Does Your Child Have Memories of Thier Infancy??

I think they can remember. While I think we can "control" some of their memories by talking about things in the past, I also do believe that they have greater capacity for memory than we know, particularly of emotional (ie very painful or very happy) events. Google infant memory some time. It is fascinating. I read something not long ago about how scientists were able to detect changes in infant's brain chemistry for many months following a painful event (circumcision). So I think there is definitely something to infant memory. They just lack the communication skills to express it.

You never know! My nephew talks about when he was born and his mom's bones were crushing on his head....where would a three year old get THAT! Anything is possible. I told my Mom once about a memory of sitting on a beach, not liking the sand and then going to a circus after the day at the beach. She told me the same thing DID happen..... I did go to the beach, I didn't like the sand and the whole family went to the circus that evening. I was 6 months old when that happened. She couldn't believe it. So...you never know!

Hi Lisa,
I think that children do have memories from their infancy. If you daughter is 4 then to remember something from 3.5 years ago isn't that big of a stretch.
I am a 50 year old woman and have a vivid memory that took place before my first birthday.
In fact there is a fascinating book called "Babies Remember Birth" that is an account of several adults recalling their births and very early childhoods. The author is Chamberlain.

Enjoy your camping trip! I wish you and your family many beautiful sunsets to remember!

M.

I know this sounds weird, but I can remember before I could walk...In fact, it was before I could crawl...I could inch around. There was a black cat, melvin, who would sit just inches from my grasp. I finally got his tail. It did not taste like much. My mother said "No Christy. He is going to scratch you. You will be sorry." I remember looking at her, kicking my feet, and then pulling the tail toward me. I remember a sharp pain in my head. I remember crying. I remember my mother picking me up and that is all.

I remember the issolette after I was born. I asked my mother about it when I was a young child and was able to tell her the colour of it. Mottled milk. She was a little suprised. There are no pictures of it.

I also have a memory of a memory, that is, I remember being a tot and remembering back to the before time. I know that sounds weird. But when I closed my eyes and looked toward sunlight, it reminded me of muffled noises and diffused light and a different kind of feeling. The memory was fleeting, but it was there. I called it the before time. As I got older, I guessed that it was a memory of the womb. It may sound crazy, but the memory is there.

I think if something impresses us enough, we can remember it. I have a friend who believes he remembers his circumcision. He remembers an intense pain.

It is amazing how little we really know about the brain.

My earliest memories are at about 1.5, and they're sporadic & mostly sensory. Sitting on the steps with my dog (the feel of the concrete under my thighs and calves, and the sunshine coming through the green, and the silk red hair and pattern of my dog's breathing, and bugs crawling across me, and...). Returning a hair clip (feeling it press into my hands and fingers, and reaching out and handing it over). The feel of tatami on my feet. Blue tiles falling and being outside in the middle of the night (as what seems like a big party) -7.2 earthquake-, being screamed at (don't know if in English or Japanese) something about getting away from the garden (snake?), the feeling of glass under my tongue (licking a window). A swimsuit with a duck on the front, and trying to hold the seams away from my skin and not having enough arms. The way my legs would dangle from the backpack baby holder, and the feeling of the blue foam and the way my mom's hair smelled.

I know I was 1.5 at the time, because we left Japan right after that, and I have new memories of a different place. They're just as sporadic, & visual/emotional/sensory until after my sister was born. It's interesting to ME, because except for the earthquake... none of the events were pivotal, or important. Just random snapshots of life. I don't get a continuous thread of memory until I was 4 and we were in South Carolina... although the *snapshots* gain in frequency.

I also still dream of that period 1-4, and they're in japanese. The peculiar thing is that I (the character in the dream) can understand what's being said, but I (the adult dreaming) can't understand a durn word. Even though they're both ME, and I'm listening with both sets of "ears".

A researcher at the UW has done a lot of study into memory... but all of her work (to the best of my knowledge) has to do with pivotable memory. Events that the people around us remember or know about or talk about. I also don't know if any of her work is with adhd folks (who tend to be eidetic for sensation) or with true eidetic.

In all likelihood it's not a "real" memory, but a memory of a story that she's been told or made up. It's possible you told her about going camping with her when she was a baby and there was a beautiful sunset etc etc, so it's like she remembers being there, but it's not her original memory of the event. It's not like you remember every conversation the two of you have had, so it's entirely possible that a forgotten conversation about a sunset camping trip somehow stuck in her mind more than in yours.

There's something called infantile amnesia, it's why we really don't remember anything from our first couple of years of life. There aren't quite enough neural connections to store them the "right"way.

Still, as others have said, it doesn't really matter if it's a real memory or not if it evokes the same good feeling in her, so I would roll with it.

