Re: A bit of a defence for HVs

[Guest guest]

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>

hm I don't think anyone had suggested to my 1st hv that she actually could have

a first time mother who was fairly clued up as she treated ALL of us as if we

where tiny children who did not understand anything..

I do get what you are saying though it must be frustrating when you try to

explain things and people only take out what they feel they want to know.. I

think my complaint about hv h(no 1) really was that she did not think that I

could have any opinions or any " knowledge " " of my own as this was my first

baby.. thankfully hv no2 was far better she had her head screwed on the right

way.. now waiting with held breath to meet the new one but I doubt I will

have a lot to do with her after all this will be my 3rd child...

Lonnie Phoebe & Eloisa's mama

& expecting a Christmas delivery...

My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what you

start.

So far today, I have finished 2 bags of chips and a Chocolate cake.

I feel better already.

A bit of a defence for HVs

I have chuckled at all the comments about HVs..especially as I used

to be one, and used to cringe at some of my colleagues. However, a

little defence or explanation...

Being a HV is about much more that research based care. We have to

take a lot into account, such as culture, family circumstance and

whole family dynamics.

Breastfeeding can be a particularly difficult issue....HVs are only

human and many have had bad breastfeeding experiences, so they

sometimes encourage a bottle through sympathy for a mother rather

than any other motive. Also, BFCs aren't always available...they may

not serve certain areas, and be difficult to get hold of if you don't

have a phone.

Another issue, weaning...I have certainly been 'guilty' of promoting

early weaning....but sometimes a woman is giving obvious verbal

signals that she is going to wean at week 12 so i have always

believed it better to encourage the right food too early rather than

have no input at all

I refer to one conversation:

Me: Just mash a bit of your own tea and give it to her...

Mum: So it's ok for a baby to eat kebabs?...I'll just lick off the

chilli.

Another thing that regularly happens is you will discuss weaning at

10 weeks,recommending they don't begin until X time (by weight,

pattern and reccommendation) and the next week in clinic another mum

comes up to you and says...why did you tell me not to start feeding,

when you told X to start last week etc etc

I'm not saying HVs are all ace! but they are so busy now, with over

300 families per caseload, that it can be hard to keep up with every

development. If I am honest, I would leave the mums who were fairly

clued up alone until they had a problem, as I was so busy with Child

Protection and Special needs...I'm sure it is the same for most HVs

(that's why I left)

Emma

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[Guest guest]

>I have chuckled at all the comments about HVs..especially as I used

>to be one, and used to cringe at some of my colleagues. However, a

>little defence or explanation...

>

>Being a HV is about much more that research based care. We have to

>take a lot into account, such as culture, family circumstance and

>whole family dynamics.

>

>Breastfeeding can be a particularly difficult issue....HVs are only

>human and many have had bad breastfeeding experiences, so they

>sometimes encourage a bottle through sympathy for a mother rather

>than any other motive.

Well exactly - too many HVs do seem to operate on the basis of their

own experiences. Sympathy shouldn't come into it, empathy definitely.

>Also, BFCs aren't always available...they may

>not serve certain areas, and be difficult to get hold of if you don't

>have a phone.

Good point about the phone. The issue of not serving certain areas

should now have gone out of the window though with the national NCT

breastfeeding line (though phone based BFCing has its limitations)

>

>Another issue, weaning...I have certainly been 'guilty' of promoting

>early weaning....but sometimes a woman is giving obvious verbal

>signals that she is going to wean at week 12 so i have always

>believed it better to encourage the right food too early rather than

>have no input at all

>

>I refer to one conversation:

>

>Me: Just mash a bit of your own tea and give it to her...

>Mum: So it's ok for a baby to eat kebabs?...I'll just lick off the

>chilli.

