This episode links really well with our previous episodes about combination feeding and giving top ups (linked in resources section below). In this episode Jen shares all her IBCLC wisdom with us on expressing breastmilk. How much do you know about flanges?! We talk about: - when to express - the emotional and physical load of pumping - how to pump - 'hands on' expressing - does the flange fit - how much milk to expect Resources and Further Reading: Our previous episode on Combination Feeding wi...
Jul 12, 2022•1 hr 12 min
Jen and Amy delve into the murky world of infant poo in the first six months! What to expect, what is a worry and what isn't. How is poo different between formula and breast or chestfed babies? Or mixed fed babies? What does that green poo mean? What about giving a bit of fruit juice or water for constipation? We answer all your questions and as usual it turns out to be more complicated than we imagined! Thanks to a listener for this request! Do get in touch with any questions, comments or sugge...
Jun 14, 2022•51 min
Amy and Jen take a dive into a recent research paper suggesting there may be a newly identified biomarker for infants at high risk of SIDS. We look at the recent paper in detail, review the statistics and the methodology and consider what we are able to say and what we are not, as well as possible harms that might come from misinterpretation of the results. We also discuss the article in the context of the current theoretical approaches to SIDS research and general safe sleep advice which import...
May 31, 2022•31 min
Amy and Jen chat to the inspiring Alison Spiro who has a PhD in anthropology as well as practicing as a health visitor. Listing all her achievements is a podcast summary in itself, but across her career she has worked as a breastfeeding counsellor herself, established an incredibly successful peer support service, taken both a hospital and community trust to BabyFriendly accreditation, worked on the world breastfeeding trends initiative report in 2015, contributes to the APPG on infant feeding o...
May 17, 2022•49 min
This week Jen talks to Maria Renshaw who runs a local sling library in Colchester about her experience of slings and all things baby-wearing from a very practical perspective. She goes through different types of baby wearing from soft wrap slings to buckle carriers with some tips on the differences, fitting, safety tips including the TICKs acronym, common worries about hips and knees, how to find your local services for sharing with parents. Thanks so much Maria for sharing your experience and k...
May 03, 2022•31 min
Amy and Jenny chat to the lovely Alice from the Baby and Infant Sleep Information Source (BASIS) about sleep pods and nests. We cover the evidence base - what can we and can't we say about these products. Are they safe or not? In what circumstances? How do we actually know one way or the other? We talk about what manufacturing standards these products are held to, as well as some of more the hidden risks and implications the use of these items have. We also consider the disproportionate impact o...
Apr 19, 2022•44 min
Jen and Amy go through the world of contraceptive advice. Although not directly our work, it's definitely connected and very relevant to health visitors. Often a bit of a neglected topic, it can be something we feel uncomfortable or poorly prepared to discuss with families. We hope our discussion solves some of those problems as we go through the contraceptive options for families, talk about contraception and lactation and the more emotional side of the conversation about physical intimacy afte...
Mar 22, 2022•58 min
Jen and Amy gently guide you through the main headlines of the huge, massive, overwhelming and generally awe inspiring 'CHILD Cohort Study' all about the human microbiome. We will discuss how all the things you might expect, and some very unexpected factors, can all impact the infant microbiome and the important long term impacts this can have on that child's health. If you would like to look more into the myriad of research which has been produced from the CHILD dataset, just do a quick google ...
Mar 08, 2022•54 min
We discuss postnatal anxiety, specifically the measurement of anxiety after birth. In practice we are often using generic anxiety measures which are simply just not appropriate for use in this specific period of a parent's life. Listen in to learn more about the scale, how it can be used and how you might be able to incorporate it in your clinical practice. As ever, we love to hear from you. Get in touch with comments or suggestions at iamahealthvisitor@gmail.com If you would like to use the PSA...
Feb 22, 2022•1 hr 6 min
Amy and Jen discuss a government guidance document published in the past year which reviews the Hepatitis B selective immunisation pathway for pregnant people and newborns. We look at this guidance from the perspective of health visitors in practice - what do you need to know? What should be happening, what actually IS happening and what do you need to do when this crops up on your caseload? As ever we love to hear from you with any comments or thoughts by email on iamahealthvisitor@gmail.com. R...
