Hospital admissions lead ingto anxiety?

[tatty33]

Hope this is Ok to post here, realise everyone will have a lot going on, and don't want to be a bother/ sound trivial.

My ds is now 18 months. He spent nearly 3 months in hospital between sept and Dec with asthma/ breathing problmes, inc twice in intensive care.

Luckily he has been physically well for sometime, but seems to me to get quite anxious in certain situations. He also gets quite distressed if women he doesn't know comes into the house, but very happy with 'strange' men!

Is it me looking for problems that aren't there or could his hospital admissions have left him with bad memories? I'm thinking perhaps the women thing is tied in to so many female nurses coming in for assessments/ temp etc which he didn't like at the time. Any thoughts gratefully received

I would say that it can definitely cause anxiety especially around that age tatty. It will settle in time I'm sure. dd used to have quite bad nightmares after hospital stays as a toddler.

tatty, you don't sound trivial at all! 3 months in hospital must have been pretty traumatic for both of you - glad he's better now. I'm sure it's bound to take a little one a while to get over something like that though and you've probably got a point about the women/nurses thing. Don't know what you can do apart from be as reassuring as possible and talk him through visits etc like Tclanger said.(Sorry bit rubbish at advice!?!)

ds3 spent 1 night in hospital at around 18 months for a seizure and it took him ages to get over it. It can definitely be traumatic for them.