I hate my health visitor - rant

mountainofdebt

Used to call my HV the wicked witch of the west ....well if the cap fits.

We had 2 cats at the time and before one of her visits they managed to kill a couple of mice that lived in the fields behind the house and leave ther presents on the doorstep..........

Octobergirl

My first HV was lovely, DD1 was a seriously ill baby, spent a long time in hospital. When she did come home, OH and I were traumatised. DD was failure to thrive and in a bad way ( we were waiting SMA 1 test results) as was I with pnd. my HV turned up for an appointment ( that I'd forgotten about) to find me barely functioning. I'd booked a plane ticket that morning for bubs and I to return home to my parents in the uk. Bless her, she packed our bags, found my passport, drove me to the airport, waited with me for my flight and organised an assistant to carry bubs onto the flight and off again at the other end. She was definitely one of the good ones.

After moving back to the uk, I walked into the clinic with my all dressed in pink bundle, gave my records over and was asked ' so how is he?'. I was less than impressed. This same HV labelled my 2 year old as having behaviour problems... A label that stuck throughout her first 5 years. The reason...she was fractious, crying and not playing independently. A stunning show of ignorance, seeing as my daughter was unable to talk/sit/move independently due to severe disability.

I asked her to leave, refused further contact and only saw a HV once for DS.

msb5262

I've had four different HVs (moved around when my oldest was small) and they have all been excellent. The last one did my DD's 3 year check and made a tentative but correct diagnosis of an astigmatism; she explained what this was to me and recommended a local optician with particular expertise in this field. I really couldn't praise the woman enough!

stiltwalker

I saw one semi decent HV once (DD's development check that got her referred to paediatrician) the rest have been - well if I am going to be polite I'll say chocolate teapots! When we moved to bottle feeding DD, one 'instructed' me how to prepare feeds and I pointed out that as a chef I would be seriously b*ollocked by health and hygiene as at least 2 of the processes she told me were unsafe from food hygiene point of view and that I wold not be allowed to do them in my professional kitchen - her response? wel it's not a professional kitchen! Yes I am quite aware of that I am not about to use less safe practices for my tiny baby than I would in my professional kitchen!!

With DS I spent 3 months trying to arrange his 12 month developmental check playing answer phone pig pong with the HV - every time I left a message saying I would be available on home number at x, y and z times (and I gave a good variety of times) she would invariably ring back (at least 2 weeks later) at a different time!! - bearing in mind this was the full sibling of a child who has a genetic disorder with a risk of 1 in 4 for sibling also having disorder (which in fact he does) once it became apparent that DS was having the same issues as DD I spoke to paediatrician myself. Now whenever we are asked who we want reports to go to I say don't bother with HV they are chocolate teapots.

Having said that I have heard other mums praise the HVs - either some of them are much better or I just have a low idiot tolerance level.

DevilsAdvocate1

My health visitor really upset me. Every time I went to the baby clinic I used to come out in tears. She was obsessed with me switching from breastfeeding to the bottle, telling me that I had done my bit now and did not need to breastfeed. She completely missed the point that I was happy breastfeeding.

My baby was not gaining as much weight as she wanted, so she came to my house EVERY weekday to weigh him. Because he was being weighed everyday it looked like he wasn't really gaining anything, but if you looked at it over a week the he was.

Eventually, I decided not to see her anymore. When DS1 was 9 months old, I went to the clinic for his hearing test. The HV took one look at him and smugly said "Ah, so you did switch to bottles". I'll never forget the look of shock on her face when I told there that actually, I had continued fully breastfeeding him.

When DS3 was born I decided that he would not see the HV. At 6 months, I decided to take him to be weighed so I could see how heavy he was before I started to wean him. The HV looked at him and told me that something must be done as he did not weight enough. She said he looked like a skinned rabbit and repeated that I had to do something to get him to gain weight. She then turned to the next baby, who had rolls of fat on her. She made a big fuss of this baby girl, telling her she was gorgeous because she was chubby. I left in tears once more and this time I didn't go back.

I do have 2 friends who are health visitors who are really lovely and I'm sure if they had been my health visitor I would have had a very different experience.

caevans

I had just had my eldest daughter and had the worst baby blues. My HV visited for first time and asked what my daughter was called (she has a gaelic name) I told her and she said "oh, that's the same name as my sister. She always hated her name"
Haha, can laugh about it now, but I did cry as soon as she left my house :-)
Managed to avoid seeing her again as we moved not long after.

lolly_896

With DS1 - i can honestly say how much i really liked my HV. She was always just a call away, if i phoned she would always phone me back. She helped me go on baby massage courses, instructed SS(ETA - surestart) to come and fit baby gates and fire guards. She was so helpful and knowledgeable - but she was a parent herself!

DS2 is now 4 and we have been to baby clinic once, she never phoned me back when i was at my wits end one day. (DS1 has additional needs, and with new baby but I wanted some advice about something which i ended up phoning HV1 for)

The difference in areas is unbelievable!

marisco_2

I have met appalling and amazing health visitors. When my eldest was born I didn't find them at all helpful or knowledgeable. Just condescending with no personal experience of having or raising their own baby.

Moved to a different area after my youngest was born and found my new health visitor very good. She spoke common sense and didn't just go by text book advice. She picked up on all kinds of things, made referrals and kept in contact with me to make sure all was okay. I owe her an awful lot and there are not many people I say that about. As with any profession there are good and bad.

valkirn

eyelinerprincess wrote: »

Insinuating that I wasn't sterilising correctly when he had a stomach bug at 4 weeks, when in all likelihood he caught it from his cousin who had the same thing and was "playing" with him not long before.
.

This brings back some memories.
I have a fantastic HV (who has been my HV for the last 13 years) but on the one occasion she was away on holiday and one of the others came to the house and accused me of not sterilising properly as mine had a tummy bug she was promptly told that i would go an immediatly boil my boobs to ensure they were sterile, and my daughter couldnt have possably picked up the bug from her older sister.
She appologised and said she hadnt read my notes as she had been too busy too so i asked her to leave and that i would see my normal HV once she returned from her break.

If im honest i dont think ive seen my HV more than ive needed to and i always tell her i know where she is if i need her

pigpen

I had a hv come round with DS3.. she decided he should be sitting by himself.. he was 8 months and 2 months prem.. not one of mine has sat independantly at 6 months. Anyway.. dozy mare sat him between her feet and he promptly fell on his face getting a large carpet burn right up his nose.. she has 2 sons of her own. I can only assume she didn't see them much or her husband took care of them because she is a twit.. she is now my daughters HV and by all accounts not improved in 14 years.. She is pleasant enough but a total muppet.