Do you avoid going to the CHN?

[dee dee]

Well todays little episode just helped to remind me exactly why I avoid taking my children to the clinic, or to see a CHN.

DH and I were out shopping, and went into the chemist. A nurse was there dispensing "advice" and weighing bubs. DH wanted to get ds weighed so through gritted teeth I walked over with him as he placed ds on the scales. DS weighed in at a healthy 10.5 kg. With raised brow the nurse proceeded to tell us that he weighed too much. Apparantly he drinks too much formula, and I need to cut back:rolleyes: Then to her horror I told her that ds doesn't eat solids. Well her exact words were "If you don't want to go and see a speech therapist you better feed your son" and then proceeded to give a lecture about how he won't learn to speak properly if he doesn't eat solids asap.

Now if that wasn't enough she then started up on his cradle cap, and questioned me about what I was doing to get rid of it. She said she saw a little 4 year old today with a huge bald patch because her paretns neglected to get rid of her cradle cap.


This is why I avoid the clinic like the plague. Anyone else a bad mummy like me and never go to to see the CHN?

[Areca]

me, I never go! DD2 won't even know what one is.

[Noah_and_Elijah]

Never have gone and never will go. I always go to my GP and regardless of what they say I am the parent and I know what my child needs. :)

[SorenLorensen]

i am SO LUCKY that DD gets to see a pead once every 3 months, GP every 2 and a physio once a fortnight. it means i NEVER have to go to a CHN :smiliedance: .

i did take her when i first had her, twice. after that i realised i didnt need to go

[Ana Gram]

I always thought you had to go. I wish I had known you didn't a lot sooner. I used to just smile and nod and agree and get out as quick as I could.

[subaruforestermum]

I never went to a CHN, I had one come out to my house twice after I was home, as to why I'm not exactly sure why they wanted her to come out, but she was never nasty or judgemental...

I took DS to the doctors visits and weighed him, or done it myself at the chemist! Always avoided when they had the clinics being held!

I had a great doctor I would go see if I had any problems or queries!!

[metalhead713]

my chn is acctually nice, one of those rare few that dont give you advice like that (most of the time) so i dont mind going there. And if i got any crazy advice id just tell her I know best and thankyou but you can jam it (in the nicest way possible). I prefur my mhn over my doctor, my doctor just isnt very thorough and yeah just dont like going there.

[sam's mum]

I have pretty much always enjoyed going to the chn.

There has only been one that I didn't like and thought gave cr@p advice so I ignored her, but the rest have all been lovely and very supportive.

[missie_mack]

Don't go to one. I did the first lot of tests and didnt really bother after that. When I told my GP she told me that she had had several issues with CHN's dispensing very outdated and once even dangerous information to a couple of her patients. When she went to make formal complaints she found that most of them (in our area) werent really accountable to anyone and often werent encouraged to do refresher courses. That just enforced my decision.

[AM]

I shudder when i hear stories like this. I cannot believe they are not educated properly about introducing solids, breastfeeding etc, it is simply ridiculous.

I Totally avoid them.

[KarniF00l]

Yes absolutely. I have never found a decent CHN, not ones that were 'assigned' to me anyway.

With DS1 the CHN was more interested in my personal business and not my son. My son was sick at 8 weeks old, so I took him to the CHN to get her opinion and she kept reassuring me that he will be fine and that it's just a common cold. For around 1.5 weeks he was sick so I took him back to the CHN and explained to her that he is gasping for air, wont drink his bottles ect.. again she said he'll be fine. Well that night DS1 stopped breathing, I called 000 and I was very lucky to bring him back. He spent a week in hospital incubated and on drips and oxygen. Turns out that he had bronchiolitis and not a common cold. :(

Other CHNs I've had have tried to dictate to me how I should be raising my children. So now I don't bother at all with them and instead I take the children to a family doctor.

[Leeny]

I've never been to one. We also have a GP which we always go to. I'd rather wait 3 or 4 weeks for an appointment then go to a CHN...If its something serious, our GP will always fit people in.

[Mamaduke]

I love my CHN and have known her for 6 years, but from what I've read/heard, good ones are as rare as hen's teeth.
Mine is so good that even when we moved into another shire I kept going back to see her.
She's always been so supportive and if I've ever needed to see a specialist regarding the boys she's the first person I call for an opinion.
Big shout out to Raelene...the best CHN in Australia!:yelclap:

[OneBabyBoy]

I have an awesome CHN and it is always packed in there because people travel up to an hour to come and see her. The GP's around this area are useless. I am also lucky that my mum's best friend has been a midwife and peadiatric nurse for over 30 years so I just call her when I have a question, which isn't often anymore.

