Maternal and Child Health Nurse Question.

Hi there,

This is perhaps a slightly silly question, but is it compulsory to visit/accept visits from them once your baby has been born? I'm not trying to suggest that the role of the MCHN is not important, particularly if you find yourself in a challenging situation, but I am wondering whether we might be able to do the sort of routine check-ups that happen with the nurse (weighing, measuring, etc) ourselves instead. I'm sure the WHO has growth charts available on their website. Are there any opinions on this? Has anyone gone 'renegade'?

Basically I don't think you can be forced to do anything with your child.

I do take my girls to the MCHN. She is an older woman who has been the local community nurse forever I think. I find that she has some great ideas for all sorts of things and while I may not go to her with a problem, she has a wealth of knowledge on all sorts of stuff.

DH and I weigh and measure our girls regularly as well as the MCHN - as much as anything its because we like to compare where DD#2 is in terms of what DD#1 was.

no its not compulsary.
DS i took for probably the 1st 6 months. DD has only been once when i was trying to get to torrens house(sleep school)

the blue book has the growth weigth and HC charts in it.
though at teh check up it is a chance for an outside scource to pick up anything abnormal.
it is all covered by medicare so there is no expense.

as a nurse i reccomend this, not just so i get work, but it is also a vital part of a babies development as they pick up on milestones, and it also gives you a chnace to talk about any issues you have,

your Gp can do these checks aswell and will usually do them at the same time as the immunisations.

may i ask why you are thinking of not having them check you baby at teh intervals which are 1-4 weeks, 6-8 weeks then not again to 6-8 months, then 12 18 and 24 months.

Well, at the moment my husband and I are just talking about it purely because we're not sure...hmmm....how do I put this? We're not sure how comfortable we feel with the idea of measuring/comparing/ranking our child's growth and development according to an accepted standard (i.e. the notions of milestones and what baby 'should' be doing at certain times). That's a very vague response, I know, and I'm sorry - we're sort of in the early stages of discussing it. I suppose, also, both of us tend to visit medical professionals only in the event that something is wrong, and we have a similar philosophy when it comes to raising children. I'd have no qualms about the visits if I felt as though there was an issue, but I think in general terms our notions of pregnancy and parenting are very much tied to ideas of personal autonomy and independence. Again, sorry to be vague - we're still sort of working things out ourselves!

It is be no means compulsory, just a service that is offered. Initially i had a shocking judgmental MCHN so i went to my GP for the first few checks. My GP was more than happy for me to do that. Then i moved house and checked out the local MCHN and she rocks, so i go there now. i often miss scheduled appointments but i go if i have a question or haven't been for a while.

I think you can certainly measure and weigh your baby yourself, but the other checks such as their hearing, heart, hips and other development needs the eye of a specialist IMO, be it a mchn, your gp or similar person.


ETA- I definitely see your point on the milestones, i think there is often too much pressure for babies to meet these milestones, even though they are an 'average' thing IYKWIM. A good MCHN makes all the difference. Also your attitute towards the information you are given makes a big difference. I take most things with a grain of salt and things don't tend to worry me, so the checkups don't effect me if DD hasn't reached all the milestones. However i do see the stress it puts on friends if their child is not doing everything they 'should' be.
I do feel though it is a good screening program to pick up and abnormalities. A friends DD has hip dysplasia picked up early and was able to correct it without surgery, another friend had her babies hearing loss picked up early.
But again it is totally up to you. ;)

sorry if it sounded like i was having a go at your for thinking of not doing it.
i totally understand and feel that sometimes teh recomended norm is just totally stupid.
my daughter is in the 25percentile for her growth and that, yes she is tiny we know that when we pick her up frmo school and all the other kids her age tower over her, but she is in proportion and healthy.

they did pick up her clicky hip, and also picked up reccurant runny nose and its cause.

I hardly took DS - I just get them checked out when they get their needles usually.

I am going tomorrow though - just cos I haven't been for ages - she wasn't there when we got 4 month needles done (mine works at the GP's office)

Oh, no, not at all! I'm interested in lots of different opinions on this, and as Falguni suggested, your experience is always going to be informed by the kind of healthcare professionals you encounter - I have a few friends who have had hideous experiences with their MHCN, and friends who have been lucky enough to end up with amazing women...it's so variable, I'm sure. I think a big part of it is also just being worried about being judged for making certain (well-researched) decisions - for example, we're talking about vaccinations at the moment, and I know that there is an increased likelihood that if we decide to go an alternative route or delay vaccinations, there will be a bit of judgment. Perhaps that's just my fear of the experience of parenting, though - decisions being questioned and judged by other people. Minefields!

I can understand you asking. As the other girls have said, it's not compulsory and there are pros and cons of going and it mostly comes down to how well you gel with your MCHN.

I had a fantastic one who was very laidback, who calmed me down about things I was worried about and patted me on the back when I really needed it. Really, it was like going to see a nice relative who oohed and ahhhed over my baby and told me I was doing a great job.

I also had a different MCHN who made me feel guilty about the things that the 'nice' MCHN had made me feel calm about (ie. giving up breastfeeding because it wasn't working and I was scared I was going to get PND based on past history) and seemed intent on telling me what I should be doing rather than listening to what I was saying. And she didn't oooh and ahhh over DD but treated her like a number which I didn't like at all.

So I've seen the good and the bad. So I guess my advice would be to maybe go along for one appointment and see what you think and obviously return it there's something you're majorly concerned about.

