Does anyone have experience of anxiety in a 4 year old? This is a long post so appreciate anyone reading it and posting their thoughts.
I'm concerned about my ds. He's always been quite a sensitive child but in the last month or so, his anxiety levels have increased so much. I'm not sure exactly what's caused them to increase but think it could be a number of things:- he had two nasty stomach bugs within 6 weeks of each other (one lasted a week and he seemed exhausted the whole time), his dad has recently started a new job so working away much more, he's got a new baby sister (she's 9 weeks old and while he does dote on her, it's obviously still a huge change for him) and he's just started pre-school sessions (he does enjoy these but again I understand it's another change for him).
I haven't worried too much about his anxiety until now as it's starting to affect his sleep and his appetite. He hates sleeping by himself and sometimes gets very upset at night, asking why he can't stay up with me and DH. He already co-sleeps with DH (I share another bed with his sister) but he fidgets through the night so DH doesn't get any sleep either.
And then meal times are just awful, particularly the evening meal. He's never eaten a good range of foods but even with his favourites, he's started to be fussy with them and barely eats any of it. He says he has a "funny tummy" but I'm sure this is the anxiety he's feeling rather than a physical feeling?
All in all, this in turn has started to make me anxious and when DH is away, I end up barely eating myself and sleep doesn't happen at all - partly because I'm then sleeping with both ds and baby dd.
I think we (ds and I) both need professional help but I don't know how to go about it? Do I just go to the GP for us? Or an HV? Or is there another avenue I could look into?
Thank you for reading & appreciate anyone's experiences or thoughts x