HV. RANT

[Jade&Evie]

She phoned this morning and asked if she could come over at 10. I said yes, fine... I needed an excuse to tidy up anyway

She came and interrogated me about my PND again and also to check up on Evie after last week's trip to the hospital.

She weighed Evie and she's now a whopping 12lb 14oz! She's more than doubled her birth weight now! Evie was due for a bottle whilst she was here and as usual drained an 8oz bottle Then.. the HV advised me that she thought it was best to start weaning next month as Evie was showing all the signs and will be 4 months next week. I said I would rather wait a little longer and mentioned the forum and how I'd asked for advice on weaning at 4 months on here. I explained that after reading your replies I had decided to carry on with just milk for a little while longer even if it meant more feeds and less sleep. She than basically told me that this forum was "dangerous" because the replies are from people who aren't "qualified enough" to advise on it. She also told me that I was being advised to "starve" my baby.

Basically, I am starting weaning in two weeks I don't really want to but Evie is showing all the classic signs of weaning now. I'm also worried that the HV won't leave me alone- she has said she'll come back in three weeks to see how we are getting on with weaning. I feel like she thinks I'm an idiot. I know I'm only 19 and I know Evie is my first baby but I also feel like I am "qualified" enough to look after her

I hope she comes on here to spy on me and reads this. Useless Old Biddy with Cankles

 

[charlie84]

What a twat your HV is telling you that you HAVE to wean.
My LO is eating alot from me. As i am breastfeeding i do not know how much she is taking but as far as i am concerned i will keep this up till I think she is ready, not when i HV tells me she is.

Its your baby Jade and if you wanna hold out and think that Evie is fine on what she has now then continue the way you are.
I did some reading yesterday on weaning and what the guidelines were made around regading the scientific research and i am feeling a bit better informed about it

I am sorry if i sound a bit anti weaning before 6 months but i sometimes find that the HVs are too quick to advise weaning when its not nessesary

 

[purple13]

cor, not sure what midna would have to say about that!!!

let's face it hon, how many of us here have met a good health visitor???!!! all of mine are rubbish (albeit supportive of waiting til 6 months to wean) apart from my breastfeeding councillor and it was on her advice that i started weaning connor this week - he's been showing the signs for a long time but his weight gain was just fine and he was happy and content, so its suited us to wait until now.

if YOU want to wean evie in the next fortnight because YOU think she's ready, then go for it. but DON'T, please, whatever you do, let yourself be bullied into it by your HV. you're evie's mummy, and your age doesn't matter a jot - you are the one who knows what's best for her.

does your HV also think that the WHO is a dangerous organisation and that they are recommending that people starve their babies?? that's where this 6 months weaning advice comes from and there is scientific guidance behind it - it isn't a bunch of people who have, for no reason, decided that 6 months is the target aim for introducing solids.

ooooo - people like your HV make me really mad


hug:

 

[pilkers]

trust your own judgement... Evie is your baby and only you will know when she is ready.

My Evie was weaned before 6 months but she needed it and it was my decision to do so after I had researched it.

Sod your HV and do what you think is right

 

[muppetmummy]

Logan is 17 weeks old now and having 8oz of hungry baby milk every 2 or 3 hours, I still don't think he's ready for weaning though, and my hv hasn't even suggested it (im one of the lucky few with a very good hv, she thinks forums like this are great!). He's just over 16lb though, needs to be 18lb to double his birth weight. He sleeps between 6 and 9 hours at night too.

Only wean if you think Evie's ready hun, you know her much better than the hv and are a better judge of what she needs

I personally don't think all babies can make it to 6 months on milk alone, but some can. its about whats right for the individual baby.

 

[Lola's Mummy]

She sounds like a right idiot!

Evie is your little girl not her's therefore it's your decision when to start weaning her

 

[sarah2807]

gosh!!! what a cow!! Do what you think is right hun, tho I know it must be hard with her breathing down your neck!

 

[charlie84]

Yes i agree with Muppetmummy on that each baby is different and that some cannot alone just have milk.

How do you feel about it Jade? Do you think she is ready? What signs is Evie showing?

The 6 month guidelines are there as there is a point between 4-6 months that a babies gut is ready to take more than just milk, however each baby is different and no one can say when exactly this happens so they give out the higher guideline of 6 months.

I also am quite mad that she has made you feel like that. HVs are supposed to advise you on your baby not tell you what to do. Personally if i had a HV that was as rude as yours i would refuse to see her again.

Oh and you wouldnt be starving your baby at all as milk has all the nutrients that your LO needs at this point in her life, any added foods such as rice is just bulk as they dont have as many calories as her main milk.

This whole weaning malarky is a right pain in the arse IMO. I have had other peoples opinions on how i should wean and what i should give thrown at me from all angles. MIL thinks i am mad that i havent already started and keeps buying baby rice and even bought me baby juice as she doesnt believe that a breastfed baby is fine just on milk and needs extra fluids

Its a personal choice as to when we decide to wean our babies and other people can only advise you from there knowledge/experience of it. You do what is right for Evie hun

 

[Jade&Evie]

What signs is Evie showing?

