Health anxiety over lint

[excitedfortea]

Ok I know this sounds mad and crazy as I type it.

i really need someone to talk me down and make me realise how silly I am being.

My baby is now 5 months and is obviously chewing everything, constantly putting his hands in his mouth etc. I keep noticing where his hands are wet he is getting bits of fluff or lint on them from clothes, pillows his fabric playmat.

i have really hyper fixated on this and it’s really spiralling into something I’m anxious about. I’m constantly paranoid about his ingesting lint fluff or breathing it in. I have become obsessed with the sticky lint roller things and rolling his clothes to try and collect any fluff but now I’m also worried about them leaving a chemical residue.

i think in the back of my mind I worry if the lint or fluff is from a synthetic material it will be ingested and cause cancer.

Is there any real concern to this or am I suffering some postpartum anxiety and need to get some help.

A baby will put things in their mouth & pick up things we don’t want them to. I would probably look at investigating your thinking around this further. You would come under the remit of the perinatal mental health team. You can ask your HV to refer you.

Another vote for addressing your thinking here. My mother told me that as a child I chewed anything and everything, and swallowed most of it. I have a complete threadbare teddy bear as evidence.

Had no impact on my at all. But that’s not the point, the help you need is with your thinking, to catch the thought while able to examine it for rationality before your mind starts to spiral.

hope you get what you need.

Coming into contact with dirt and germs boosts a baby's immune system.

Not what you're asking, but I'd get your iron levels checked since iron being low can be the cause of anxiety, especially health anxiety (it was for me and it went away with raising my iron levels). Women lose iron during childbirth so it's a common problem.

You need ferritin of at least 100 and transferrin saturation of at least 20%. The Iron Protocol Facebook group is the vest place to find out more a out how to supplement.

No baby has ever become ill from getting a bit of fluff or lint in their mouths - all babies put their hands in their mouths, they crawl all over the carpet, they don't get ill from it.

Are you seeking treatment for your health anxiety? It sounds like it's causing you a lot of stress and worry.

If lint harmed us we would all be dead. My cousin once ate an entire spider as a baby. She’s 32 and fine.

See your health visitor for support.