Anxiety-newborn catching illness from sibling

[ttc2023AH]

I just wondered if anyone experienced extreme anxiety about your toddler passing bugs/viruses to your newborn.

My toddler has been exposed to chicken pox at nursery (no spots yet but still within 21 days) and I'm terrified that my newborn will get it and be really unwell.

Thinking about constantly having these panics really scares me for the next few months/year.

I just wondered if anyone had similar panics and how you dealt with it?

Tbh that did happen to me. I am very relaxed about bugs generally but that is not unreasonable. Dd1 was 3yo when DTs were born and got chicken pox when they were 10 days old. They did indeed get it and had to go to hospital.

However they were fine in the end, and they were premies. They can medicate them if they are really unwell with it.

So the worst case scenario is okay, really!

Interested in this as well…I only have one at the moment and this genuinely plays a part in my decision not to have another at the moment. DS is unwell for weeks now and it’s been incredibly stressful, I couldn’t deal with the additional anxiety of an unwell newborn thrown into the mix.

There was chicken pox in nursery for ages and my eldest avoided but finally got it and so my youngest did when he was about 12 weeks old. He actually only had it really mildly and didn’t need any treatment.

obviously no guarantee for you, but not a very that your oldest will catch it and not a very it will be bad.

Thank your reply. If it's okay to ask were you breastfeeding? Lots of people have said that can give some protection. And what were the signs you needed to go to hospital? Just incase it does happen and we need to go to hospital to.

I'm glad everything was okay in the end ❤️

The night I brought my youngest home from hospital my oldest came out head to toe in chicken pox.
I was riddled with anxiety, however the baby didn’t get them… I formula fed x

Thank you all for your replies, it really helps hearing you've come through it all okay ❤️

This is me right now about all the germs my firstborn brings home to my 5 week old, never felt so anxious in my life and really struggling. Me and him been ill constantly for weeks, baby now has a cold and I’m terrified of anything worse coming next 😭

Have been trying to work out ways to cope, sympathies to any others struggling it’s so hard

Hiya, sorry just saw this.

So the twins were too little to BF properly as they were premies and one didn't have enough strength to suckle. I did feed them breastmilk by hand with a syringe. So, sorta.

They were under the care of a consultant and specialist nurse team so I liaised with them over going into hospital
From memory, it was around them stopping having interest in milk which was a red flag as they were already kind of marginal on growth.

But all that is quite specific to premature babies.

Many parents feel this intense fear when they have a newborn and a toddler.
It’s scary because you love them both and want to protect your baby at all costs.
Hormones, exhaustion, and nursery bugs can make anxiety feel overwhelming.
With time and reassurance, these fears usually ease.

DS2 got CP from his brother at one week old Very mildly, even though I was bf. He was fine. He’s 20 now and never had it again.

@ttc2023AH if the toddler exposure was less than 5 days ago and you can afford it, it’s worth paying for the chicken pox vaccine tomorrow as it can stop it coming out at all / being as bad as long as it’s given within that timeframe.

On the general illness baby anxiety - yeah totally with you. Have a two year old and 12 weeks pregnant, already dreading next winter, this one has been horrible.

Newborns who BF have some immunity from you op

Hello all, just to let you know we’re currently running a vaccinations Q&A with two NHS experts.

If you’d like to ask them directly about things like schedules, side effects, eligibility or outbreak concerns, you can post your question here. Hope it's helpful.