Hi all,
This sounds an awful way to start..... but i've always thought there was more going on in my 6yo ds's mind than meets the eye! He is currently petrified of germs, this has gone on for a while and he has always liked to wash his hands but over the past few weeks i feel he is getting worse and i am unsure as to what is the best way to help him. He has used a bottle of handwash over the weekend, his hands are scaly and scabby as he washes them so often. He asks me to smell his hands even if they have just been washed and this week he has asked me to smell his feet too incase he stood on something with germs on! Tonight is the final straw for me as he has asked for me to smell his bottom because he accidentally touched the christmas tree with it! ( there are pretend berries on the tree and he is scared incase they are poisonous, despite my constant reassurrance they're plastic and fine!) The hand washing is the worst of his quirks but he seems to do nothing but worry. He does play and we have lovely days out and fun athome with his 4yo sister but then he bursts out with things like can the dangly bit at the back of your throat fall out and make you die? My heart sinks and no matter how many times i reassure him it wont happen, he will be fixated on it for days until another problem arises (the hand washing is always a permanent fixture)
I have spoken to gp about this and he says it's associated with a problem he has with his ears..... he can't hear properly due to a large build up of wax, doctors have tried on and off for six months to get it out but he is frightened of their machine and so we are sent off with ear drops and the threat of an operation