Which is why my colleague was keen to promote baby foods instead. I

used to think " Oh great, an opportunity to tackle the whole family's

diet " (but I was also familiar with the Wigan Meat and Potato Pie

Weaning Diet and all its stages, starting with dipping the dummy :-))

>

>Another thing that regularly happens is you will discuss weaning at

>10 weeks,recommending they don't begin until X time (by weight,

>pattern and reccommendation) and the next week in clinic another mum

>comes up to you and says...why did you tell me not to start feeding,

>when you told X to start last week etc etc

Yes - sometimes my hair stands on end at what I hear has been said -

but then I wonder what the parent was saying that prompted it. What's

all this 'telling' business though? Was I the only one who used to

preface everything by saying " You could try... "

>

>I'm not saying HVs are all ace! but they are so busy now, with over

>300 families per caseload, that it can be hard to keep up with every

>development. If I am honest, I would leave the mums who were fairly

>clued up alone until they had a problem, as I was so busy with Child

>Protection and Special needs...I'm sure it is the same for most HVs

>(that's why I left)

I was trying to start a spot of postal HVing and phoning round. I am

not happy with the idea of a retreat into clinics, but latterly I

worked in an area where a lot of the families were also quite

'territorial' and for the right people this approach was much more

popular.

This hot weather reminds me of the lady who brought a week's worth of

dirty disposable nappies into clinic in high Summer for me to pass an

opinion on the contents...

--

jennifer@...

Vaudin

[Guest guest]

>I have chuckled at all the comments about HVs..especially as I used

>to be one, and used to cringe at some of my colleagues. However, a

>little defence or explanation...

>

>Being a HV is about much more that research based care. We have to

>take a lot into account, such as culture, family circumstance and

>whole family dynamics.

>

>Breastfeeding can be a particularly difficult issue....HVs are only

>human and many have had bad breastfeeding experiences, so they

>sometimes encourage a bottle through sympathy for a mother rather

>than any other motive.

Well exactly - too many HVs do seem to operate on the basis of their

own experiences. Sympathy shouldn't come into it, empathy definitely.

>Also, BFCs aren't always available...they may

>not serve certain areas, and be difficult to get hold of if you don't

>have a phone.

Good point about the phone. The issue of not serving certain areas

should now have gone out of the window though with the national NCT

breastfeeding line (though phone based BFCing has its limitations)

>

>Another issue, weaning...I have certainly been 'guilty' of promoting

>early weaning....but sometimes a woman is giving obvious verbal

>signals that she is going to wean at week 12 so i have always

>believed it better to encourage the right food too early rather than

>have no input at all

>

>I refer to one conversation:

>

>Me: Just mash a bit of your own tea and give it to her...

>Mum: So it's ok for a baby to eat kebabs?...I'll just lick off the

>chilli.

Which is why my colleague was keen to promote baby foods instead. I

used to think " Oh great, an opportunity to tackle the whole family's

diet " (but I was also familiar with the Wigan Meat and Potato Pie

Weaning Diet and all its stages, starting with dipping the dummy :-))

>

>Another thing that regularly happens is you will discuss weaning at

>10 weeks,recommending they don't begin until X time (by weight,

>pattern and reccommendation) and the next week in clinic another mum

>comes up to you and says...why did you tell me not to start feeding,

>when you told X to start last week etc etc

Yes - sometimes my hair stands on end at what I hear has been said -

but then I wonder what the parent was saying that prompted it. What's

all this 'telling' business though? Was I the only one who used to

preface everything by saying " You could try... "

>

>I'm not saying HVs are all ace! but they are so busy now, with over

>300 families per caseload, that it can be hard to keep up with every

>development. If I am honest, I would leave the mums who were fairly

>clued up alone until they had a problem, as I was so busy with Child

>Protection and Special needs...I'm sure it is the same for most HVs

>(that's why I left)

I was trying to start a spot of postal HVing and phoning round. I am

not happy with the idea of a retreat into clinics, but latterly I

worked in an area where a lot of the families were also quite

'territorial' and for the right people this approach was much more

popular.

This hot weather reminds me of the lady who brought a week's worth of

dirty disposable nappies into clinic in high Summer for me to pass an

opinion on the contents...

--

jennifer@...

Vaudin