Help! Germ anxiety

[Bellabon]

As it says in the title really... I've always been more on the anxious side about germs which increased massively whilst I was pregnant to the point I was constantly handwashing, wearing gloves, wouldn't touch certain things etc. I had help from the perinatal mental health team after DS was born and the germ anxiety really reduced. DS is 18 months now and I have been relatively ok up until last month when the whole household was struck down with covid. I am now extremely anxious all time about DS catching anything to the point where I am now avoiding him doing certain things, playgroups etc.
I know that it's so important for him to do these things and to play with other children and I have made myself book him to go to a play session this week but I am already filled with dread. I will force myself to take him as I don't want him to miss out or his development be impacted but I can't stop the awful feeling.
Any tips or advice from anyone who also suffers like this? Or how to try and rein this germ/health anxiety back under control?
I feel very overwhelmed by it like I am constantly thinking about germs and illness 😞

That sounds so hard feeling so anxious all of the time, and not sustainable long term. I think it's normal to be worried about our little ones getting ill but your worry seems to be to the extreme where it's impacting your daily life and what your son is able to do.
It's really important that children get exposed to germs to build their immune system and a lot of childhood illnesses are much safer to get as a young child than as an older child or adult. But I think you probably already know all this? My suggestion would be to get some more mental health support as your anxiety about germs really sounds to be taking a toll on you and that will be the best way to improve things.

Yes you're right - I know that germ exposure to a certain degree is beneficial to kids. I'm just annoyed with myself because I was doing so well managing the anxiety and them bam, covid seemed to spark off my anxiety again.

I can really relate to this OP having lost people due to Covid during my pregnancy.

I found a compromise with my anxiety so we still go to groups but 1) I leave if a kid has a snotty nose or coughing over others 2) I use baby safe hand wipes immediately after we leave. 3) I take our own drinks and snacks for snack time etc. 4) We do outdoor stay and play as much as possible so it means like issues with others and germs

Iv got OCD health anxiety disorder and today I went to the animal hospital with my mum and my 2 baby's one being 7 weeks my eldest of 20 months dropped her dummy on the animal hospital floor were all the sick animals lye/walk so I picked it up and put it in my pocket upon getting home I put the dummy on the side and my 7 weeks old baby started crying so mum automatically gave her a dummy and it was the wrong dummy it was the one that fell on the animal hospital floor iv freaked out crying had my mum in tears I'm convinced my babys Gina get poor and get a infection please some one reasure me am I being over dramatic I feel so be ad fir my poor mum she'd just had her dog put to sleep then had me screaming at her 😭😭😭

@Anonymous09877 I completely understand your worry and would probably be feeling the same worry with a newborn but thinking rationally you probably picked up the dummy straight away, it would have touched just a tiny patch on the floor, in all likelihood they clean/mop the floor regularly. You'd only really have to worry if an animal was sick or something on that area, but if that would have happened it would have been cleaned so would be fine anyway. Try not to worry, nothing terrible is going to happen.

Thankyou for replying 🫶 I'm so worried coz
After going on Dr Google it's telling me she could end up with sepsis because of a dirty dummy whattt the fukkkk omg my anxiety just can't deal with it I am petrified she's gonna get a bacterial infection now it's like I'm waiting for a temp to start so I can take her hospital I actually feel like I'm going crazy 😞😞 the vets is filthy all them sick animals lay/walk-in on the floor and the owners dirty shoes/boots then there's my poor mum 😭 she's due her immunisations on Monday so will get a temp enyway so wudnt no weather it was a temp for ims or temp coz of infection would I and I did pick it straigh up but held it in my hand while they put my mum's poor dog to sleep after holding him to comfort the poor thing 😟and thankyou for takin time to reply to me 🫶🫶

@Anonymous09877 having a tiny human to look after is so anxiety inducing, don't be too hard on yourself! I'm terrible for googling, but really it just makes us believe the worst case scenario is going to happen which is really really unlikely. You'll know if the temperature is related to the immunisations as the timing will coincide and it wouldn't last more than 1-2 days. Babies are really resilient, even newborns! I've had plenty of worrying moments.. a teether dropped in mud around duck poo next to a pond which ended up back in his mouth, touching animals at a farm and putting hands in mouth multiple times before we could wash them, eating 24 hour old piece of chicken off the floor that we missed when cleaning up, relative's dog licking another dogs' bits and then licking baby's face and mouth... each time I worried and not one time did he get ill. It'll be ok ❤️

Thankyou so much for your reply 🫶 iv drove my self insane all night and woke up feeling like shit Dr Google is dangerous 😭 the fact it was on the animal hospital floor is what's getting em so anxious I sed about 20 mins B4 eww look there's blood on the floor and it stinks in here there was like 7 dogs people of farms in there the lot I just keep thinking omg how filthy was that place and plus the dummy was my 20 month olds not my 7 week olds my poor mum coped so bad for it I feel so bad for her but when it comes to Ur kids I think we just loose r shit well I did enyway I'm thinkinh how can she not get sick of this I'm hoping bcoz she's breast fed that iv give her some immunity 😭😭 xx