Health Visitors

Can someone please shed some light on the subject of Health Visitors for me?
What can I expect during the visits, how often are the visits, etc....any help and words of wisdom are greatly appreciated.

Janna

Hi Janna. Do you currently have children, or a newborn, or are pregnant? I only know how health visitors work from the perspective of having a newborn, is that what you are after?

Alright, I just read another post by you in the Visa section... congratulations. Here's what happened for me as far as health visitors:

My midwife explained that basically the midwife is in charge of taking care of me from pregnancy to about 10 days after the birth. There is a bit of an overlap (in most cases) after the birth of your child - you may see the midwife a few more times or you may not, it depends on your personal situation. You will be visited by a health visitor shortly after the birth, they will contact you (you don't have to do anything!) and will come by your house. She will chat with you, see how you are doing, answer questions, and be helpful. She will give you handouts probably. She will weigh your baby as well. Mine gave me a little written test to watch for Post Natal Depression. If you need to see her more (you'll talk about this, again it depends on the situation) then she'll set up another home visit with you, otherwise you can contact her (or other health visitors) from their main "headquarters", usually at a local GP's office or hospital. You can reach them by phone, and a lot of them have walk-in clinics where you can go if you have questions or want to get your baby weighed. If you don't like your health visitor (as with your widwife) you can always ask to get another one though it seems to depend on your area as to whether or not that is likely.

When you visit the Health Visitor at your GP surgery she will weigh/measure your baby and depending on baby's age she will check various things. Jack just had his 8 month check up two weeks ago and she weighed/measured him and checked his coordination my having him pick up different things. She also asked if I was having any problems or concerns.
Recently I got a letter through stating the NHS wont be doing 8 month well baby check ups anymore. Dont know why I got the letter AFTER Jacks check up but its ok.
My health visitor has open clinic each tues for 2 hours in the morning. I can take the baby in and have him weighed and ask any questions I may have.

Just confirming what the others have said. A midwife visited me for the first 2 weeks after the birth. She weighed & checked the baby as well as checking my stitches and giving general advice.  The week after that the HV came to see me at home. She took down a lot of details about our family health history and gave me a whole lot of "bumph" and told me about her walk in clinic on Monday afternoons.  The  HV is also responsible for things like hearing tests and vaccinations.

The HV is also responsible for things like hearing tests and vaccinations.

We had to go through the GP for these things, but they sent us little cards in the mail telling us when to come in - our HV didn't do them.

I think it depends on your local health authority as to who does what.  I forgot to say the HV also gives you a little red book in which all your baby's medical info is recorded. You take it with you any time you take your child to see the HV, doctor etc and it all goes in the book.  You keep that so if you move it goes with you and you can show it to your new doctor.

Thank you all for the info that you shared!  Made me feel alot better about what to expect!  My DH said he was worried that my "Americanism" would cause me to clash with any health visitors (saying things like "well in America we do it this way...."), and he does not want a ticked off health visitor causing problems for us.  Like I would do a thing like that?   

Thanks again.
Janna

My health visitor is always telling ME how things are done in the US because she has quite a few American mums on her books - she forgets my husband is American   I wouldn't worry about the HV causing problems for you - they are there  to help you, not cause problems.  You won't always agree with their advice and they do have an official kind of line to toe. The thing to remember is you are the parent and you know your child best, and you know what is best for your child. 

Just a friendly reminder that HV visits are not compulsory.  As any optional service, you get to decide whether to use the HV or not.