health visitor coming to your house?

[Jox]

i don't mean this to sound rude but what's the point in them?! she never explained why she was coming just said that they try to visit first time mums before the birth. so then i assume they come after the birth to see the baby, too? so confused!

:wave: mine came last week!!

They dont look round your house... thats what i thought when i was pregnant with Kasper

She just fills out paperwork to determind how much support you may or may not need once LO is here.

The HV's stay with you till baby is either 2 or 5, cant quite remember. In the early days they visit a few times to check babys weight etc then do the stand 12 month check up and 2 year check... i think, dates my not be right tho.

They are there if you have any questions about care of baby... almost like having a MW... just for after baby is here.

xxx

 

[Kitten-B]

just crashing the post!!
My little boy is 2 weeks old today, and Ive had 2 visits, 1 the day afterI came home from hosptial, and one few days later when he was 7 days old and that was it, people have told me they should be here everyday though.

I'm would bet that's what we'll get to, despite any other intentions. Feel like i've had very very little nhs time so far so not expecting it to change!

Don't mind though as I think every day would do my head in! Added to my parents and his parents and various visitors and lack of sleep and general chaos anyway!

And what if you want to go out? After the first few days that is. I mean it may be a grab what opportunity you can sort of affair with sleep, feeding and changing and it would be annoying to have to wait in for a HV (and I imagine like the rest of the hns it runs on their schedule and you're expected to wait in for an hour or so).

 

[brownlieB]

Don't worry girls,

I think the role of the Health visitor is hugely misunderstood, they're seen as a bit like social services as in there to check up on you and take your baby away if they think you're not coping but that IS NOT the case at all.

I went round with a health visitor for 2 weeks when i was training to be a nurse he was lovely and far from interferring or judgemental.

The HV continues to monitor the weight and growth rate of your baby once the midwife stops coming after 10 days. They also monitor other growth related things with LO over the 2yrs that you are under them. Including head circumference, speech development and other developmental factors

He/she also continues to monitor mum for signs of post natal depression, the initial meetings are done at home but after a while (literally a month or so) you start going to clinic.

They are there for the safety of you and the child, and you can't opt out to seeing them, in fact the more you cancel the more persistant they'll become as that would give them "cause for concern" as unfortunatly in this world there are some situations where the child isn't being looked after properly, and if we didn't have HV we'd have alot more Baby Ps and Victoria Climbe cases hitting the head lines. (I know they are cases where unfortunatly the HV/ social work system has failed but what i'm getting at is there are some children out there that are "at risk and would just go under the radar completely)

Honestly there are there to work with you not against you. x x

 

[Welly]

I loved my health visitor when I had ds. She was brilliant, always on hand for niggling questions that didn't warrant a doctors appointment.

 

[Mrs Liamxxs]

i never met my health visitor until after i'd had my first baby, i only ever see her now when i go to my local mother and toddler group, i think i only see her once and thats when she gets the referal from the midwifes xx

 

[marie73]

I agree with brownlie - I spent some time with a health visitor many years ago during my nurse training and they are really there for support for you and your baby. I saw mine last week at my GP surgery and she was very clear that her input would be led by me. I guess if they have no concerns then they won't be visiting very often. I think sometimes being a nurse puts other health care professionals off - I do try to make it clear that I'm no expert in child care! I certainly wouldn't worry - they're not intending to be intrusive but they are essential where there are concerns for child protection.