Jan 25, 2022•21 min
Extra bonus episode! In this special extra episode, Jen and Amy talk to the lovely Kitty Lamb of the CPHVA Education Development Trust Macqueen Bursary team. Kitty walks us through the types of projects the Macqueen bursary funds and how to apply. Hopefully it will give you lots of ideas for your own career development projects. Good luck and get applying! The deadline is the 29th January 2022. To reach Jen and Amy, you can email the podcast at iamahealthvisitor@gmail.com Resources: Download the...
Jan 21, 2022•31 min
Happy new year everyone! For our first podcast of 2022 we are lucky to be joined by Hannah Poulton, who is an experienced physiotherapist with a specialism in women's health, scar therapy and c-section recovery. We talk all things pelvic floor! We learned heaps from this episode and could have talked all day, so hopefully this episode will really help you add to your clinical knowledge in this important area. As ever, we love to hear from you with any comments in relation to this episode or any ...
Jan 11, 2022•45 min
Merry Christmas! Get your IamaHV Bingo card at the ready (downloadable from our twitter and instagram feeds @IamaHV), mince pies and cup of tea lined up and get ready to laugh. A lot. Have your tissues at the ready for the last section, which got unexpectedly emotional! Thank-you everyone for all your amazing funny stories. You are all hilarious! Thank-you to our volunteer voices who have recorded the specially selected few. Thank-you to every single one of you who is continuing to just. keep. g...
Dec 14, 2021•1 hr 15 min
Amy and Jen talk about something we see and manage all the time, but as we always find there is more to it than meets the eye! We discuss definitions and different forms of jaundice in terms of the underlying mechanism, red flags and risk factors, assessment including how to spot jaundice in darker skin tones (and some promising new tech to help with this!), how to judge severity and what your management plan should be. We also talk a lot about feeding issues - as is to be expected with this top...
Nov 30, 2021•1 hr 8 min
Ahead of road safety week, Amy and Jen talk to two experts in car seat safety to get the key messages for you to pass onto parents. I know I often talk with parents at the antenatal contact about what kit they have bought for baby, often they are keen to share with me their ideas or thoughts and often quite receptive to suggestions regarding safety. When it comes to car seats, I am often out of my depth and struggle with what to tell them! There's huge variety in safety and mistakes with fitting...
Nov 16, 2021•1 hr 25 min
Have you ever considered a career in academia? Or perhaps a blended career with a mixture of clinical and research across your week? If so then listen in as Amy chats about the process of finding and applying for a PhD. You might be more well qualified than you realise! Health visitors make excellent candidates because of our passion for evidence based healthcare and our ability to read and think critically about the literature; applying it to real life. For comments, suggestions or questions ge...
Nov 02, 2021•30 min
Jen is leading the way this week sharing her IBCLC knowledge with us on the topic of mastitis. We discuss a new school of thought on the treatment of blocked ducts as inflammation - moving away from vigorous massage and towards cold compresses and Ibuprofen. What's the deal with cabbage leaves - an old wives tale or does it work? What about antibiotics? How might disposable nappies be helpful here? All these questions and more. As ever, there is more to know than we realised! As ever we welcome ...
Oct 19, 2021•48 min
Our 'bread and butter' (no pun intended!) but as with everything our perspective and advice changes over time so time for an update! What are the current important messages we should be conveying to parents as they begin to introduce solids to their babies. Why should we not be calling it 'weaning' and what about giving milk alongside solids? What signs of readiness should we look for? What is responsive feeding in terms of solid foods and what key messages about this should we be passing on to ...
Oct 05, 2021•1 hr 6 min
Amy and Jen discuss the importance of using the right language and being kind and respectful when working with parents. We go through the use of pronouns, preferred names and discuss LGBTQIA+ communities and how they relate to our role. We go back to basics with definitions for those people who don't yet understand the difference between sex and gender, what to do if you make mistakes and how to get it right; as well as talking briefly about the potential complexities of lactation and birth for ...
Sep 21, 2021•1 hr 25 min
In the last of our summer #Replay series, we look back at a simple intervention health visitors can recommend in practice to resolve a common clinical issue. Health Visitors are well placed to identify these granulomas and advice parents on how to treat these, preventing unnecessary and potentially harmful treatment with silver nitrate. Jenny and Amy discuss what Health Visitors need to know to advise parents confidently on this, including the practicalities of how to apply the salt and common p...
