This can be so hard! And I am sorry for all that you are experiencing. I know that my daughter and I share a very strong empathic connection. Even as a teen now, she has to remind me sometimes that she is being affected by practically everything I'm feeling. It can be good and we so often share and communicate without speaking, but in negative times, it makes it very hard to shield each other from it.

Especially with little ones that can't communicate what's going on so well with language (and even with my older ones who can't always put a finger on where the feelings are coming from), you may have to just try different approaches and see what works best.

A few suggestions: having plenty of time away from the negative energy. I know when I was a child, I really liked just being outside and connected to the earth. As far back as I can remember, it helped me to feel the cool grass or sit on a warm rock.

I know my daughter has used a lot of music therapy for herself while she was angry. Even though your daughter is much younger, you might see if there is any music or just sounds that are helpful.

I know I have always needed a lot of down time, quiet time, alone time to decompress from everything. My daughter is the same way and was from even a small infant. On the other hand, my son has needed more activity, movement and noise to help soothe himself.

I am not sure how helpful this is, but I know I just had to use a lot of trial and error. I would also suggest that you make sure you are being as equally kind to yourself and doing what you can to release the negative energy for youself, as well. I know this is hard. I have been through major trials the last few years and was so caught up with my own emotions, I didn't realize how much until my daughter came to me and said, "mom, you are killing me here...you need to find some way to find some happy again because your sad is making it impossible for me not to feel sad!"

Thank you so much for your reply. Once my daughter was born, I was immediately calling her my very own bio-feedback machine. We definately are emotionally close. (We actually played quite a bit while she was inside me. :-) ) I'm trying to be a source of calm for her, and I gently/mischeviously smile at her when she's watching me. Fortunately, she hasn't melted since my husband and I have had this realization about her sensitivity. She's probably thinking, "finally, they get it." And we must have minutely changed our reactions.

I'm a hydrogeologist, so I really enjoy water and rocks, especially springs. I understand the need to touch and smell the outside world. (Personally, my favorite is the silence found at the end of a wild cave. That's where I can completely relax.) We spend about an hour out in the backyard everyday. I love watching her discovering things (gravity and sounds right now), and watching everything!

The only music I have used is soothing music to sleep by, and kids music at bathtime. She does love dancing with Barney. I'll start experimenting and try some other music on her.

I'm a bit odd in that, I need high activity for a few months to a year, but then I have to get away from the situations and recover for several months. Usually, this has been in relation to protecting water availability and quality, or enforcing civil democratic rights. You can see I just burnout. I aquired almost 200 hours of hatha yoga teacher training, so I knew how I liked to relax daily, but then my esophagus stopped working - so there went the yoga... I set a good example for our daughter on how to eat, I just need to be setting a good example on how to relax.

I can tell this is going to be a lot of trial and error, in discovering how best to handle our little girl. Fortunately, my parents handled me pretty well since Mom is a HSP. My husband's parents simply realized he was wise beyond his years and trusted him. I'm reading all I can about HSC, starting with; The Highly Sensitive Child, The Highly Intuitive Child & Raising Intuitive Children. (Do you have any other suggestions?) I tend to absorb lots of information, and what makes sense sticks.

Thank you for sharing what your daughter said. That was great. If my daughter could talk, I could see her having said that to me. I'm sorry you've had some major trials, and for such a long time too. We don't anymore, but at first it was so hard not to cry when holding her to go to sleep at night. No wonder she woke up terrified in the middle of the night. She sleeps great now. At your suggestion, I will look for new ways to release my negative vibes - thank you.