Ocd mums - anyone who washed hands so much during pregnancy

[Anxiousmamarggd]

SLES sodium laureth sulfate is found in hand soaps and I wash my hands up to 50 times a day due to ocd. does anyone know more than me about the risks? I've read it can cause birth defects? i wouldnt be so worried if i just washed my hands like a normal person but due to my illness dont. I don't want to have harmed my baby by washing my hands when I fear I have bacteria on them that could also harm them 😓

even better, has anyone with ocd and who has done this and had a healthy baby?

Just buy a sls-free soap?

Really very helpful comment.

To be fair, it is about as helpful a comment as you're going to get. You can't/won't wash your hands less frequently so the next best thing is to use soap which is less harmful.

What help are you getting for your OCD?

"But do you not think that comes across as sarcastic to ask 'why don't you just buy soap without SLES?'
Firstly, I cannot find one without it where I live, and secondly, that would not take away the anxiety I have about the period of time throughout my pregnancy that I have been using soap with SLES in it. I was asking for advice from people with OCD who do the same thing and have gone on to have healthy babies and if anyone knew if using this has maybe caused harm, not what I could do going forward."
^ from your food poisoning thread^

I don't see that as being sarcastic, no.

I don't believe in the slightest that using something that contains small amounts of a common ingredient to wash your hands with, will harm a fetus.

I have no idea where you live but natural soaps are very widely available, so I find it hard to believe you can't get anything suitable at all! But perhaps there I am mistaken. You don't say where you are. Maybe online ordering is possible? Or you could try making your own?

I don't have OCD but have washed hands a lot during my pregnancy due to anxieties around covid and other illnesses as have recently pregnant friends and their babies have been born completely fine. I'm 35 wks and no issues have shown up on scans.

I would really recommend that you avoid google as literally anything will come up on some website somewhere as dangerous/ risky in pregnancy. Anyone can say anything on the internet without any medical or scientific evidence to back it up! Just stick to the NHS advice - they don't recommend changing toiletries apart from avoiding some essential oils so you and your baby will be absolutely fine xx

I had OCD so bad while I was pregnant that I used to wash my hands with soap, then detmold and then put hand gel on many many times a day. Did it during both pregnancies and both kids were absolutely fine although I did notice my skin seemed to really start peeling worse than before, but from my own experience there was no type of defects or anything like that.
I think really what you wash your hands with is really unlikely to actually get into your bloodstream in the volume that would be needed to cause any defects xx

dettol lol not detmold!

Please try to get help for your OCD before your baby arrives. My mother had it, and it absolutely blighted my childhood.