Terrified about infant botulism

[Onekittymcgee]

I have a thirteen-day-old baby. The other day, I went to open a can of tomato product and it hissed when I opened it, so I threw it away. I put the dirty can opener in the sink. Today, my mother-in-law came by and washed the dishes for me, but I am terrified and tracking the "germs" everywhere. I'm terrified that they got on, I don't know, the faucet, and are now being spread around. I'm particularly worried about touching anything in the kitchens d then touching my infant daughter. Can anyone talk me through this?

[ErinKC]

Botulism in commercially canned food is almost statistically nonexistant in the US. There are 145 reported cases of botulism each year, with only 15% of them being foodborne. The majority - 65% - are from babies who were given honey before 1 year (which is a different kind of contamination than foodborne). Of the roughly 21 cases (out of 330,000,000 people) for foodborne contamination each year, most of them are in home canned food, not commercially canned food. Even if your can was wonky the chance that it was contaminated are basically 0.

But, I know exactly the panic you're having. I have had plenty of times when i could see germs migrating around my home. Try to take a deep breath, get out the Lysol wipes, and wipe down all your surfaces. Take the garbage out if the can is still in there, and redo the dishes. If you have a dishwasher, run them on the high heat cycle. The, try to rest assured that if there was anything to be cleaned, you've done it.

And make sure you have as much help and support as you can get with your new baby!! Is this your first? The newborn days were so very difficult for me and my anxiety. The lack of sleep, hormones, and sheer terror at the thought of doing any harm to the tiny person were enough to throw me into a year of severe anxiety. I can see myself having this exact panic.

When my daughter was about 3 months old my cat got sick and had to have his spleen removed (most expensive pet ever). He flips out at the vet and was covered in his own pee and poop upon return. He smelled horrific because he had to wear a cone around his head and couldn't clean himself. Everywhere he sat would be left smelling of pee. But, we also couldn't wash him because he had a massive incision down his whole belly. We tried wipes, but then everything just smelled like flower scented pee.

I was beside myself. My daughter spent almost all day playing on the floor, and now everywhere I looked I could see nothing but cat pee germs. One day i just snapped, bought cat shampoo, bathed my insane, water despising cat (by now the incision was healed enough that it didn't do any damage) by myself while crying, and then woke up at 6 am the next day and shampooed my carpets. This was one of the first indications that I was having more than normal postpartum anxiety. Needless to say, everyone was fine and I stopped stressing about it. But, I pretty much go through this every time my daughter has a stomach bug.

[GlassPinata]

When my youngest son (now 4) was a newborn, there was a recall of Enfamil Formula. A batch was contaminated, and a baby died from it. I was feeding him Enfamil- I believe he was ten days old at the time of the recall- and it turned out that the can I had was from the batch being recalled.
Talk about f@cking panic. i just wanted to die. I did not feel up to the task of raising another child, in a world so dangerous and full of horror. I felt inadequate to protect him. I believed, in fact, that I had poisoned him.
Needless to say, despite consuming formula from the recalled batch, he was fine. Nothing happened. I switched to Similac formula, and stayed with it until he was ready for whole milk. But it really doesn't matter, because Similac has had recalls as well. Every brand has. There is no safety in this world.
But also, babies do not usually die from contaminants. It is rare and tragic when they do.
Millions of cans of formula were recalled, because a baby died and a couple of others were sickened.

I know that when you are a new mom, it feels like the world is horribly dangerous. But statistically, it's really not. Nearly every child born in industrialized nations now lives to adulthood, and most will live to old age. This was certainly not the case a hundred years ago. We are truly so fortunate, if you think about it, that tragedies are rare these days. In the past, they were par for the course.

I agree with the above poster. Clean and sanitize your kitchen, just to ease your own mind (once, not a dozen times until your hands are bleeding from chemicals) and consider the matter closed.
Your child will be fine.
Botulism is vanishingly rare, and is virtually never found in commercially canned goods.
Don't feed your baby honey, and you'll never have to worry about it.

Best wishes.

[MyNameIsTerry]

We have another thread about this at the moment called "Bad Can".

Is there some form of media article circulating in the US about it which is triggering some HAers? It's often case when something so uncommon, and uncommon as a thread topic, starts popping up by multiple posters.

[GlassPinata]

We have another thread about this at the moment called "Bad Can".

Is there some form of media article circulating in the US about it which is triggering some HAers? It's often case when something so uncommon, and uncommon as a thread topic, starts popping up by multiple posters.


I'm afraid to even check the news, lest I start worrying about botulism too! :huh: