healthy, so I'll soldier on.

In fact I was so enraged last time I went I wanted to write a letter of complaint, but I really can't remember why now :rotfl: Oh being a mother eh?

onlyroz

All the health visitors I've known have been excellent. If you're not happy, is there another clinic you can go to?

nickyhutch

thatgirlsam wrote: »

i remember laughing at the charts they use to plot the growth as they go up to 18 years of age!

And? Your children might be lucky enough not to need plotting up to age 18 - remember that those charts are used for ill/abused/neglected children too, to check their growth.

SingleSue

LilacPixie wrote: »

If you don't want to don't do it. I personally detest my HV. I find her to be incompetant. She feels both my children are 'failing to thrive' based on weight and height alone. Both bright active children who just happen to be petite. Last time I saw her our GP was actually giving her a 'talking to' about such comment. Apparently in her eyes 25th centil and under is failure to thrive. I need a rolling eyes smiley.

This baby we have decided to not get him/her weighted unless we have concerns after first 10 ish days they will be weighted during the usual checks and vaccine appointments but I personally feel confident in my abilities to parent and know my child.

Youngest was on his own little centile under all the other centiles for both weight and height (perfectly in proportion with each other). After many stressful months of jotting down feeding charts, being accused of not feeding him etc, he was finally sent for bone x rays...he was diagnosed with a growth problem which would mean he would be small until virtually all the way through high school and then probably have a late puberty and hopefully, become a more normal size. So far, this has been bang on as puberty has not even started yet where we had had signs by this age in his brother's...and he is still small for his age.

It wasn't the health visitor though which refered him for the bone x ray, as far as she was concerned, it was down to me that he was failing to thrive...no it was me asking for a referal from the doctor to the consultant who was seeing middle son at the time as I was concerned about what was going on as I knew it wasn't me.

Re weigh ins

I took eldest every week for the first 6 months or so and then it was just the milestones. It was at one of these milestones that she said he was slow because he struggled to write some letters.....I loved seeing her in the street last summer when I could tell her that the child she said was subintelligent actually got 9 A-C GCSE's including English and Maths.

I took middle son approx every fortnight for about 2 months plus his milestone appointments...it was one of these that he trapped the health visitor up against the wall with his playpen, just after she had told me that she couldn't see any behaviour problems :rotfl:

Youngest son obviously went up very regularly to be weighed but these were not done at the clinic but by appointment as middle son was too disruptive when clinic was on.

I was actually reading through youngest's little red book the other night and it certainly makes for interesting reading.....and very sad reading too as you can see when the concerns started re autism.

jaibaby

thatgirlsam wrote: »

my point was to the poster who said that she wouldn't listen to anyones advice unless they had children - that comment IS ridiculous in my eyes!

......

it takes years of training to become a HV.. they may not all get it right but for someone to say they wouldn't listen to any advice unless they had children is frankly stupid.

you can jump down from your high horse now missy ;)

I think you'll find that "poster" was me! And I won't. As I said, in my experience, the health professionals I have come into contact with have known nothing about actually experiencing children. Qualifications mean nothing to me I'm afraid. Again, I will say that I would go to my mum / nan / another mum before asking a HV with no kids. I don't agree with them. Telling me I can't wean my child before 6 months, even though he drunk 2 x 9oz bottles of hungry baby milk and still cries for more. I had a few days of no sleep, started him on food and he went straight back into his 12 hour sleeps at night.

Do you agree with a HV saying that we can't wean our children until they are 6 months, maybe longer, just because a textbook states it??? My mum weaned me and my four siblings early, never did us any harm!!!

My midwife, and now a very close friend, told me to do whatever feels best. After all, they do says it's a mothers instinct.

And this is not my high horse darling. And I certainly didn't come here to get involved in petty squabbles. I came on here to offer my personal view to the OP and the s**t I have put up with from my HV.

OP: if you are worried about your childs weight, put a plastic baby bath onto a set of scales (make sure its safe obv), set it to 0 then place your baby into it. Have a look in your childs record book and see if they are around the line it states. But, honestly, if they are feeding well and contented, don't worry!!

puppypants

My horror experience of HVs was when my middle child (now 34!!) was 6 weeks old, I took him for his 6 week check. The HV had him lying on the table and she was trying to force his foreskin back, my son was screaming his little head off. Never went back again and never went with his brother (now 33!!).

themull1

When i had my first daughter, i went for the first weigh in, and it was a massive free for all in the surgery, massive queues etc, so i rang the next time and said i wouldn't be bringing her back, and if they wanted to come to the house and weigh her, that was fine, they came once, then that was it.!! So, no, i wouldn't take my child to be weighed.