HELP! My 2Yr Old Daughter Has a New Phobia of Bugs!!

I doubt that your daughter is having a psychological breakdown. It is common for kids to go through stages when they fear bugs. But it usually passes.

It does cause me to wonder about why she gets so scared when she doesn't even see a bug but says she does. I'm guessing she was seriously frightened by a bug or someone teasing her with a bug and now she's over reacting.

I suggest that you ignore her fear as much as possible. Yes, hold her and say you're sorry she's so scared but don't try to talk her out of being scared. When she's fine tell her you're not afraid of bugs and talk about the good things bugs do for us. Perhaps find some books with drawn pictures of bugs and tell a story about the bugs.

I"ve heard it suggested to give a child a "bug go away spray" which would be a spray bottle of water so that she can spray the bug. This will make the bug go away.

What does your mom say? Does anyone scare her with those fake bugs? It's normal to be scared of bugs, but your right I would wonder why it's so extreme. Have you asked her about it? Where it started from? If anyone gives her a hard time about bugs or if she sees a lot of bugs at your moms? Maybe she woke up from a nap with a bug on her and it freaked her out. The only thing you can do is talk to her and find out where she got if from and find out what's going on at your moms, I was surprised you said you weren't really sure about your moms. Try getting one of the cartoony books about nice bugs :) Maybe it will help her. If talking to her and your mom doesn't help then maybe you should see a therapist and just see what they suggest.

Now that coffeemama mentioned it, I remembered my 2 year old started being afraid of flies too. We had one get in the house and she was so scared. I had no idea why, she just was. Yet she's not afraid of bees lol.

When my son was about 3 he developed a phobia of bugs, specifically flies. Yes, the poor little guy was terrified of flies, the most harmless (but annoying) bug out there. He cried hysterically and would cling to me if he saw one. We were traveling at the time, and he didn't even want to use the rest stop bathrooms because there were a few flies buzzing around. We would explain over and over again that they were harmless, but it never calmed him down. Finally my husband gave him a rolled-up magazine and told him to swat the flies away whenever he saw them. We also got him his own fly swatter (a clean one) to use if he ever saw a bug in the house. It seemed to work for him. But your daughter's case seems more severe (it didn't affect his sleeping or anything), so if nothing you try helps, you should try to call the pediatrician to see if there's anything else you can do and if her fear is extreme or normal. Good luck!

Sounds just like my 4 year old daughter. When she was two, we were on a road trip, and all of a sudden she was screaming hysterically and trying desperately to climb out of her car seat. We immediately pulled into a gas station to figure out the problem. There was a love bug on her window. She is still scared of certain bugs and fuzz. She will pick up caterpillars, lady bugs, beetles and just loves them. Love bugs, spiders, flies, mosquitoes and bits of fuzz send her into a freak-out frenzy. She also is completely afraid of Dyson vacuum cleaners.