Hey love, I have OCD and I’m in recovery. Mine manifests differently to yours but it’s important to remember that the theme isn’t important - it’s about the process of doing a compulsion in response to an obsessive thought which strengthens that cycle.
OCD will attach itself to what you value most, so it makes sense that you’re obsessing about your child’s safety. There are obviously things that you will need to do as a parent to ensure your child is safe and well but the problem with OCD is it makes you do these things relentlessly at the expense of your mental health. Therefore, it’s important to get the balance right.
A huge part of OCD recovery is accepting uncertainty. Remember we can’t be certain about anything in life. I could get into a car crash later today, or get struck by lightening. We can’t control these events and no amount of checking the weather or traffic conditions will guarantee these situations won’t happen. As incredibly difficult as this is, you are going to have to take a leap of faith and accept the feeling of uncertainty by resisting some of the compulsive behaviours you are doing.
For example, this may look like checking your baby once when you put her to bed, and then only allowing yourself to check on her every hour, and resist the urge to check more often. This will be very difficult at first but you will soon teach yourself that you can handle the anxiety and uncertainty it brings, even when your brain is throwing scary images at you.
I’m happy to chat with you more if you need to, I’ve been dealing with OCD for about 4-5 years now and I have a good understanding of how it works.
There are loads of resources out there but I’d recommend this YouTube channel as a good place to start:
https://youtube.com/@ocdandanxiety?si=dKHwdeuVWojJwlVI