My stepfather died when my son was about 2.75. he is 7 now. We still talk about his Pap all the time (Pap used to watch him/babysit often and he was the apple of Pap's eye)...and he does too BUT he expressed that he "remembers" him mostly b/c of how we talk about him and tell him stories of ways Pap spoiled him, etc. Sadly, I don't think he remembers the actual person at all.
My earliest memory is a car trip to the beach...I remember my "spot" was lying on the floor of the backseat--behind the driver (Safe! I know!) and I remember looking at the seatbelt buckle...not sure how old I was but must have been pretty small if I was stretching out on the floor behind the driver's seat!

I have a friend who has some very very early memories. She can recall vividly being made to eat beets, not liking them, and spitting them out. She was one year or less at the time. She can also recall the pattern of the wallpaper above her crib from infancy.

I personally, do not have that early of memories. But I don't think that it is impossible either. It is more likely in your daughter's case, I think, that she overheard you or your husband reminiscing about a previous camping trip and she has "remembered" what she overheard.

That said, I know that my son has an astounding memory for details. But as he gets older, some of the things that he used to remember, he no longer can... (for example, when he was 4, he might have remembered visiting a relative at Xmas when he was 2, and have very specific vivid detailed memory of it and be able to tell us exactly what we did, who we saw, and even what clothes he was wearing while we were there. But now at age 11, he doesn't recall any details if at all... more like general knowledge of we spent some Xmases at Gram's house, etc). So, maybe she does have some memories, but if she does, it is highly unlikely that she will continue to retain them when she is older... they will fade with time.

My nephew (3) was overheard recently by his parents telling a friend that he used to have a brother who got sick and went to heaven. This brother was his twin who died in the womb whom Brock has never been told about. Gives me chills.

Lisa,
I'm not sure it really matters whether this was a memory or something she fantasized about and now thinks is real, but either way.....okay! I think the important thing is encouraging your child to feel validated.......as long there is no harm in it.

When my son was very small he told me that he remembered being up in heaven sitting with his older brother before they were born. He told me that God asked them who would go first and that they agreed my older son should be born first.........

When he told me this I just smiled and went with it. Maybe it was a fantasy, or, maybe not.

My daughter talks about a car accident we were in when she was around a year old. And she has mentioned things about her birth. My friends son also remembers parts of his birth. I am not sure how they remember these things or if they have just heard us talking about them, but I believe they can remember things. Remember the words they say come from hearing them from us!

Kids don't have the capasity for cognitive memory recall (aka brain development) until they are about 3 years old. She may have heard someone tell this story... not necessarily you. It would be quite odd if she really does remember this.

I to thought memory started around age 2 , is it possible that she has seen a photo of the camping trip ,and now with talk of this new camping trip she thinks she can remember it?

very interesting debate. Let me tell you , people tend to think they "remember" things that they have been told. Alot of children are told stories of their birth and of things they have done, or what has happend to me before. I thought I remembered going on this car ride and camping with my family, but years later I saw a home video that my dad had stashed away and realized that I only "remembered" exactly what I saw on the tape. So there was no real memory that small, I remember seeing it. In psychology they say first memories dont start until about three. Really, we remember nothing of the way we were cared for as babies, who changed us, what clothes we were stuck in, or comments anyone made. None of that develops until that age of 3 or 4, and I honestly believe unless something traumatic happens, its probably not a real memory. In your case it could be something youve talked about in front of her , like " Remember the time we were camping, how beautiful Lauren looked in the sunset" and its something she is just repeating like she remembers but the odds are, esp at 6 and a half months, she absolutely does not. Very cool discussion though, we had it in psychology !

It's pretty interesting actually. I'm not sure how "spiritual" you are...but they say very young children are more prone to remember things from the distant past or even a past life than their adult parents. That being said, I too, have a four year old, and they seem to hae quite an active imagination at this age. There is no right anwser to your question...I guess I would just be satisfied with the fact that your daughter is excited and interested in your family outing that you have planned!

My son has told me about some things that I wouldn't expect for him to remember and have not spoken about to him. He also seems to have less of a creative side than his peers so I'm inclined to believe him. The memories your daughter is having might just be something she has pieced together if she's seen photos, maybe even a movie or TV show about a camping trip. I would just encourage her creativity and honesty. I wouldn't limit what I believe to just what a textbook or teacher tells me because more developments are being discovered all the time.

In college (think it might have been child psychology class), we were taught that children have no memory prior to 2 or 3 years of age. Usually it's just that we've heard people describing things that makes us think we remember.

D.

Updated

In college (think it might have been child psychology class), we were taught that children have no memory prior to 2 or 3 years of age. Usually it's just that we've heard people describing things that makes us think we remember.

D.