I'm the same way with my daughter. I was warned about this though.

So I am not completely nuts... good to know... will it just pass with age?

Not sure yet. I look at her and I see myself and all I can do is hold her and cry and remember she's not me

It's worse with my son. I often pull away from him because I see in him someone I should fear not trust and adore. Don't get me wrong, I love my son but he has serious anger issues and sometimes the severely abused child inside me gets scared.

I was expecting it would for me but then my daughter was abused at age 2 so I guess that part will look different as I am dealing with the nightmare I'd wanted to avoid with her. I do often wonder if I,was loved like she is though because she is just so very beautiful and such an amazing spirit I just love having a girl but I don't remember feeling that way myself. I was always told I was very shy. But I don't have many early memories. My known abuse was at thirteen. I think I was avoiding issues around abuse in doing the good touch bad touch etc because I felt I was already so careful and I also never imagined anyone abusing a baby. But I had older boys that I also didn't do that with ages five and six so I guess I would start doing the books younger than I thought. Enjoy being the parent you didn't get to have I know I do soo much

I have no children. That said, I've witnessed it. My mom went super-hyper-protective of me when I was 26 (the age at which my older sister died). After a year or so, she calmed down, when she saw I'd survived that age. So I'd say if you're aware of it, why it's happening, and that it's not uncommon, you and your daughter'll be okay---and you should probably talk to someone about it, just to have backup in place. And to realize that it's okay to be protective and to be careful of her safety. That's what good moms do, from what I can tell.

Luck an dhealing blessings,
Leo

I'm not a parent, so I can't speak to it from experience, but it sounds simply plausible to me.

I think it's great that you're aware of what's going on. In retrospect, I realize that my daughter turning 3 triggered me in some way and it had a really destructive impact on our relationship.

When she was born, a lot of grief and other feelings came up and I was able to feel them and work through them. But I believe when she reached a certain age it triggered stuff I wasn't ready to deal with and all I knew was that I "fell out of empathy" with her. With tragic consequences and a ton of remorse on my side. So I hope you are in counseling and have a place to work through the feelings your son is bringing up in you now. I'm sorry, I know how hard and painful this is.

My own abuse started when I was in diapers, so I can't speak from experience on that one, but I do know that anniversaries are super tough for me. Trauma anniversaries tend to be tough for just about everybody, whether they suffer PTSD, or not. It surely sounds plausible and I have heard others speak of it.

Welcome to the forum. Do you have a shorter name we can call you?