Please Help!

[sgeiger]

I guess I should start where I *think* this whole thing started. My daughter will be turning 2 next month. In January we were at my grandmothers house. She had out a rocking horse that my daughter was supposed to get for her birthday. Well she had been playing with it and having fun when all of a sudden something scared her about it. Really scared her. So immediatly we took it away. We put it in a different room even. The whole time we were there she would not get on the floor. She would scream and cry. When we got home everything was fine and we forgot about it.

Well this same thing has happened a couple of times at our house. She gets scared of the floor and gets on the couch and wont move. We would just try to make her forget about it by bringing out special toys, helping with dinner ect. She has always forgotton about it and it had only happened once or twice since then up until this past week.

It started Wednesday afternoon. After I had gone to get her up from her nap. As soon as I walked in she didnt want to be on the floor. So we came into the living room and she was okay for about 10min. Then she was terrified. She wouldnt walk anywhere and she would just shake,cry and scream because she was so scared. I tried putting on her shoes, putting blankets down, trying to get her mind off of it, Vacuming the floor so she knows everything is up...Everything. I even tried giving her a "magical" spray bottle that she could use to make it go away. It went on until she went to bed at 9:30. We took her outside and she was fine. It happened again yesterday and it was in the kitchen, the master bedroom, the living room and her room. Then it happened again today in the same places and started to get really bad in the car(She had never had an episode in the car). She was literally in her carseat holding her legs over her head screaming. When we got out I asked her to try to tell me what she was scared of and all I could understand was "Get you". Like something was trying to get her. I told her that mommy and daddy would never let anything hurt her and that seemed to help some. This is very serious. I have never seen her so scared.

I am not sure if this is related...She has also started getting hives. Our ped told us to start giving her Benadryl when she breaks out. I am trying to cut out foods and see if this may be that cause but my husband and I got to thinking that maybe they are breaking out because of stress. She is and always has been such a happy little girl. She sleeps great, eats well and has no health problems. She is 23mths old and approx 30lbs and 36in tall. We also have a 13 week old son that she absolutly adores. We have had no problems with jealousy. In that department we have been very lucky. My husband and I have been together 6 years and married for 3 very happily. She has also always lived in the same house. Also I stay at home with her and dont ever leave her with anyone so I know what goes on...I dont know if you need any of that information but I thought I would give you everything I could think of. We plan on calling her ped on Monday to make an appt but I thought maybe you could shed some light on this for us. We are very worried about our little girl. Thank you! ~Shala

[Dr. Dot]

Your problem may already be solved but if not you may want to
see if the benadryl may be causing her to see things.
Sometimes children have odd reactions to medications
that do not bother an adult.  My son also went through a period of time that he was afraid of "monsters in the walls".  
He slept with us for awhile and we had to be sure he did not
see anything violent on TV and no violent computer games.  Also his aunt gave him a flashlight and a book about monsters in which the child scares the monsters. Our son has an active imagination so it took about 5 monthes to pass.  Thank goodness he did not scream.  Good Luck. Remeber your child will be more afraid if you seem afraid so try to not show your own fear about her upset.

[goodmom]

I had something similar happen to my son at the age of about two. He also was scared to walk anywhere. When I was finally was able to coax him off the coach and took him outside he let out a giant scream and he ran in the house terrified and I could not keep him from crying. After another try and watching very closely what he had become terrified of was his own shadow, literally. During his terrified fit all I could make out was "getting me". Sound familiar? It took a couple of weeks to convince him that it was nothing to be scared of but alas we got through it. This maybe not your case but hopefully it might help. Good luck.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Yes, definitely check this out with her pediatrician. It would be unusual for a child so young to display hives as a stress response. Such sudden, intense fears are not uncommon in children her age,and they generally disappear as quicly as they arise.  Sometimes viral conditions give rise to such reactions, and my guess is that your daughter's sensitivity has a physical component.