Extreme worry about newborn (1 day old)

[Brilliast]

Our baby is literally less than one day old. We were all collected from the hospital by my brother and my SIL and my niece and they stayed for a bit to help us this afternoon. It turns out my niece had hand foot and mouth and the blisters have healed but my SIL has been feeling unwell the last few days. They did say she wasn’t feeling 100% and did we want to make other arrangements but we said if she felt up to it she was welcome to come with my brother to see new baby etc and have a tea this afternoon.

im now massively stressing that the baby has hand foot and mouth. I probably sound very naive but it wasn’t until I saw the scabs on my niece that I realised it wasn’t all that nice! I’ve called the midwife and she said it’s usually a mild illness and there’s not much I can do now but I’m flooded with anxiety.

Of course you’re going to worry
i think it’s really off of your SIL
It’s good you’ve rung your midwife - is your baby feeding well? I guess for now keep a close watch and don’t hesitate to call a GP or MW again

Take really deep breaths, count in for 6 and out for 10. Put some music on that you find relaxing. Have a glass of water. Your brain and body are currently programmed to overreact, the sheer hormone changes are enough to flaw you without the extra worry. There’s nothing you can do about that now, but you can care for her, feed her and all of you can get some rest.

There’s a chance she will catch something, of course, and if she starts to develop symptoms and you are worried get her seen by a doctor. Generally the staff in a+e are extra lovely when a gorgeous newborn comes in 😉

Congratulations!

Op, congratulations on baby, it must be a real worry with such a young baby.

at this point try and relax, keep an eye on baby, check with hv again if required. But you will see symptoms if baby catches anything.

feed, cuddle, change, rest, sleep when you can, and repeat
try and relax to enjoy these early days and keep poorly people away

@rubyslippers they did say she wasn’t well. Midwife wasn’t bothered really. I am panicky though!

Congratulations and welcome to motherhood OP
You did the right thing by telling your midwife and if she has no concern then neither should you.
Im also pretty sure that if it was dangerous that your sister in law wouldn’t have come. I think the name foot and mouth just sounds bad tbh
Relax and enjoy the precious early days

If you’re feeding, the milk will be hugely protective as each drop contains millions of antibodies. Try not to panic.

Are you breastfeeding? Your colostrum will be protecting your little one with your own antibodies if that reassures you. Congrats on your little one !

You will be panicky. Congratulations.

If you have any worries from looking at your baby get a check.

Personally I think it is fine to refuse visitors who feel even a bit under the weather in the early days.

Panicky is normal. Your SIL is shot and should have said before seeing them. You’ve had advice from the midwife and any concerns get them seen and explain your concerns. Doctors will review newborns for minor things to keep them safe if needed

Whilst I completely understand your worry, it might help put it in perspective to think that, if this was your second, third or fourth child, you could well be bringing it home to a house with a older sibling with hand, foot & mouth or chicken pox or any other virus and there'd be nothing you could do about it.

Totally this. Absolutely NOTHING you could do.
Relax, enjoying your baby and worry about something if and/or when it happens.

Congratulations on your baby. When mine caught HFM, I was told I could send them into nursery as normal, no need to keep them off.