Protecting baby from germs

[HerMomma]

I have a 4 month old and I'm becoming a germaphobe! The skin on my hands are so raw from washing them so much everyday! I'm so scared that my baby will get sick that it's making me pretty crazy.. Not only do I wash my hands a million times a day I disinfect everything with disinfecting wipes including all the door knobs daily. I also wash my baby's hands when they get in her diaper. Am I being to crazy?! Can someone help!!

Do you have any reason to be concerned? Is someone in the family sick?

No no one is sick or anything like that..

Are you anxious about other things? Maybe you should chat to your HV? OCD can first arise postnatally. I am a germaphobe too, but wouldn't be disinfecting everything unless there was a bug going round the family.

Give it a few weeks and she'll be licking soles of your slippers, then shoes, then the wheels of your buggy. I don't know what it is with the soles of shoes but a lot of babies like them apparently.

I promise she'll live.

There is some pretty solid research that keeping a child in a 'sterilised' environment can lead to allergies and auto-immune disorders.

Yes you should be sterlising things for feeding upbto 6m. Everything else should just be treated with the same hygiene standards as you would for an adult.

Yes you all are right! I know I need to relax it's just really hard! And yes I'm mostly worried she will get e coli or something.. She loves to put her hands in her mouth lately an it worries me.

If your hands are red raw you need to have a chat with somebody before it gets worse .. Its normal for babies to put anything they can in their mouths and it gets worse when they get mobile. if this is going to worry you more and you will stop her from exploring / chewing on things best try to nip it in the bud.... It is worrying but as said when they get sick you worry like mad , loose sleep and age about 10 years but then they get better and you wonder why you were like that ... and it happens again and again and the you learn to cope even if it is still a worry...

Hello there

I maybe completely of the wall here, so do feel obliged to ignore! I suffer from depression, one of my symptoms when its really bad is OCD. Feeling threatened by outside influences and paranoia.

Maybe it could be abit of PND? my DD was born I carried antibacterial spray everywhere with me! It got abit silly. Once I started back on anti-depressants (after I stopped breastfeeding) I calmed down alot. Infact I positively embraced abit of muck!

Have a little think about it, depression can manifest in wierd and wonderful ways....