Sep 07, 2021•15 min
Third in our summer #Replay series, we have selected this review of the BATHE study of eczema. After a recent conversation with researchers at the University of Southampton, where this study was conducted; it appears that their research has not yet filtered down to the primary care settings. We hope this #Replay helps some of you to manage eczema more confidently and perhaps leads to a change in practice in terms of bath emollient usage. This new research represents strong evidence for a signifi...
Aug 24, 2021•25 min
As part of our summer #Replay series we are curating for you some of our best episodes from several years ago which you may not have come across yet in our archives. This one was recorded in the December of 2017 and discusses what is normally a Christmas theme - bronchiolitis. Thanks to the strange circumstances this year, we are seeing an emergence of RSV and surges in cases causing hospitalisation outside of the normal 'bronchiolitis season'. So we thought this one might be a particularly apt ...
Aug 10, 2021•36 min
#Replay! This summer we are taking the opportunity to put a spotlight on some of our favourite older episodes which we feel are still incredibly useful for HVs today. If you are a relatively new listener, we hope you will enjoy this curated list of some of our best ones! To kick it off, this #Replay was first released in January 2018 and was our very first ever guest! Bridget discusses her experiences with health visitors and how we can help women share how they are truly feeling. We talk about ...
Jul 27, 2021•27 min
Following our previous episode with Harry’s Hat, Amy and Jen review the guidance on measuring head circumference. We discuss when (and how frequently) as well as how to measure. Many of us may be doing it incorrectly - using lasso/plastic tapes (which can stretch and lead to inaccurate measurements), instead of paper. We also discuss the potential consequences of not detecting problems with head circumference with reference to a recent court case and consider what lessons we can learn from this ...
Jul 13, 2021•57 min
Jen and Amy chat to the wonderful Lucy Ruddle IBCLC about her new book 'Mixed Up: Combination Feeding By Choice or Necessity', which is an absolute must read for any health visitor wanting to give evidence based information to families about combining formula and breastmilk. Combination feeding is massively under-rated and misunderstood; despite being central to almost every UK parents feeding journey. In this episode we cover the toxicity of the 'formula versus breastmilk' debate and how to hon...
Jun 15, 2021•55 min
Following our last episode talking about combi-feeding with Lucy Ruddle, we discuss top-ups; how they're used, how they should be used, and alternative strategies that can be used to limit or reduce their use. The NICE faltering growth guideline is the starting point, while it does detail everything that needs to be done, it remains open to interpretation over the level of breastfeeding assessment needed, and quickly moves on to talk of setting goals/review dates without specifying which actions...
Jun 04, 2021•1 hr 44 min
Jen and Amy chat to the wonderful Terri and Caroline from the charity Harry's HAT (Hydrocephalus Awareness Trust). We talk about the pitfalls and common things to look out for as a health visitor, as well as some lesser known warning signs that should be ringing alarm bells for us all. Do you know what the most accurate tape measure is we should be using? The most important factor in getting accuracy for head circumference measurement? Why you shouldn't be measuring head circumference for hydroc...
Jun 01, 2021•57 min
Small seizures with big consequences. Infantile spasms or 'west syndrome' is a devastating diagnosis for any family and can so easily be missed. Listen to Jen and Amy discuss the health visitors role in supporting the family with identification of this tricky and subtle disorder as well as being alongside them through diagnosis, treatment and supporting the development of the child as they grow. For comments and suggestions please do email us at iamahealthvisitor@gmail.com Resources and Further ...
May 18, 2021•41 min
Jen and Amy go through the new Public Health England Tool 'Early Language Identification Measure'. We discuss what the tool is aiming for, the pilot research results, how it differs from the ASQ and some reservations that we have about the application of this tool to health visiting practice. We would absolutely LOVE to hear from you especially if you have been involved with the pilot of this project or are involved in the roll out of it right now in your area. Drop us an email to iamahealthvisi...
May 04, 2021•1 hr 14 min
Jen and Amy chat to the lovely Rosy Whitwell who is a health visitor and nurse, who now specialises in infant and child sleep and has a private practice to support families with this important area. We talk about her journey to specialism as well as the controversies in the field of infant sleep and how health visitors are stuck in the middle often in a difficult position to support parental expectations and face a damaging amount of societal pressures on families. Sleep is one of the most commo...
Apr 20, 2021•56 min
