Fear of blood

[Bugglette]

My son is about 4.5yrs old and has never had a serious injury, but has had a lot of bumps, bruises, and scrapes.  He has never had a problem with blood/bleeding until very recently (the last month or so) and I want to ease his fears before it becomes a life-long issue for him.  I have no problem with blood at all and am able to remain calm when he gets hurt...DH is another story.  DH is afraid of blood and definitely does not handle stressful situations very well, even if that situation is only a scraped knee.  I'm guessing that part of the reason DS is scared is because he has seen DH get scared a couple of times....DH and I are working on his fear.

The first time DS showed fear was when he got a paper cut sized cut on his big toe playing in the yard (he plays barefoot most of the time).  He was screaming about bleeding to death and not wanting to die, I'm not even sure where he learned that a human CAN bleed to death.  It has happened with every cut/scrape since...at this point, band-aid will "save his life" but I don't want him to be so afraid.  Especially with a new baby coming in December, and with us planning a home birth.

Any tips, ideas, books, videos, etc that may help?

[2pinks1blue]

I am not really sure what advice to offer, but just wanted to reply because my 7 year old daughter is kind of the same way about blood/injuries. She wasn't always this way, but the past year or so she has developed a tendency that whenever she sees blood, she gets light-headed, nauseous, turns pale and clammy and almost passes out.  The first time she lost a tooth, we were in the car and as soon as she saw the blood she actually threw up!  Not too long ago, she got a paper cut at school and almost fainted, she said she was seeing "black and blue dots" in her vision and had ringing in her ears....a sure sign of almost losing conciousness!   I feel bad for her because I was the exact same way when I was a kid.  I've passed out many many times over things like that, but eventually I did grow out of it finally once I was an adult!  So....even tho I don't really have any advice on how to make it easier on your kid, just wanted to let you know you are not alone.  Some people just have a really big sensitivity to blood.  It does get better with age, though, so at least it won't last forever!