I just wanted to feedback about how disappointed I have been in the quality of advice given by the Bexley health visitors service. Since my 14 month old was born, I have seen 6 different health visitors and I have to say that I have been given a lot of misinformed, outdated and sometimes potentially dangerous advice by nearly all of the health visitors I have encountered.
For example, I was told to stop breastfeeding my six month old baby at night because it was simply ‘a bad habit’. This goes against recommendations from the NHS, the World Health Organisation, UNICEF and every single breastfeeding organisation that exists. I was also told by two different health visitors to sleep train my baby once they were over 6 months to stop them waking at night. This also goes against advice from the NHS and World Heakth Organisation and it is widely known that sleep training causes elevated cortisol levels in infants which is harmful to their developing brains, and psychologists highlight how sleep training is distressing to infants and can have negative emotional effects, as well as breaking the secure attachment cycle with their caregiver. It is quite frankly shocking that a health visitor would recommend such a damaging and unsafe practice.
I have also found that breastfeeding advice from the health visiting service has been, in general, ill informed and patchy and I have always had to check their advice by doing my own research. In short, I am disappointed that a service which costs so much to the NHS has not added any benefit to my child’s first year of life. In fact, if I had followed the advice given, it would have potentially been very damaging.
"Advice from Bexley Health Visitors"
About: Bromley Healthcare / Bexley 0 to 19 Children’s Public Health Service Bromley Healthcare Bexley 0 to 19 Children’s Public Health Service BR2 9JG
Posted by PurpleRose (as ),
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