A health visitor with more than a decade of experience has shared her favourite thing to see whenever she visits a parent and their baby at their home - and it might not be what you'd expect09:17, 30 Aug 2026A health visitor has shared her “favourite” thing to see whenever she sees a parent and baby at their house - and it’s not a clean and tidy home. Many new parents feel anxious at the prospect of a health visitor coming to see them, worrying about potentially being judged, or panicking about their parenting skills, or even a perceived lack of privacy during those pivotal early months and years with their child.‌But the purpose of a health visitor isn’t to pass judgement on new parents, or make them feel sensitive when dealing with the all-consuming care of a baby.‌A health visitor is a “qualified and registered nurse or midwife who works primarily with pre-school children and families”, and their role is aimed at aiding the “promotion of health and the prevention of illness in all age groups”, per the NHS.‌Health visitors are meant to support and assist parents across a range of concerns and topics, providing guidance and advice on “breast-feeding, weaning, emotional wellbeing, attachment, safety, immunisation, physical and emotional development and other aspects of health and childcare”.In addition, they can also offer support with “behaviour management, toilet training, sleep and school readiness”.The UK and Ireland both offer a dedicated health visiting service to families with children aged between 0 and five.‌Still, parents can still feel apprehensive about their visits. Many health visitors turn to social media to help dispel myths and preconceptions about health visitors.What is a health visitor’s favourite thing to see during a home visit?One example is Holly, a midwife with more than 10 years’ of experience in the industry. In a recent video, she was keen to highlight her “favourite” thing to see when visiting parents.Speaking directly to the camera, Holly began: “As a health visitor of over a decade, here is the one thing that I absolutely love to see.‌“I love it when I go into a house and the mum leaves the room and the baby starts to cry, they start to get really, really upset - and this isn’t because I'm a psychopath, okay?“This really says to me that that child or that baby has a very secure attachment to their mother.“What happens is as soon as the mum leaves, they feel like their arms been chopped off or their leg’s been chopped off. And instinctively, they go into survival mode and they start to cry because they want their mum back.”‌She continued: “This is because the child or baby really starts to learn what’s called object permanence.Content cannot be displayed without consent“That people and things do exist, even if they can’t see them. You know that mum exists. They know that mum is near, but they can’t see them, so they’ll get upset.‌“So as soon as the mum comes back into the room and gives the baby some comfort, the baby stops crying - and this shows that they have a really secure bond and attachment together.”But the health visitor urged parents not to panic if their baby doesn’t respond this way when they leave the room.Holly added: “Please don’t worry if your baby does not do this - your attachment to your baby is not subject to just one situation.Article continues below“But it is definitely something that we look for when we’re looking for the attachment and bond between a mother and a child.”