4 year old with phobia of blood.

[pucca]

Spurring on from the phobia thread, i thought i would ask some advice.

My dd (4) has a real fear of blood, and even if she has a pin prick sized scratch she goes hysterical and is completely crazy until a plaster goes on. Once the plaster is on she calms down, she hasn't seen anyone else with this fear, infact i am the opposite blood just doesn't phase me at all, infact i if anything make light of it.

For example i recently sliced my knuckle in Tesco, i wasn't bothered apart from being annoyed i had to stop shopping and go and get a tissue/plaster because the blood was dripping down my hand, dd? absolutely hysterical! you would have thought i had chopped my arm off.

What can i do to help her with this? i try my best to keep her calm when she does scratch herself etc, but she goes like a mad person, that crazy its like all that would bring her out of it is a slap across the face (of course i would never do that) but she is just completely unreachable.

Is a trip to the doctors silly? just feel like i should do something before it gets really out of hand, and of course i want to help her get over this if possible.

Not at all unusual IME, and it may get better with age (though my Dad and db still have to ask to lie down if they're having blood taken).

As I remember it, we used to have at least one child like this in the class when I was at school.

Just keep calm and reassure her, but accept that some people are very troubled by the sight of blood. It's not some weird condition that needs treating- it's just how they are. It is when they start avoiding activities because they might result in blood that it's a phobia and something needs to be done.