EVERYTHING goes intp her mouth now and she chomps on my shoulder even if i am carrying her, she's more than doubled her birth weight and she's stopped sleeping through and started taking another6/7oz bottle.

I don't know how I feel about it. I definately won't start for another couple of weeks at least- a week is a long time in her life!

 

[charlie84]

What signs is Evie showing?

EVERYTHING goes intp her mouth now and she chomps on my shoulder even if i am carrying her, she's more than doubled her birth weight and she's stopped sleeping through and started taking another6/7oz bottle.

I don't know how I feel about it. I definately won't start for another couple of weeks at least- a week is a long time in her life!

Ah bless her, she sounds exactly like my Calleigh, everything goes in the gob and i am always walking round with a wet patch on my shoulder
Calleigh slept through from a few weeks old and the past few weeks has started to wake in the night for a feed. We are now up at least three times in the night for feeding.

I am happy with the way things are as she is such a happy baby once she has eaten her fill. I am hoping to go down the BLW path as it sounds so much easier than pureeing food etc. (i am so lazy so up for anything that will make my life easier )

 

[monster_munch]

tell your HV she is no longer welcome in your house. Idiot. My HV told me on Wednesday that I will have to give green bean formula at 6 months as he will need the extra nutrients! I have already started weaning him, but at my (and his) pace, not some stupid random womans! Plus we have 2 HV's, one told me that I really shouldn't wean him until 20 at the earliest, then the one i saw on Wed wanted to know why i was giving him so little food and said i should increase it to 3 meals a day and give him some formula! Don't know why, as he is gaining weight, albeit steadily now, and sleeps through the night happily enough. I think the pick a theory out of a hat each day and that's what the tell you to do.
It must be hard, and to me it sounds like she is holding your PND against you exactly the reason why alot of women suffer in silence rather than asking for help.
Sod off are we dangerous. 9 out of 10 psychiatrists voted me as no danger to the public.... So there

 

[valentine]

Jade, you don't have to do what your HV says? Just tell her you're Evie's mum and you know best! She's not in charge. If you haven't started weaning in 3 weeks and she comes to visit, is she going to know? NO! Just say you've given her a few spoons of baby rice to keep the HV happy and follow your instincts!

I'm a huge fan of weaning at 6 months and like midna, think the signs are pants - I'll always be in favour of allowing the tummy to mature.

You're a fantastic Mummy - follow your heart!

Valentine Xxx

 

[purple13]

Midna would say your HV is a tw*t ..

 

[beanie]

I would tell her that as a "qualified" HV she would know that the WHO recommend 6 months, and that research points to this being more beneficial. Then ask her for her qualifications in paediatric nutrition. She is an arse and that is my unqualified and dangerous point of view. Frankly how she can tell that your child who looks happy, alert and is growing well is starving just says it all really.

 

[SarahH]

I would tell her to feck off too!!!

You are the mummy... you decide!!

Sod the old cankles biatch!

 

[kelsey]

I agree with the others.

This is your life, your baby and you know whats best for your baby. Your HV may be "qualified" but that doesn't mean she knows better. If she were any good she wouldn't be "telling" you what to do. (especially as the advice is bollox)

 

[abcd1234]

I would tell her to feck off too!!!

You are the mummy... you decide!!

Sod the old cankles biatch!

That would be ny response too!!! Dont ever let anyone make you feel like PND or your age lead you to be a bad mum and you must do whats right for you and Evie, if you honestly think shes ready to be weaned then go for it, but do it for you not your HV! Everyone keeps saying i should get Tally in to a routne, make her sleep on an evening and wake her up in the morning, and they keep getting a very polite response of "no thankyou im happy how we are"

Do what you think best

 

[zebrastripes]

Oh right, so you need a string of qualifications now, to know what's best for yuor child?



Stupid bloody woman

 

[mum2A&L]

She than basically told me that this forum was "dangerous" because the replies are from people who aren't "qualified enough" to advise on it.

Sorrry, whats wrong with everyone healthy happy children that means we are not "qualified enough" to give you our points of view?!


You wean when you are ready luv. If you don't feel you need the visit you can always call and cancel and say that if you need help you will pop into the clinic.


I swear, when you need a HV they never show - when you don't need them they can't leave you alone! im kinda glad they still never got around to alocating me a new HV when mine left!

 

[Magic Monkey]

OMG! What a cow, how dare she make you feel like this. You should complain about her, I thought that health visitors weren't allowed to tell you to wean early? I think that the problem is that a lot of them are old school and have ignored the new research and advice. All babies are different and some need weaning before 6 months (Ella did) but the healthiest thing is to wait until they are absolutely ready. The list of signs is a load of rubbish, I would have started weaning at about 10 weeks based on most of them, instead I got to 21 weeks. Ella shows the biggest interest in Daddy's beer, but we are hardly going to give her that are we.

I agree with Midna, nod and smile and then ignore everything she says (I have been doing that for 6 months now).