weird plunket vibe..............

SMoody wrote: They did ask questions about homelife ect and I thought now how is this suppose to look that hubby came with. Bad? (as in he is checking up that I am not telling them all sorts of supposed lies) Or Good? (as in here is a dad that is involved with his kids deveolpment so came along to the visit.) mmm yeah is all I can say.

I actually found it good that they asked about things at home. It was great to have someone to listen to my struggles with having a baby who didn't sleep all night, and how sleep deprived I was. Also DP's work was getting stressful for both of us, and things weren't easy sometimes.

I guess I was lucky that I mostly got lovely Plunket nurses.

I think it's the combination of them coming across as being all know-all and judgemental (whether they are or aren't, a lot come across that way), and then asking about home life, that makes all the difference.

So with the 3 year one not being funded now, does that mean they get a check at 2 yrs then not again until 5?

I know Plunket is something that is unique to New Zealand and a really good thing - most countries have no support system like this at all, must be particularly great for young mum's, or single mums....BUT from my experience, my ante natal groups experience and reaing these posts there is massive room for improvement. They are hugely inconsistent in their advice, as is Plunketline. one nurse told me she expected my six month old to wake 'once if not twice' for feeding in night, while another said 'should't need feeding in night at all'...I think it would be a great 'Oh Baby' idea to forward these posts to Plunket, and perhaps ask the 'oh baby' community to volunteer their good and bad stories as as far as I can see they have no feedback system so how they are assessing their quality of service I have no idea. i think its done more on a % of babies seen at 3months, 6months etc etc, rather than actually teh quality of the interactions. Seems to me most of us either just don't go back, complain to each other, or simply sit and nod and then do our own thing so the nurses and plunket have no idea some of them are doing a rubbish job. Also those nurses and areas that are doing a great job shoudl be recognised.

Melln wrote: im scared of going to plunket now! lol

Don't be! I have found them OK so far and sometimes even quite helpful! So what if they ask how are things at home - they just want to make sure mum & baby are OK. I just say great and leave it at that. I do find our nurse is quite nice and will not judge my decisions. We had always planned to switch to formula at 6 months and she did not say a thing. Overall, I've had a positive experience with both our Plunket nurse and the Plunket phone helpline.

Yeah my own LMC made me cry, won't be using her next time. I have had two good experiences with plunket and one weird one, I wouldn't say it was a bad experience. I have heard some real horror stories. I think S Brochocka is right about there needing to be some kind of feedback system. One lady from coffee group ended up in tears at her first (and last) plunket visit because the plunket nurse didn't agree with co sleeping and made out like she was being a bad mum and endangering her daughter by co sleeping, which is crazy and wrong.
I say see plunket, if the lady is nice great, if not just don't go again or use a different centre. I am just gonna go to the open clinic from now on but I wouldn't hesitate to use the family centre again as they were so lovely there.