[jamb]

nope dont see one. with first bub i went for 2 weeks then stopped after she kept saying he wasnt putting on enough weight- imo he was (and still is) a happy healthy growing boy!

so with this bub didnt even bother going in the first place.

i believe a mother knows when things are okay and when to seek help!

[0BleSseD0]

My DD was born April 07, and she is still 100% breastfed.. Once a week or so I will offer some apples and let her chew on the spoon, and she likes rusks (she has her 2 bottom teeth).
I had a CHN come around twice after she was born, but I dont like them generally.

I go do the GP for the immunisations I decide are needed, and wont go unless there is a problem. I prefer to self diagnose if I can and prefer to do the work and be informed myself, instead of having someone tell me.

I figure if she is happy and healthy, why bother.

Plus, I'm 18, and most CHN's Ive met assume that means I'm an uneducated, selfish $kank...
I just dont need that.

[sam's mum]

I don't go to the chn with a sick baby, I only go for well baby checkups, maybe the system is different in different states.

[shed]

I went a couple of times just to get him weighed, and got into a conversation with one once. Yes, that short conversation made me doubt myself as a mother, yes I got told that what I was doing was wrong - the usual scenario.

that was enough for me. I never went back and the next child won't ever be taken to one.

[biscotti]

I just don't go! If i want to weigh her, I just go on the days that the CHN isn't there and help myself to the scales :thumbsup:

[Fuchsia!]

i look forward to seeing mine! She is great! She always encourages b/f and she has always almost been spot on with most things. But if she says something that i don't agree with i just nod and smile and go home and do it my way.

[~Emmylou~]

I have never once taken either of my kids to the baby pokers.

That just reminded me why :eek:

[xpress2]

The CHN where I go are always fantastic. Have never had a problem, and I've seen atleast 4 different CHN's there now...

So not all of them are rude... The one's DS has been to are more than fantastic... I do go to the GP though for needles etc...

[stellarella]

No we dont go.

We went a few times to see how much he was growing, but I already knew he was growing well and I didnt need anyone to give me a pat on the back.

I got my CO form signed by a CHN but I just never went again. Too much effort.

[UmmInayah]

I started going, I think I went 3 or 4 times - then I became my own CHN. LOL

[Pixie]

She sounds like a nice informative twit. You know you're doing the right thing, but comments like that still play on your mind.

I use to take DD once a month to weigh her that was it.

[Mahjong]

I stopped going when Wyatt was 5 months old.

I would come home depressed everytime, after being told all the time I was doing the wrong thing with everything I did with my son. :(

I took him to my GP after that and will be doing it again with this baby. Although, my midwife comes to me once a day for a week and then once a week for a month after the baby is born. So after that, GP visits.

[~Bec~]

I've only been a couple of times and it's really only to get weighed and measured. I just have to look at ds to know he's thriving but I'd kind of like to keep a record of his early growth.

If I followed every piece of parenting and pregnancy advice that I'd been given to date I would have had a breakdown by now. I do respect my GP's advice, not just because she's a GP but she's got 4 children.

[my_lot]

i didnt need to go with this bub..

i had enough of their "wonderful" advice given everytime i read my birth thread. :laughing:

some like them some dont. i had such a horror experience with one i refused to take ds there when he was home from hospi. (2 months prem) i got notes under my door, they seemed to come right on school drop off or pick up times and miss me. then the phone calls started, i said everything was just fine and i got "i have been informed you have left the hospital with a very premature baby and we would like to do a home visit"

i said i had been discharged i hadnt just walked out! and that i was seeing my DR paed and chimist for weigh ins.

she said if i didnt let them do a home visit she would inform DOCS.

she didnt do the home visit, we told her where she could go.

i did go with the next bub (new clinic) and asked for ideas on how to get him to take a bottle so i could have a break, use childcare ect. she said "i dont know why you want to bother- its harder than b/feeding youll have to wash bottle and make formula"

i tried one more time after this with a new nurse she said its easier to breastfeed and not fair on the baby to distress him by forcing him to f/f ...

when i said i needed a break she said " well you decided at birth to b/feed- i have no ideas for you- b/feeding is better for your baby and you have the milk and a baby that wants it, many women can only dream of that"

so no more clinic visits for us.

[lukaelmo]

After Luka and all the "problems" I was told he had, no, never. I took Chuckie once, but as he's my second and I can see he's happy and healthy, I don't bother anymore... not even to get him weighed, I pick him up, I know he's getting heavier!

