anyone else have a sympathetic crier?

[catmom]

DD has been like this since she was a tiny baby- like 3 months old. And now I am freaking out a little bit because there are about to be 2 crying babies in the house. I swear, if she ever sees a baby/child cry, she totally loses it and starts sobbing uncontrolably. It happened the other day at portrait innovations. I think she tried to pull it together... she was saying, "it's okay... the baby's not sad. the baby's not sad...." and then she just lost it and was crying so hard we had to take her outside to calm down. And the baby in question only cried for like 10 seconds- as soon as his mom picked him up, he stopped.

I'm hoping she'll toughen up a little after the babies are born or there's going to be a LOT of crying going on in my house. I've tried telling her that babies cry because they can't talk, etc, etc. But it doesn't seem to be helping. And if another kid her age falls down and gets hurt- forget it. Hysteria city. Anyone else have this issue? What can I do to help her?

[petdoc08]

You described my daughter to a T. She breaks down whenever she notices someone else upset. The first week having DD#2 home was trying but it has gotten better (only 2.5 weeks in). She doesn't loose it completely every time but she still whimpers/whines initially when the baby cries. We just keep repeating that babies cry when they are hungry or tired, not because they are sad. We then have her help get things to make the baby more comfortable, like a blanket, clean diaper, binky etc. I think by her helping "fix" the reason baby sister is crying helps her understand why baby cries to begin with.

[1_mommy]

yup, my kids do it. my dd is 4 my ds is 2.
if one crys, it is very likely the other will start too, just because the other is crying.
It is especially bad if one of them gets in trouble

[catmom]

Thanks- glad I'm not the only one with one of these! Don't get me wrong, I think it's great that she's such an empathetic kid (she also shares toys well and is generally very sweet to other children), but it gets embarassing when another kid gets hurt and she makes a bigger scene than the other child!

[Scooter]

My DD does the same thing--and I hadn't even thought about what will happen when we have two babies crying in the house! Yikes.

She was like this right from the beginning--I remember nursing her and saying "ow" softly when she bit me. Her reaction? Stopped eating and started crying. You've think she was the one who was bit! And she was only a few months old. It's been like that ever since with her.

She gets more worked up than the other kid, usually, and will go to any length to help make them "happy!" again. So whenever her little friends cry because they want her toy, she'll start crying and give it to them. :rolleyes: I mean it's wonderful to be empathetic, but I don't want her to be a pushover, either. Or have other kids learn to manipulate her.