Does anyone else have severe anxiety about their child getting sick?
I don’t know what it is, but it’s something that is constant on my mind, and I go over and above the necessary preventions of my child getting sick.
So for background:
she is 5
She was a preemie baby who spent time in nicu, so she’s always been on the petite side growing up. She is visibly smaller than her peers but she is healthy. (I was also very sick as a child, and in hosp a lot. but this is due to a medical condition and not school bugs)
This anxiety about sickness didn’t kick in until She started daycare, then she started picking up nursery bugs literally every other day. It was nightmare fuel for me. She would lose weight, her appetite and it felt like recovery took ages. I was also working full time and this caused massive issues with work, I really struggled to cope, even considered taking her out of nursery due to the amount of times she picked up an illness. I didn’t though.
Now I’m in a WFH role and am a bit more relaxed, but I still get panicky if a friend or family is ill and will actively avoid going there if so.
my mates who have children of similar ages r like a free for all. They don’t understand my anxiety, they send their kids to school if they r sick and coughing and they always seem to have a bug, it’s resulted me in going over there less. They say to me ‘there’s nothing a good night sleep & calpol can’t fix’
But I go into military mode if I feel like she’s getting sick. Am prepared with towels/sick bucket/ calpol/cooling gels/ointments/humidifiers the lot. It’s a box I will pull out which is preprepprd in times of emergency. When I went abroad with her for the first time, an entire suitcase was just medical supplies (which were never used regardless)
Like tonight I can sense something is wrong as she was exhausted and crying complaining of body aches. She’s fast asleep in her bed now but I have a lamp on and am sitting next to her (with the intention of all night) with everything prepped incase she’s up with a fever or vomiting. I know this isn’t normal or healthy. And I know once the bug is over she’s back to her sprightly self. But I find myself mentally drained. How can I trick my mind to accept this is a normal part of growing up? Am I a total nutcase?
would really appreciate some advice/opinions