Those with babies - managing the anxiety?

[twinklespells]

DD was born in the summer and we've been quite cautious and not let many people hold her so far. One set of grandparents have been breaking rules virtually the whole pandemic, so we won't meet with them inside, for example.

I know that children are meant to be low risk, but I'm so anxious still. DD is the result of fertility treatment, so I am most definitely predisposed to anxiety regarding her. Knowing DD probably won't get vaccinated, I just can't imagine feeling happy to expose her to loads of people, even if those people have been vaccinated. Being vaccinated doesn't mean they can't spread covid, and with young babies, what if they are clinically vulnerable but you just don't know yet?

Just wondering if anyone else feels similarly, or whether I'm an odd one out in terms of keeping DD reasonably shielded so far. I half wonder if there will be no availability of vaccinations to vaccinate the under 50s. Covid has had such a massive impact on all of our lives and I just can't imagine feeling OK without DD being vaccinated

In terms of babies' development, while I agree that babies don't need to go to groups in order to develop normally, there have been posters on here (not the OP) who have barely taken their baby out since March even for walks. There is a huge difference between avoiding baby groups but taking your baby out and about in a normal way to shops, cafes, meeting friends etc. and only ever going out for local walks by yourself. I actually think the latter could affect development even in quite young babies - the more we learn about child development the more it seems that early experiences are very important e.g. we know that seeing a variety of faces and hearing a variety of voices early on is important.

To me, the risk of covid to babies (ignoring the impact of transmission to the wider community for a moment) is negligible compared to the risk of barely leaving the house for a year. Last time I checked (around September) there had been 10 deaths of under 18 year olds with covid in the UK and when you look into it, in most of these cases the child was severely ill already and might have died regardless of being covid positive. That's around a 1 in 1,000,000 risk (as there are around 10m children in the UK) and if you have a healthy child it is much lower. There are between 12 - 16 deaths caused by influenza in the UK each year. If someone suggested keeping their baby inside for a year or refusing to let family hold them due to the risk of flu people would think that was overprotective and potentially quite worrying behaviour evven though there is a small risk. I don't think it's any more rational in the context of covid. I do understand that the postnatal period can be a very anxious time though and covid is the natural thing to focus on right now.

Hi OP, I had my baby in June. I am a little bit anxious about COVID but I do recognise that the risk is very low for babies. She has only really been held by my DH, me and MIL. I am to be honest more concerned that I would get COVID and not be able to care for her (I’m in a very vulnerable group).

that being said there is nothing wrong with her development and every medical professional I have asked confirms that babies will be fine just with their parents. I think the random baby classes that moms go to, seem to be more for the mom than the baby.

I am now trying to get out more with her, such as DH and I are going to go for lunch on Saturday. The vaccine will be along way off for babies, so don’t let it stop you doing what you want to as long as you are careful.

You won’t let grandparents holder her but you’re sending her to the germ pit that is nursery? You need to get help for your irrational anxiety.