You dont have to visit them if you dont want to. I went once or twice but she harrassed me about how I shouldnt be demand feeding. So I stopped going. That was when Claire was about 2 months old. Maybe you could just go once and see what your MCHN is like, and if he/she is awful then dont go back?

That's definitely a sensible idea - there would be no harm in going along once, I'm sure. Just out of interest, what was the reason she gave in regards to demand feeding being a bad idea? I thought that feeding newborns was all about feeding in accord with their cues - I didn't know there was an alternative, at least initially!

It's really sad when people who may have an influence on your choices in regards to parenting and caring for your child make you feel like you are doing the 'wrong' thing, or as though there is a singular, 'right' way to operate.

oh i think she was just being a fuddy duddy... she kept telling me "oh she doesnt need that many breastfeeds.. you should only be feeding her no more than 6 times per 24 hours" which I thought was absolutely ridiculous for a tiny baby of only 2 months old.

Needless to say I told her I will watch for cues and feed my daughter when she needs it, and I will not be scheduleing or refusing feeds just because it doesnt fit in with a timetable. And then, I said thankyou very much and left, and just didnt go back. I've talked to a few mums around and they have also said that this particular nurse, who is also a lactation consultant, said similar things to them. Luckily, there is another health centre in the next suburb and the nurse who works there is lovely.

I will never take my children anywhere near CHN's, they are full of outdated harmful and downright silly information.

I have heard so many ridiculous things come out their mouths, especially about breastfeeding, I shudder when I know a first time mum is going, and hanging on every word, and often getting very very non-evidence based (usually only opinion based) information, no wonder the breastfeeding rates are so low in this country :wall:

o yeah, and the vaccination thing...they seem to have lost the memo reminding them that vaccination is VOLUNTARY and the PARENTS decision, and like to harass people about that too...complete waste of time in my book.

I had a FABULOUS CHN that I took DD#1 too - she was a wealth of knowledge, and not outdated at all. I guess I was lucky :)
I would love to take DD#2 but was told by the clinic that they only see first time mothers... I have no idea why. But that's another discussion!

With Ds1 we went regularly just to get him weighed, measured and all that jazz. It was good.
This time around with DS2, we hardly even go. Some of the ones I've had aren't that friendly and they always swap and change around so I can never tell when the nice one will be there... we also had a rough start with them cancelling home visits with me and telling the other ones made up stuff. It was very strange and I was thankful it was my second baby. :dunno:

I don't think it could hurt checking it out at first but if it's not for you then so be it.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
xx

I'm not a fan of CHN's or GP's I think many of them can be unsupportive and judgmental not to mention uninformed, however this is a sweeping generalisation and probably not a very fair thing to say, I'm just speaking from my own frustrating experience :rolleyes:

However I would always take my baby for his checkups especially in the first year, because they're not just about measuring your babies progress against the 'norm' their also an important health check-up for issues that might not be apparent to parents. My babies heart murmur was picked up on and this is not something I would have found myself.

They are also important for the parents if they have questions about the baby which you are bound to have and also a support tool for parents who may not be coping as well as they would hope to.

It's not compulsory to take all the advice from the CHN, you can just take and leave what you like, but I think it's always a good idea to get as much information as you can so you can decide what is useful and what isn't. I don't agree with a lot of what my DS's CHN has told me but in some areas she has been fantastic and I have learnt things I wouldn't have known otherwise.

I've had experiences with the good and the bad - the one that did my first home visit (and also the new mum's groups) was the BAD one - she had outdated ideas, and stressed me out about DD's weight, even though there was nothing wrong. The good was part of a group that I was in for a study on solids and feeding, and she was fantastic! This second one cringed when I told her some of the lovely advice from the first one.

I think if you go well informed (and this site is great for that) and take everything they say with a pinch of salt, you will be fine. You may be lucky and get a great one.

In my local council, I had to register in order to be able to take DD there at all, so it is definitely voluntary and you need to be proactive to go and see them in some places.
I agree with what several others have said, in that sometimes they are a great help, other times not. You sound to me as though you have a very rational head on your shoulders, so I can't see that visiting your clinic would cause you too much alarm in any case ;) Having said that, there's no point in visiting a chn who does or says absolutely nothing to help you.
I took Natalie for the first 6 months, then a couple of times after that, mainly when I had questions. I could have seen my GP but the clinic was closer and more convenient at the time.
When she was 4-ish months, they suspected a lazy eye and so sent me to the eye specialist when she came to town. Cost me nothing, was something I hadn't noticed myself, turned out her eyes were perfectly fine anyway. But I am so glad we checked because if there had have been something wrong it would have been easier to address earlier rather than later, KWIM?
Good luck with your decision(s) - there are so many to make as a new parent! I HTH a little.

As a new mum I just find that it's a great excuse to get out of the house and do something in the community. I live in a small town and usually run into someone I know in the waiting room which is a nice way to catch up. DH also likes it when we go to clinic as he can look in Olive's blue book and watch her progress after he gets home from work. My local CFHN is a BF councillor with the ABA so has been really supportive with all the problems i've had with that and has gone out of her way to help me. I know what your saying about 'normal' development and even the labelling of children but IMO if there was a serious problem with my child that could be avoided by going to clinic then I would take it. I am going back to work p/t in April and the CFHN is also helping me make a BF plan and they pick up on things like PND if that becomes an issue. I agree with everyone else that it probably depends on the rapport you have with them.