i really need help on this one..2 year old scared after seeng 3d scan pics of himself

[bumbly]

and today screamed after seeing his fave photo album of himself as a baby

past two weeks he is afraid of something and i CAN'T pinpoint what

yours ever experience this - sudden fear of being in a tummy concept, fear of being a baby,

argh i don't know what is going on

he really was the most upset i have seen him since born

Sorry no advice Bumbly but how horrid for you and your ds. Hope you manage to get to the botom of things.

How about showing him realbabies, and how nice real babies are? He may be scared that because you are saying those scan pictures are him, he will one day turn into the 'thing' in the scan picture.

Start with some older, more toddlery babies, and emphasise how lovely they are, but also emphasise that he is NOT a baby, he is "Big ". The try talking about how he was a lovely lovely baby, but NOW he is "Big ", and he is going to get bigger, like .

to top it off he cried when seeing baby stand on his hand at playgroup!!

Could it be because the photos don't look like he looks now and this is making him feel insecure? I.e he knows what he looks like and you telling him that the strange thing in the photo is him is confusing and upsetting him.

Is he ok if you show him recent photos of himself?

Apparently I had a massive meltdown when I was a toddler because someone showed me a picture of my sister with a plant behind her head so it looked like she had green spiky hair. Cue lots of 'that's not my sister' screaming! Perhaps it's something similar.

Hope you manage to sort it out - I'm sure he'll soon be back to his happy self.

Oh the poor thing!

If it's any consolation, many years ago my mum tried to get me used to the idea of having a baby sister/brother by showing me a film about babies. They showed a woman getting a scan and the sound of the baby's whoosing heartbeat TERRIFIED me - I was only 4, but I cried and cried.

I'm OK now though - got over the shock enough to have my own DS

In fairness, the 3d scans probably do look scary to a very young child. I would go with the advice of other posters, and show him lots of pictures of lovely happy out-of-the-womb babies.

Sorry bout HTML fail there

Not sure about the 3D scans, but DS had a very odd stage at about 2 of being really jealous of the pictures of him as a baby with us Not sure why, but he didn't really associate himself with the person in the pictures, and was unhappy about seeing us there looking happy with another child.

I've no idea if that might connect up with what your DS is scared of, but they are very odd little creatures at that age!

he used to love pic sof himself - and look at them all the time..esp as a baby

then saw scan ones and all very odd

and yest really upset when he saw his usual old normal photos
said was upset

but just can't pinpoint about what exactly

argh!!!!!!!!

Maybe you could show him pics of you or DH when you were babies, then when toddlers, then when children, teenagers etc etc til adulthood. That way he'll see what the end result was for you guys and not be so worried.

Maybe you could monitor how you react around him, when he reacts to the pics if that makes sense? If you jump to comfort him, he may be feeding from your energy.

What about small treats / fav toy etc when looking at them to try to change the negative feelings when looking at them into positive ones, so he associates looking at them with good things.

I find over the top praise when things are going well is always really good i.e. if one day he doesn't react as badly, go all out on the praise front.

Don't be too worried - little'uns can blow things all out of proportion and distort the truth and fiction so easily. He may have had a bad dream about the picture which has exaserbated matters in his imaginative little mind!

If all else fails, the more exposure he has, the less scared he's likely to become. I hate spiders but if i were to hold one twice a day for a month, they'd prob be less scary and eventually wouldn't bother me at all...

Don't know if it's any use but anythings worth a go

Good luck
Beeny

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

some fantastic words of advice ther e- need to print your response out but the idea of pics of me and hubby as young ones

very clever

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I doubt he is realising that the scan is him 3 or so years ago. At about 18 months-2 they develop a sense of themselves as a person in their own right - Robert Winston did a great programme as part to his Child of Our Time series observing kids looking at their reflections in a mirror. However to then look backwards at their own development is yet another huge association to make. they have no real sense of the passing time or memory to attach yet. He may think it is another baby altogether and almost feel jealous. Can you make him a little album of himself and the family.

Why not just put all the phots away for a while.He doesnt need to look at them at all does he.You may find that seeing pics of mummy and daddy as babies upsets him even more.Honestly I would let him ask to see them before bringing them out again.Fisher Price and others make a lovely kiddy camera with two sturdy handles-very easy for 3 year olds to use.Could you get one for him and encourage him to take photos of toys etc-inanimate things and look at the developed pics.Dont worry about the 3d scan they do look a bit scary to a small child.

THE PHOTOES HE IS SCARED OF ARE AN ALBUM OF US AS AND FAMILY

OOPS CAPS LOCK sorry

maybe will put them away....he has always looked at them

and has always said it is himself in mirror not someone else

most odd

thanks so much for support