Just to give you an idea, here are a few of the things I was told by various CHNs about Luka:

couldn't sit up at 10 months (biggest drama in the world)
commando crawling (another major meltdown drama)
wasn't walking by 12 months (my personal favourite, this time he has cerebral palsy)
at I don't know how old he couldn't clap (can't remember what this meant, but it was BAD :D)

just a small selection...

For the record, Luka is now sitting, walking, clapping, he did crawl properly, does not have cerebral palsy etc...

I actually did end up taking his dad with me, just so that he could witness why I was in tears after every visit... He came to the clapping one...

I do want to add though, that obviously there are some great CHNs out there, and also I do realise that the ones who told me terrible things were not terrible people, just not particularly tactful or sensitive towards a new mother... and please tell me, is there a more sensitive creature in the world than a new mother with her first baby?

[Tabby]

nope and never again!
Mine was a interfering old busy body ( I went 3 times and had comments on DP or DS2) and as DD is #3 I know what Im doing and if she needs help or I need advice I see my gp. Am also changing GP after his "shes a bit heavy :ecomcity::ecomcity::ecomcity:" last week. What is it with these so called professionals!

[Bron]

I think it is really sad that there are so many average CHNs out there. Mine are wonderful (they job share, and they are both terrific). Really supportive, no scare tactics, and just lovely - members of the ABA too, so they give excellent breastfeeding advice. I feel so incredibly lucky!! So no I don't avoid them, I go to my scheduled appointments and sometimes drop in, just because they are do darn nice.

I'm so sorry that you don't all have the same good fortune.

I tell you though, if they were rubbish, then I'd certainly avoid going.

[*Chels*]

Riley was born in NZ,where I had the same midwife throughout my whole pregnancy and did home visits after he was born right up to 6 weeks.
I went to one CHN here,and never went back:no:
What put me off was the first thing she asked was"what formula is he on?" I breastfeed.That insulted me.And she was telling me what he should be doing development wise(he already did it)and telling me to put him on weetbix and cows milk(at 8 months)
I just felt like it was all old school info-plus the fact he screamed the whole time.
Call me a bad mum,but I never really weighed/measured him.I knew he was healthy-more than a CHN would!

[workin'mumof2]

:no: No offence but im not going to take someone elses advice on MY baby. Some are nearly as interfering as grandparents and even great grandparents. The ones ive seen. My sis thinks she needs to go she has since stoped because she got one of the really bad comments from them and listened to me. now she askes me for advice or her doc if i dont know.

We all know whats best for our child. Not health nurses who dont see them, only when u pop in.

[naiwen]

I avoid them too,
DS sees his Paed once a month and GP once a fortnight when he is not in hospital and that is enough for me!
When he was discharged from special care they told me too call CHN and arrange a home visit as he has a suppressed immune system, the CHN advised me that him being a 30 weeker etc was not a good enough reason for a home visit :rolleyes:.
I decided stuff you DS has never ending appointments anyway with physio, dietitians etc and I refuse to take him to the clinic where he will be exposed to loads of bugs from all the other bubs there (no offence intended ladies).
Do not feel guilty you are his mum and you know best :yes:

[mim1]

Josh's paed warned me in hospital that some CHN's are shocking and other's are ok, so if I get a bad one to just ignore what she says and ring him for advice any time. mmm ... I'd actually forgotten that he said that til I read this thread. Bearing that in mind I think I'll definitely ring him this week. I had a good CHN, but at his 6 month checkup there was a fill in CHN who told me off for just giving Josh pureed food and not mashed food. He'd just started solids properly 10 days earlier! I ignored her and went back to see his normal CHN at 8 1/2 months and she said the same thing (he still wasn't tolerating mashed). She was quite rude about it. BUT, he goes blue when he has mashed food, so I'm not giving it to him yet. I'm in no rush to go back ... Josh sees his paed pretty often anyway.

[twitch]

I don't go to the CHN near me either. All the girls in my mum's group do but I really can't be bothered with listening to what DD "should" be doing, how much she "should" weigh etc etc. I just have to look at her to see her smiley face and know she's happy and healthy, I don't need someone telling me she's too skinny or too heavy (my MIL does a fine job of that already, thank you very much!)

[Wazza]

I went to a CHN with DS and never went back. She was rude and obnoxious (sp?). From then on, I go to my GP who i trust with my life. He is informed, gives the immunisations etc.
Although, I am sure there are some lovely CHN out there, I didn't have the time to search far and wide for them!??!

[mikaylasmummy]

When Mikayla was younger I did take her only because it is the only place in my area where I can get her weighed. But now after alot of negative " advice " / " feedback " I refuse to take her anymore, unless it's a have to