Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

9 year old girl with phobia of blood - help please!

6 replies

namechange76217052684 · 15/05/2022 10:58

DD (9) has a phobia of blood, stemming from a post-op bleed following a tonsillectomy. Now, whenever she sees blood she throws up and/or faints. It just happened today when her tooth fell out. Does anyone have any advice on how I can help her with this? I'm very aware that we may not have long before she starts getting periods and I'm worried this is going to be incredibly traumatic if I can't help her manage the phobia better by then.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
sleepymum50 · 15/05/2022 12:08

My Dd has this, but funnily enough starting her periods wasn’t a problem. I don’t know if the preparation for it by me and her school was the reason.

she even once starting fainting when she was having fake blood applied for halloween. She was about 9. She still has it, she’s an adult and managed to get the covid vaccinations. Her boyfriend cut his hand badly at home, she was able to sort him out and only had a wobble after they got to A and E.

she lives a perfectly normal life.

namechange76217052684 · 15/05/2022 12:44

Thank you so much @sleepymum50 , this is so reassuring! I got her a book about growing up a while ago and she didn't seem particularly worried about the section on periods. I thought maybe she hadn't really understood, but maybe somehow she'll see them differently? This has given me some confidence to start preparing her a bit more. I've been really unsure how to approach it, I'm sure it's better to be as prepared as possible but at the same time I don't want it to build up in her mind too much.

OP posts:
sleepymum50 · 15/05/2022 18:23

It is hard, but don’t forget they get influenced by their peers so much. Hopefully she’ll have a group of girlfriends who are going through it at the same time. If you talk about it at home in a relaxed way, then she may find she can talk about it too.
Best of luck.

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

TheDuchessOfMN · 15/05/2022 18:37

All my DC have this, I could write a book about it.

Mind you, we still don’t know where it comes from because neither DH nor I are squeamish or have the same reaction.

So it’s great that you know the source of this phobia, I think that makes it treatable.

DDs are actually ok-ish about periods. Someone else with the same issue told me it’s because the blood isn’t gushing from a wound, I think that’s why the body overreacts with the response of fainting.

She will probably always have this issue and will always have to deal with it, but will have little ways to cope. One of mine mostly just laughs it off now, eg today one of her friends told us she plans on doing nursing, we both just laughed.

I always write a note on their files for school, swimming, dentist, etc. One of mine is exceptionally extreme and will pass out on the spot at the very word “needle” 😑
She has even fainted if another child in school has cut themselves.

By ways to cope, I mean, sitting down / laying down and deep breaths, avoiding certain triggers.

If your dd is very distressed, I would discuss with GP and possibly consider a therapist

TheDuchessOfMN · 15/05/2022 18:40

Btw, I got one of my younger dds Dr. Emily Mcdonagh’s book about periods (she’s Peter Andre’s wife, sorry to describe her as that).
It’s written in a gentle, child friendly manner

Greydogs123 · 15/05/2022 18:43

I wonder about this - I also have a 9 yr old dd who has a not quite phobic, but becomes almost hysterical at the sight of blood. Even the smallest cuts have to be plastered as quickly as possible.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread