What are these "home visits"?!?!

[Shandelion]

I'm an American wondering about these terrifying "home visits". What the heck?? Are they for people on assistance, or are they forced on everyone? Do they take away your kid if they're unhappy? Take away money? Or are people just afraid if being judged unfairly but nothing happens? How often do they happen? It sounds like they're allowed to pass judgement on every aspect of your home and family?

These things sound terrifying...

 

[bumpy_j]

Um I'm not sure about the U.S, but everyone in the UK gets assigned to their local Health Visitor services after being discharged from Midwife care, which involves home visits. You'll tend to get some visits from a community midwife once you've left the hospital too. It's completely standard procedure.

 

[Wannabe Mommy]

The health visitors and midwives in the UK offer home visits to everyone but they are not mandatory.

You are offered one a couple of weeks before birth to answer any questions you may have about birth and parenting but we said no as didn't feel it was necessary and I worked till 1 week before birth so wasn't home.

The day after mum and baby comes home the midwife comes round to check mum and baby then they do a visit a few days later and if all ok they sign you off to health visitors.

At about 2 weeks old the HV stops by for a welcome meeting and to weigh baby then you can either have them visit you or you can go to them for regular weigh ins and any advice you may want.

MW and HV were all lovely in my case, no tours of the house were asked for or offered we stayed in the living room each time and my house was a right mess for some of the visits which wasn't even mentioned.

They were in and out within 20 mins each time and were friendly and non judgemental.

I think the idea is way worse then the reality, and actually it was quite a nice service in my experience.

 

[minties]

We have home visits in New Zealand too, much like the UK.

The midwife visits you and baby in your home for the first 6 weeks, then here a nurse takes over. They are for Well Child checks. I think in the USA you take your baby to a doctor for those.

The Well Child nurse (called a Plunket nurse here) isn't a terrifying person, usually an older lady. They weigh and measure baby, help you with any problems you might be having, record their growth in a book etc etc.

Your midwife visits you here every second day for the first week (mine did anyway) then once a week after that.

 

[jodilee6]

My home visits with my HV in the early days were amazing

We struggled with feeding due to tongue tie and a later discovered CMPI, in the early days my HV was worth her weight in gold with assisting in sorting out DS tongue and also just being a supportive shoulder when I needed to cry. She was never judgemental or jumped to conclusions about PND she could just see how hard our early days were

It's never as bad as all the horror stories you hear!

 

[Scout]

I actually wish we had something like that here in the US. My dd had high bilirubin and I had to load her up in the car every day the first week we were home and take her to the pediatricians office and wait forever for them to test her. Not sure if they do that kind of thing at home visits in the UK, but it would have been so nice if they could have. I have a well visit tomorrow at 8 am, so I'll have to rush to get dd ready, and then get to the office and wait and wait and wait...always like that. Would be nice if someone just came here instead.

 

[Shandelion]

Very interesting! Thanks for the responses!

 

[HoneyBee144]

Just wanted to vouch for how good the home visits are. I'm from the UK and have a very good relationship with my health visitor. I struggled after having DS1 and she picked up on it immediately, she never made me feel like she was pointing it out but she helped me even when I didn't know I needed it. She continued to visit me at home even when I should have been going to the clinic, she was always at the end of the phone if I needed her and when I had my second child she made sure she I was assigned to her. Even now I know I can always call her about anything and she'll help me over the phone or come and see me. She also helped me contact the birth after thoughts (they go through your notes with you and discuss what happened during your labour and why) after going through a traumatic labour and birth with my first, without her I don't think I would have had the confidence to do that. I'll always be grateful to her and thankful that we have this service.

 

[zorak]

I'm British but had both my babies in the US. I honestly wish this service had been offered, having to drag myself out of bed to attend 9am peasiatrician appointments the day after hospital discharge after having c sections was hell.

Like the pps have said there is a medical side where baby and Mother are checked out but there is also a social side. Info is given in local services etc.

One point to note is a health visitor is more likely to pick up early signs of pre and post natal depression because the woman is more relaxed in her own home and the visits are longer.

I moved back to the UK a couple of months ago with my 2 year old and 5 month old. As soon as I had registered with the doctor my health visitor called abd arranged to visit me at home. She spent about twenty minutes taking my boys brief history and making sure I knew where things like local playgroups etc was. She then took note of their US immunisation records so she could plave them on the Nhs programme (some timings are slightly different). She then called me to make appointments for both boys in the doctors office to get the vaccines they are due. I had absolutely no running around like I would have had to do in the US, my health visitor took ownership and sorted everything for me. I think it's a fabulous service, much more supportive.

 

[SarahBear]

Um I'm not sure about the U.S, but everyone in the UK gets assigned to their local Health Visitor services after being discharged from Midwife care, which involves home visits. You'll tend to get some visits from a community midwife once you've left the hospital too. It's completely standard procedure.

We don't get anything like this in the US. If you choose to have a homebirth midwife (which is not supported through the hospital), many of them do home visits within the first few weeks of childbirth.

 

[Button#]

My HV was great. She did home visits for a bit longer for me as I had PGP after giving birth. There's actually a few who I am happy to see, I've met several through a playgroup that the HVs run for under ones.

 

[Shandelion]

This really is interesting! From posts on here, I thought home visitors were government employees meant to catch you being bad or not conforming, that had some authority to punish you. I'm so glad I asked. They do sound like someone I wished existed in the US, even now with my son 1.5 years old.

 

[Zephram]

We have home visits in New Zealand too, much like the UK.

The midwife visits you and baby in your home for the first 6 weeks, then here a nurse takes over. They are for Well Child checks. I think in the USA you take your baby to a doctor for those.

