moms with bad anxiety when their kids are sick

I have awful anxiety when my son (15 months) gets sick. And he's in day care, so its pretty often. I can't eat and sleep well when I think he's sick or if he is sick. It really consumes me. I need to get over this and my husband is getting really frustrated with me because I act like such a lunatic.

Does anyone else suffer from this and how can I improve??

Re: moms with bad anxiety when their kids are sick

Just wanted to say..I was/am the same way..I was petrifiied every time he got sick, which was often as a baby!! He is now two and a half and I've gotten sooooo much better.

Once u realize that they won't die from a cold, god forbid...your anxiety will get less and less!! The fight things off better then we do sometimes!

But hang in there..I hate that feeling...my insides would shake!!,

Re: moms with bad anxiety when their kids are sick

I've always been somewhat like this. It's really hard I will say that the older they get, and the more kids you have (I now have 2) it does get MUCH better. As they say, I don't sweat the small stuff anymore. THAT SAID, when either child has a high fever (over 103) I do freak out a bit inside I know how it is! It will get a BIT better though

moms with bad anxiety when their kids are sick

I am so anxious when the kids get sick but I have pretty bad anxiety anyway.

I take their temp a lot and run to the doctor fairly quick because I always think of the what ifs

Re: moms with bad anxiety when their kids are sick

Kids are a lot more resilient then we tend to give them credit for. You need to stay calm for your LO otherwise your DC is going to pick up on your anxiety. Trust your insincts. If you feel he needs the doctor take him, of course.

Unfortunately they get sick and there is not much you can do about it. They can get exposed to any number of viruses just from a trip to a supermarket...and they dont even need to be the one in the supermarket. The best thing you can do is try to limit exposure to pathogens when you can...but they cant live in a bubble either. Wash your hands frequently. Even if you are not sick, you could be carrying germs that if your baby is exposed to he can get. Moisturize hands too. Wipe down things including door knobs, strollers, toys, etc with a mild disinfecting wipe. Wash baby's hands and keep people who are ill away. Thats the only thing you can do.

Re: moms with bad anxiety when their kids are sick

Glad i am not the only one...got two sick ones tonight and they always seem much worse at night

Re: moms with bad anxiety when their kids are sick

I am only bad when he is sick with a stomach thing.. Then I freak out big time.. I have always been that way though. It has gotten a little bit better in the last 2.5 years, but I don't think I will ever get over it or deal with it like most people. I did freak out a bit when he had a high fever last month. But he had never had a fever like that... I try to calm myself down and tell myself he will be ok..

Re: moms with bad anxiety when their kids are sick

I can write a book.

Ped accused me of having a crush on him since I kept dragging my healthy kids in to see him

At 14 mos, my boy had a febrile seizure. The EMT came in and said I caused it.

At 18 mos, I brought boy into dr because he was pumping his stomach a little funny.
In distress, on oxygen, ambulance, 5 days in hospital.
I felt like I was the most neglectful parent ever. I had no idea.

I actually ended up in counseling for a short bit.

Re: moms with bad anxiety when their kids are sick

My son was sick with recurrent ear infections from 5 months old until 1 year old. Back to back to back, double ear infections. It was awful. I had trouble sleeping, anticipating when he would start crying at night.He was still the happiest baby, but it was hard to hear him so sad at night. I felt so helpless and as a first time mom, never knew if I was doing the right thing. It was a lot of learning, quickly, "on the job." I will say *knock on wood* since he got tubes put in right after he turned one that he has barely been sick and he's now 3. So that has helped my anxiety. Now that he can talk, he will also be able to tell me "Mommy my ear hurts" instead of me guessing, pacing, in his room at 2 am and thinking, "Does he have an ear infection? Should I take the day off of work? What if I go in and there's nothing wrong?" That was awful!!!! It also didn't help that my ped at the time was not very supportive of me as a first time mom. His answer was always, "Well when he goes to kindergarten he's never going to be sick." And my response was, "Well that doesn't make me feel better as I sit in front of you NOW, with a 6 month old that is screaming in pain and I haven't slept all night." Ok, I didn't really say that but I wanted to. We moved, changed peds and I feel like they are MUCH more sensitive to me as a first time parent and great with my DS. I think what has also helped me has been knowing that, now that DS is older and I've been through so much with him, I feel ready for anything with him or even my next DC. If he didn't get sick so much, I wouldn't know what to do with a fever or an ear infection or a stomach bug- but now I do. And even better, I know that if he does get sick- we all still get through it and it'll be ok. We'll all be ok, you just have to make it out the other side.

Whew! That got long, but I hope it helped you. FM if you ever need to talk!