Feeling sick to my stomach about lost memories!

[RunningOutOfTries]

I suffer from anxiety and depression, but I think even without that, I’d be so upset right now.

Ive basically lost 6 months worth of photos and videos of my eldest child. I have explored every option for trying to recover them but there is no solution. She is 10 now, and this includes all of my videos of her first steps, all photos of her first birthday (other than a few I took on another camera). She has told me not to be upset about it and that she doesn’t mind, but I feel like the worst mum in the world right now.

I don’t know why I’m posting. Just have no other place to express how sad I am. Unfortunately, it was just me and DD back then, so I don’t have photos and videos from other family members either. 😭

Nothing on an old facebook account or anything like that?
An email you might have sent to someone?
Anything random like a newspaper article she was in or nursery picture archive?

Bless her though, she sounds a wise old girl. Losing files is easily done!
In previous generations no one had many if any pictures.

I’ve gathered everything I can and it’s very minimal. Obviously it’s only a 6 month period. I didn’t use social media. She didn’t attend a nursery and we lived hundreds of miles from family. 😢

Did you send them to any family that might have some copies?

Did DH have any?

Have you taken camera/SD card/laptop into a recovery shop?

You aren't the worse mother in the world. It's a risk that everyone takes with digital

Make sure you back up the rest somehow

If that are gone they are gone. Try and be kind to yourself as you would with someone else who had found they had lost the same.

Basically, an old device didn’t back up for that 6 month period. I stupidly thought it was automatically backing up. DH worked away for those 6 months and any pictures I sent via WhatsApp are no longer there as his WhatsApp didn't back up that far (if that makes sense). I’ve thoroughly looked into it all and sadly, there is no way of me recovering anything that’s lost.

It won't help you now but when your child is 30 it really won't matter.

I have hardly any photographic evidence of my children before they were 20.

What scant evidence I have means the world.
Daily photos or videos of them will be meaningless as who, in their 50s wants to look at daily photos or videos of themselves?