Not washing fruit before eating?

[Bethandfreddie]

Hi, so I have diagnosed OCD and a huge fear of germs and stuff - luckily I’m getting help via exposure therapy. My therapist actually visited today and one of my exposure tasks was to eat some grapes without washing them. Which I did, and now I can’t help but panic that pesticides and other nasties are going to get through my milk supply and my DS will be ingesting it. Has any breastfeeding mums ever ate fruit and not washed it?

Toddlers eat dirt and worms, roll round I the grass and mud, sit in puddles, lick icicles, pick up and eat snails.....and are fine.

Exposure to germs is a good thing.

Your baby will be fine.

This is your health anxiety talking OP. Everything will be absolutely fine or they wouldn’t have suggested doing it.

You’re right. Thank you - sometimes I just need reminding.

I do rinse fruit you don't peel but I'm talking about a quick rinse under the cold tap to wash off visible dirt/dust

It’ll be absolutely fine.

I am literally breastfeeding DD2 right now and I bf DD1 for 3 years.

I literally never wash fruit or veg unless it has visible soil on it.

You need to expose yourself to pathogens to build immunity. You will be far better protected against disease.

It's fine but as a fellow ocd sufferer you need to avoid posting this kind of conversation as it's a sneaky way to get reassurance!

I breastfed both my girls for a year. Never washed any fruit 🤦🏼‍♀️😂

Never washed fruit, but then again DD1 used to suck on the end of the cats tail, so I've obviously got a high threshold of tolerance.

Never washed fruit either for me when breastfeeding or DC.

I think you should wash fruit and vegetables. You are not just exposing your kids to soil but to pesticides, manure and the germs on the hands of people who have picked them. Years ago my mothers face swelled up and developed a rash. A hospital consultant put this down to pesticides on unwashed fruit.
It always makes me laugh in supermarket when parents give berries etc to children from packets as they are walking round the supermarket. They have a little pile for the ones that have been dropped. So the pile probably has the same sort of germs on as the ones that haven’t been dropped.

I think you should wash fruit… it’s not because of germs, it’s the pesticides that concern me.

I'm inclined to agree with this.
Work through the exercises your therapist will have given you.
They are likely to be more helpful because plenty of people on here will have their own disordered thinking.

It always makes me laugh in supermarket when parents give berries etc to children from packets as they are walking round the supermarket. They have a little pile for the ones that have been dropped. So the pile probably has the same sort of germs on as the ones that haven’t been dropped.

Haha, no. 5 second rule...

I only fruit / veg is visibly dirty-am very healthy and rarely ill.

This has made my day

I'm not sure how my kids have survived to adulthood .. caught one eating ants from under a paving slab

One used to pick up discarded chewing gum off the ground and pick the grit out and eat it

Munching the cats tail would have been right up their street

😂😂😂

plenty of people on here will have their own disordered thinking.

You have successfully distilled the entire concept on mumsnet into one sentence 😂

I don’t think I was quite ready for it just yet, maybe too big of a push in my exposure therapy at the moment but I’m getting there :)