Looking for Advice

[Ma29]

Hello All,

Some of you may have seen me here - mother to a beautiful baby boy who is battling her way through this horrid illness. 

I’d like to here of techniques people use to help reduce anxiety when they worry they may have done something wrong relating to their obsession. I ask because a few weeks ago I was obsessed with the fear of touching baby’s nappy area (I still am but trying to cope with the thoughts). I woke up at 1am thinking I had touched the baby but couldn’t recall anything. My mind then thought the only way I could have done it is if baby and my husband sat next to me during the midnight feed however my husband said he did not and I was fast asleep during the baby’s feed. To top it all off I then have an image of stroking the baby (not doing anything offensive but stroking his tummy and nappy area in a downward motion). Again, I don’t recall this either. So I’m battling with the what if and also this annoying image in my head. 
 

I’d like to know what techniques others use to get over similar worry’s -  as it’s really difficult and disturbing for me. 
 

Thanks v much - p.s - no one needs to tell me what their worry’s were /are, I’m just interested in hearing about other peoples techniques they use to combat this.

 

[Benny]

For me the best approach when these type of thoughts come in is to say to myself “maybe I did , maybe I didn’t “

This makes the anxiety worse initially but stay with it and it does fade. 
Fear of harming your baby is your obsession - when you get the thoughts / images / “memories “ let them be there and say to yourself “ this is my OCD talking - fake news! “

[PolarBear]

Nice, Benny.

[Wanderer]

Similar to Benny, when I worry about what my thoughts were in a situation, my approach is to just say to myself, "I don't really know". My mind goes into overdrive because it wants certainty on everything but if you can just resist it, then it eases and you can chalk it up as nonsense and irrelevant. It's hard, but worth it. 

Edited January 28, 2022 by Wanderer