WWYD RE Health Visitor

Dukesy

Health visitors can be an absolute nightmare, as can some midwives to be honest. Through my work and through being a parent myself I've come across some dreadful ones and an awful lot of absolutely terrified parents who have been convinced by their health visitor that there is something very wrong with their baby or that they are being negligent in some way when in fact there's nothing wrong at all. It's not the case with all HVs of course, but some seem a little heavy handed.

Back on track, though, when my little boy was about two months old, he stopped gaining weight. I'd been breastfeeding and, after being told his weight was not going up, I realised that there had been quite a difference in the way he had been feeding - he was feeding (or at least attempting to) for longer periods than he had been previously, and was demanding feeds much more frequently. There was nothing wrong with the way he was feeding, but it became evident that I was in fact not producing as much milk as I had been, although I don't know why this was. I realised that my milk production was faltering as, in an effort to try and get more milk into him, I started expressing full time and was getting a fraction of the amount that I had been when I'd expressed previously.

Ended up putting him on formula full time in the end, which was a difficult decision, but his weight went back on track and he's a very happy and healthy two year old now. The HV absolutely lambasted me for doing this, though, and then started questioning my mental health, and whether I was depressed as a result of being unable to continue breastfeeding! That's a great way of boosting a mother's confidence, isn't it!

6feet

missindecisive wrote: »

please be aware that .. once you start topping up with formula milk your breastfeeding may slowly diminsh. Thats ok ofcourse if you are happy to take that route. The baby will quickly put on weight once you top him up, then the hv can tick her box.

The growth charts in the little red books they give you, I am lead to believe, are based on bottle fed babies, not breast fed babies, so it doesn't really apply for your baby. Perhaps you could google this yourself and check if I am correct.

Does your baby cluster feed in the evening? Its important that you get plenty of rest and eat really well. If I was in your situation, I would get the advice of your local breastfeeding councellor.

^^^ THIS^^^
I did not find the NHS terribly helpful in this country due to low breastfeeding rates. If you are trying to exclusively BF I would get in touch with your local BR expert http://www.breastfeedingnetwork.org.uk/resources-and-external-websites.html


They really helped me to exclusively BF mine for the first 6 months. Best of luck xx

aridjis

dizziblonde wrote: »

Yep the first thing that springs to my mind when I see my health visitor is that she's on a par with someone who committed mass genocide. Obviously. Do you want to rephrase your rant in a slightly less melodramatic, offensive and blanketly judgemental manner or do you just want us to ignore any actual content in what you say?

Oh the irony :rotfl:

Make-it-3

Health Visitors are NOT medically qualified. Unfortunately, too many of them are obsessed with ticking off charts and spouting uninformed and out of date advice.

That said, most babies who are feeding well will have put on more than simply returning to their birth weight by six weeks. You have got to consider possible errors with the scales, but also possible feeding problems.

OP, you know your baby best and don't seem unduly concerned. I would wait for your paed appointment and see what they say.

sweaty_betty

OP - my LO took 8 weeks to regain his birth weight (he lost 15% while we were in hospital as I had problems with my milk supply). Then when he was 4 months old I took him to be weighed and he'd only put on less than half a lb in 4 weeks - the HV took me to one side and asked if there was something wrong at home (??) - to which I replied "everything was fine until we came here!" We were combination feeding (& he ate a lot) so they couldn't figure out what was causing it.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that there can be a number of reasons for babies not gaining weight in the way that's expected, so try not to worry that there's something really wrong. For us, it righted itself on its own with no change to what we were doing, but you really need to go with your gut feeling - get a second opinion to reassure yourself - and let them monitor your LO to see if he's improving.

Good luck!

Nicki

Make-it-3 wrote: »

Health Visitors are NOT medically qualified. Unfortunately, too many of them are obsessed with ticking off charts and spouting uninformed and out of date advice.

That said, most babies who are feeding well will have put on more than simply returning to their birth weight by six weeks. You have got to consider possible errors with the scales, but also possible feeding problems.

OP, you know your baby best and don't seem unduly concerned. I would wait for your paed appointment and see what they say.

They are all qualified and registered midwives or nurses. So all have medical degrees and experience which makes them more medically qualified than most posting on this thread.

http://www.prospects.ac.uk/health_visitor_entry_requirements.htm

Tropez

Make-it-3 wrote: »

Health Visitors are NOT medically qualified. Unfortunately, too many of them are obsessed with ticking off charts and spouting uninformed and out of date advice.

The NHS states that Health Visitors are registered nurses and midwives, both roles require degree level qualifications and both theoretical and practical medical training in order to ensure patient care.

ash28

Make-it-3 wrote: »

Health Visitors are NOT medically qualified. Unfortunately, too many of them are obsessed with ticking off charts and spouting uninformed and out of date advice.

That said, most babies who are feeding well will have put on more than simply returning to their birth weight by six weeks. You have got to consider possible errors with the scales, but also possible feeding problems.

OP, you know your baby best and don't seem unduly concerned. I would wait for your paed appointment and see what they say.

Health visitors ARE medically qualified - why would you think they aren't? They have to a trained nurse or midwife....or isn't that qualified enough?

In order to train as a health visitor, you must first qualify and register as a nurse or midwife. You will then need to take an approved programme in specialist community public health nursing/health visiting (SCPHN/HV).

http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/explore-by-career/nursing/careers-in-nursing/health-visiting/skills,-qualifications-and-training/

A healthcare professional could be described as a medically qualified doctor, dentist, pharmacist, nurse or coroner etc. There is more than one medical qualification.

A health visitor is a bit more than a social worker what ever you might think of them.

Toto

Make-it-3 wrote: »

Health Visitors are NOT medically qualified. Unfortunately, too many of them are obsessed with ticking off charts and spouting uninformed and out of date advice.

That said, most babies who are feeding well will have put on more than simply returning to their birth weight by six weeks. You have got to consider possible errors with the scales, but also possible feeding problems.

OP, you know your baby best and don't seem unduly concerned. I would wait for your paed appointment and see what they say.

To add to what everyone else has said, not only do health visitors have a degree in either nursing or midwifery they also do a very intensive 13 month post graduate course (usually at masters level) this includes a prescribing qualification. Health visitors are actually very highly qualified and do a great deal more than tick a few charts.

Butterbeer

Hello,

My daughter struggled to gain weight in her first few weeks. I had successfully breastfed two other children and had no reason to think there was a problem especially as she was such a content baby.

As it turns out, the reason she was, what I thought a quiet, content baby was due to the fact she had only been receiving the fore milk and she no longer had the energy to cry to be fed.

I asked my health visitor repeatedly if I should try her with formula and she would say "no, you need to breastfeed more to encourage the milk production!"

In the end, I was so worried that I gave her a bottle and the poor thing downed it in one go, threw it back up again but from then on, I combined breast and bottle feeding.

This is the first time I have posted on here and while I'm sure you're right and your baby is perfectly fine, I just wanted to let you know my experience. Best wishes.