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Nesting germophobe. Feel like I'm going mad

3 replies

monkeyminded · 29/01/2020 22:48

Hi I'm coming up to 28weeks pregnant and I'm really stressing about keeping things tidy and clean.
I am not a very organised or tidy person by nature and I find being organised really hard. I keep things hygienic enough but still feel really worried things are not clean enough especially with a baby nearly here.
I came off 3 different meds at the start of my pregnancy one of these was my ssri 's. The other two had nasty withdrawals which affected my moods a lot.
I thought maybe my fears and worries about being organised and clean could be my anxiety being magnified.
Has anyone any tips on letting go of these nesting fears or any hacks to keep things clean?
I hate being in my house because nothing is ever tidy enough or clean enough. Some tips or advice would be good

OP posts:
PixieDustt · 29/01/2020 22:52

Hello. Sorry not advice on the medication side of things.
You said you keep things hygienic enough so doesn't sound bad at all?
For me just doing things daily helps. I'm a bit of a clean freak anyway but with a baby it definitely magnified.
If you feel it isn't tidy enough could you start by doing a room at a time then keeping on top of it that way? Do you have anyone to help you?
Sorry if this is not helpful.

monkeyminded · 29/01/2020 23:02

Hi thanks for reply. I have good intentions trying to keep on top of tidying. But I just feel like I'm really shit because I can't keep on top of it now, how am I going to cope with a baby... I feel like I have no control!
I start thinking things are going to fall off walls or there's too much clutter and I'll fall over something with baby, or they'll get something dirty in their mouth because I haven't disinfected something.
I feel like I don't know anything about keeping things safe...

OP posts:
FartnissEverbeans · 10/02/2020 18:18

This sounds incredibly familiar, although my anxiety only manifested itself post partum. The intense worries about keeping things clean and safe are one of my strongest memories of the early days of motherhood. It was really hard and I was regularly in tears from the sheer terror of it all.

In retrospect, I wish I’d done a few things.

First of all, I wish I’d spoken to someone knowledgeable about it. Maybe something could have been done to make me more comfortable and ease my anxiety.

Secondly, I wish I’d spent more time with other people - I’m really introverted and enjoyed the alone time during maternity leave, but I lost all sense of perspective. Conversations with other people, so you can gauge what’s ‘normal’ in other people’s homes, are helpful.

Thirdly, I wish I’d known about the hygiene hypothesis. It’s the theory (backed by a growing body of evidence) that an over-clean environment is actually bad for the immune system of a baby. It’s been linked to the allergy epidemic - basically, we’ve potentially caused some peanut allergies etc. by being too clean. Having pets in the house seems to be beneficial to children’s immune systems, for example.

It’s tough but in my experience these feelings did lessen greatly over time. My house is far from sterile these days Grin and my 3yo is a dirt magnet. I still get anxious sometimes, and we’re very careful about hand washing in our house, but I feel like a weight has been lifted somewhat.

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