Stress after accident

[Allthatjazz234]

A few nights ago I experienced a very stressful situation whereby my daughter who is 15 months swallowed a piece of plastic which got lodged in her throat. Thankfully she was okay in the end but the whole thing was extremely stressful. I have been having flashbacks of the whole thing, thinking what could have happened, feeling terrible guilt for my poor baby as she was in a lot of pain and just feeling like the worst mother that it even happened.

I have experienced a lot of traumatic things in my life including my mother dying at young age, witnessing a knife attack, car accidents etc. But I don't recall having such a strong reaction as i have had with this. I have been walking around like im in a fog, so exhausted that I have been sleeping excessively since it happened, as I said flashbacks and crying, moods up and down. Can't sleep. I dont know what to do with msyelf. Wondering if anyone has any experience of something similar and if anything helped

It's only been a few days so it's natural that your feelings are still rare, you have had a very nasty shock. First off, you are not the 'worst mum' - it was one of those random incidents that can and do happen to everyone.

I'm sure every mother on MN will tell you they are also candidates for 'world's worst mum' because they've been through exactly what you're currently experiencing. It was an accident, nothing more, nothing less. Apparently I swallowed a bee the first time my parents left me in the garden (in a pram!) unattended for a few minutes 58 odd years ago. I'm still here.

If you think this has triggered an underlying trauma response to what happened in your earlier life (which is very possible) then therapy might be a good idea. In the meantime try to put it in perspective; your daughter is fine, she won't remember it and - most importantly - you coped. Remember that last one.