The Well Child nurse (called a Plunket nurse here) isn't a terrifying person, usually an older lady. They weigh and measure baby, help you with any problems you might be having, record their growth in a book etc etc.

Your midwife visits you here every second day for the first week (mine did anyway) then once a week after that.

This. Mine have always been fantastic. My midwife for my second birth was so amazing, she was so kind to me when she came over and I was crying on the couch three days postpartum with the baby blues.

They are there to support you, not to catch you doing something bad. Idea being that if you have PND or some such they can refer you to where you can get help and offer extra support so you can get on with being a new mum. They are people to go to for parenting advice, etc.

 

[minties]

Sophie has even had immunisations at home which I thought was cool! I was contacted by nurses who said it would be too hard to get about with two small kids and they came and did the injections at my house. So calm and relaxed.

 

[jstarr]

While I'm not a fan of hv's (I'm an awkward git and get annoyed by their 'advice' and the fact they invite themselves into your house like you have no choice) but they aren't anything to be scared of, it's just every child must have someone responsible for their health care, so first it is a midwife, then hv till the age of 5, then school nurse. They have no powers to do anything, though if they had serious concerns about a child's welfare (neglect, abuse etc) they would make referrals but only the same as anyone else can do

 

[MindUtopia]

Both our midwives and our health visitors (like pediatric nurses) do home visits. The midwives for the first month after baby arrives. The health visitor you see until your child is 5, but they mostly do home visits in the first year. Generally speaking, they're great, compared to the alternative, which is to drag your new baby out into the cold to be coughed all over by some sick person in the doctor's waiting room. It's basically where everyone comes to you instead of you going to them. Usually all your appointments would be at home for the first 6 weeks, then you'd generally be expected to come for appointments at the doctor's office. But they still do some later appointments at home too. My daughter had her 2 year development check earlier in the year and it was about an hour of a health visitor (basically a nurse) coming to our house and playing with her on the floor and assessing her development.

I do have gripes with health visiting more generally (in that the two HV I've met weren't very well educated on the latest research evidence and the advice they gave was pretty poor - but there are loads of medical professionals like that everywhere and in every country - so can't fault the health visiting service specifically).

But I do have to laugh, as an American myself (who lives permanently in the UK now), because this is such an American perception of what this sort of health care is like. My American friends are always shocked by these things and think they are some scary government conspiracy! Actually, they are just really good health care. And the UK and other governments can provide this sort of really personalised health care, including house calls and home visits, because we don't waste money on stupid stuff like over-priced non-generic medicines and big fancy medical buildings. My mom, who still lives in the U.S., goes to a private concierge doctor - it's a fancy building and they schedule their appointments so that you never have to see another patient. It's a totally private experience just for you. You're the only one in the waiting room. They wait on you hand and foot. And her insurance pays for it! I'm always like, "Mom, this is why American health care is so expensive! Because your insurance is paying your doctor extra so it can be like a visit to the spa and you can feel special and not have to listen to someone else cough in the next room over" Anyway, just a digression because it drives me nuts. I'll take my home visits, thank you.

 

[Rainbow82]

Sounds like most people had better midwife/HV service than we did, guess we were unlucky? Midwife came day after we got home from hospital, weighed DS was happy with the percentage he was down from his birthweight, we had to mention the fact that he was really quite jaundiced. She didn't discharge us because of the jaundice so we had to take DS for his heel prick and check up three days later and to get half the staples out from c section to only clinic open in a weekend miles away. Then again the following week we had to trek to weekend clinic at hospital for rest of stses out and do midwife could discharge us, didn't even look at DS just asked if it jaundice had gone. HV popped in the after midwife first came, weighed DS was happy and didn't see her again till weaning talk they do at four months. Only thing she did was say she couldn't check his tongue tie the hospital had said she could but we had to take him out to another clinic. Not that they were bad just we still ended up mostly going to see them I think our area is quite deprived and after one home visit they make you go to a clinic unless there are concerns from you or them. You even half to go to clinic for overdue midwife appts.

 

[sethsmummy]

Tbh the care you get is pretty hit and miss and depends on the area your in.

I'm in Scotland. We got midwife till 10 days old (as a general rule. If there are problems they see you longer) and health visitor after that. The midwife visits every day or every second day until day 5 being home and then just depends on how baby is doing.

I have a serious grudge against the midwife who did ds3s last check. They don't give you a time that they will be here, just expect you to sit in all day. So on day 13 I had midwife out again (different from my usual one who had been doing extended visits due to prem and jaundice and weight loss), when she came my sister and her friend were here. She didn't t even look at baby after weighing him at all. I brought up concerns about his stuffy nose and a cough. Without looking at him she said he's fine. Well the next day he almost died. They came out two days later as dh told her what happened. They've never signed him off or collected my
Pregnancy notes.

Health visitors are good depending on if they are pushy and opinionated. We've had then Involved for years as my eldest has additional needs doin lots of development reviews etc. They were usually really nice but there are times where they try and push their opinion into you and if your doing something different you get talked down to like your an idiot. I have heard of health visitors giving downright dangerous advice to new mums.

 

[Rachel89]

I don't like them either. For two reasons, they come by at any time (they can't tell you what time they will come, at least here), which I find a serious inconvenience since I do see the time after birth especially the first two weeks as a special time and uncomfortable one (recovering from birth, sleep deprived etc.) at the same time.

Secondly I see it as an invasion of my privacy, and everytime it can be a different person. And I dislike how everyone says something else, so you can get someone super nice, then someone who is old fashioned and knows nothing about breastfeeding and tries to push formula. But that is me. I rather my midwife just come and that should be enough.

This time I am going to decline if possible or else leave them standing outside, hubby will be taking 2 weeks off and I am not going to be waiting around until they decide to show up either.