Has something ever affected you like this

[FoxyBloxy]

Last night I saw a post on a community Facebook page about a baby from around where I live passing away suddenly from an illness. They posted a photo that had been taken the previous day of the child smiling then next to that photo there was quite a graphic one of them deceased. Last night I cried non stop for about an hour then woke up this morning and had a little cry. I don’t know the parents or the family but it’s really got to me. Maybe because I have a child a similar age. Has a story like this ever affected anyone else? I feel silly for feeling this upset and cannot imagine how the parents are feeling.

I think most people would be upset seeing a graphic photo of a deceased baby. That’s awful.

I had a child a similar age to Maddie McCann when she went missing , and I always worried when we were away because of it.

@VainAbigail I know☹️ I didn’t know if I’d sound insensitive as I know people do things differently but it shouldn’t have been posted in my opinion

I think posting that picture takes away the child’s dignity, but we’re all different, and it’s up to the parents what they do.

@KangarooKenny it’s horrible and scary isn’t it☹️

Things like that are upsetting, I've never had a reaction like that but I can see why some would.

Someone local to me had a stillbirth and their profile was on the 'suggested friends' and her profile photo was of their (cleaned up and dressed) deceased baby. It sounds insensitive to say but it just feels wildly inappropriate.

It does seem to be a thing lately where parents are posting photos of their babies just after they have died.

If it brings them peace, then I understand, but it makes me uncomfortable.

I saw one the other day. The baby had been stillborn. He looked..well he definitely didn’t look alive. But the parents wanted his face on social media. Just to say he existed

When the little boy fell down the well a year or two ago and they had the photo of him down there, and then he was dead when they got him out. I thought about it for weeks. I have a little boy a similar age, I think that's a factor in why it affected me so much. Heartbreaking.

Yeah the parents have every right to post what they want about their child, people deal with things differently and definitely not judging. Just the whole thing has upset me but that’s my problem not theirs. It’s awful, the poor family. I think it’s set me off thinking about my dc

It's perfectly natural for caring people to be traumatised by the pain and grief of others.
I find it very difficult . I feel we are exposed to so much suffering that we cannot change that it can just be unbearable.

Hugs.

I have suffered a loss myself, I have never posted pictures of my son but I have made posts about him on his birthday/mothers day/during the wave of light for baby loss awareness week.

I understand that pictures may be difficult to see, but it will never NEVER be as difficult as what these poor bereaved parents are experiencing. You can go and give your child a hug and a kiss, you can do your best to make them safe, you have the option to share or not share pictures of your child if you want to and nobody will say you shouldn’t or call in inappropriate. You will have a lifetime of pictures and making memories with your child, bereaved parents will never have more pictures, another cuddle or the opportunity to sneak a peak on the child sleeping peacefully in their bed, you may be upset and distressed but count yourself lucky that you can just scroll on by.

@Lillygolightly Yes I understand that and it does put things into perspective. That’s why I feel guilty about feeling so upset, I think I just wanted it off my chest. So sorry for your loss💔

If I'm being fundamentally honest, no, I can't say that things like that affect me in any way. I can't empathise or get emotional about people I've never met, issues I don't care about, and events that are of no consequence whatsoever to my own life. It's not an inability to feel empathy, because I work with ill and vulnerable people, a lot of them are in circumstances and suffering with illnesses that I've experienced myself, and I am totally able to relate to them and feel empathy. I just don't experience the same thing when it's scenario that I can't relate to through prior experience.

I do have an autism diagnosis, but I'm not convinced that this is the much mooted 'inability to empathise' that is often ignorantly associated with autistic people. I am perfectly capable of empathy, I just don't believe it's something that all humans feel in identical circumstances. It isn't universal and it's in no way strange to be able to relate to some circumstances and not others. That's just one of the myriad of differences between individual human beings. I dislike children and deliberately chose to not have any, so I can't really relate to stories about children in the way that a parent obviously can. Conversely a lot of people hate cats and really couldn't care less about cat welfare, but I'm fond of them and so I can relate to mad cat ladies and so on.

We're all different, and I don't think there's a right or wrong when it comes to what someone might get emotional about.