earliest memory

age at first memory


  • Total voters
    31

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy Forums

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy forums - a peer support community for folks dealing (directly or indirectly) with seizure disorders. You can visit the forum page to see the list of forum nodes (categories/rooms) for topics.

Please have a look around and if you like what you see, please consider registering an account and joining the discussions. When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no ads, access to members only (ie. private) forum nodes and more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

Messages
253
Reaction score
0
Points
0
I have a lot of vivid memories from my childhood (I'm 30 now), some of them are about the most random things. I remember stuff from when I was 3 years old and a couple of things before that. I've read that people don't usually remember anything before their 4th birthday, and I have a friend who doesn't even remember kindergarten!
But I can say my earliest memory is probably going to the hospital to see my mom and my new baby brother! It was a couple of months before I turned 3. So I was still 2 years old at the time. I remember going in and seeing my mom, and she got up and was really sore... then I remember looking in at the nursery at all the babies. I remember asking my dad if they were all baby brothers, and my parents laughed so hard because they thought I was asking if they were all MY baby brothers. But I was actually asking if all of the babies were boys and if they all had older siblings. lol.
Then I remember holding my brother for the first time. So it must have been soon after my mom got home. I remember wanting to touch his head, and my mom said I had to be very gentle, so she put him in my lap and helped me hold him, and I was soooooo careful when I touched his head. My mom said I had to be really gentle, and since I hadn't ever touched a baby that little before, I didn't know how gentle I had to be. I just remember having to restrain myself because I was afraid what might happen to him if I touched him too hard. hehe
Anyway, I'm just curious what's the farthest back you can remember? Share your earliest memory if you'd like.

Edit:
I just remembered another memory I have that I think is from before my brother was born. I have a memory of being in my crib at night, hearing my dad working on the room that was going to be my room once my brother was born, and I just kinda sat up in my crib and played with my stuffed animals. I think I remember there being a bunny. I also used to like to take the sheet off the mattress in my crib and look at the picture of the baby on the label. haha.
 
Last edited:
My little brother was born when I was 4, and we moved out of the country when I was 4.5, so I have some pretty good markers for what I remember at different times. But I can't say for sure that I recall anything before 3 years of age. It's complicated because I have older siblings too, and my early memories have gotten mixed up with theirs...
 
I have a several memories before the age of 3. I used to think it was weird when people told me they didnt have memories of things so young.

One I was about 2 and got kicked in the eye and it split my eye open. I cried blood and it hurt sooooo bad.

Another I was only about 8 months old. I loved this stuffed animal I saw at a store and mum let me hold on to it. I remember her taking it away and not wanting to buy it and I remember crying and screaming and freaking out. So my cousin bought it for me. :) I still have it 22 years later.
 
I remember moving into our first house in England, when i was about 3. Previous to that we'd lived in Ireland and then in a b&b for a while.

I remember we had no electric or furniture or carpets, so we were sitting on the floor with candles until we could get everything going. I think my little brother was still a baby, i was about 3 and my big brother was 4. My parents must have had their hands full!

I also remember my first day at school when i was four. I threw a massive tantrum and kicked, bit and scratched the teacher til she bled. Poor woman got that pretty much every day for a year. Unusally, the rest of the time i was an extremely quiet child and did really well in school.

Edit - actually, my earliest memory could be from before i was 3, i have vague recollections of living in the b&b and of my great grandmother in Ireland, who died when i was about 2-3.
 
I remember lots of stuff, being about 2 and having a kitty, not wanting to give up diapers after being potty trained, my sisters living with me, staying at a babysitter who would use one of those machines that had a belt that was suppose to shake the fat off of her, I remember to much if I concentrate on it. but my short term memory is rubbish.
 
I'm the same, some things i can remember vividly from years and years ago, yet i often have trouble remembering things i did yesterday or even 5 minutes ago!
 
LOL Yeah, I remember the most random stuff from when I was little, but ask me to memorize anything and forget it (HAHA no pun intended).
 
My memories are VERY vague. They always have been. I honestly thought about this over time, and I have almost no memories. :( Makes me sad b/c I am forgetting my mom and sister's voices and forgetting just "stuff". :(
The ONLY memory I have from probably 2-3 years old, I was in surgery to correct something (not sure what), and I woke up out of the anesthesia. Not for long, and I remember everything red and hazy. It only lasted for seconds.

At least my Grandma, who had Alzheimers, remembered her childhood. I am lucky if I remember things (and I have to be reminded) of the past year or so. In the last 20 years, I can count on one hand, things I remember with out someone reminding me... and even then, it's luck of the draw.
 
The oldest 2 memories I have:

My 4yr old birthday party.

What happened moments before I fell down a flight of stairs at age 4. Which I busted my skull on the concrete floor and is now the moment that epilepsy and I became friends (grrr). I also remember going out on the gurney to the ambulance after the 2 grand mals that happened immediately after impact. I remember waking up the next day with the whole world stunned I made it through the night. Ahhhhhh good times.....
 
Five and six I seem to recall moments from- it's all a bit vague before then
:)
 
I remember birth. People look at me strangely when I tell them this but it is true just the same.
 
Yes seriously. It was exactly like if you stare at a bright light with your eyes closed then move your hands around in front of the light , you will see colors move around on the inside of your eyelids. It was like that but cold, uncomfortable and terrifying. I don't remember anything after that for about five months so it must have been either exhausting or traumatic.
 
Last edited:
i remember being in cot my bitch of a mother was pulling the cot up to bedroom door then she went out.i remember same bitch hitting me on my head i was about two or three that possibly when epilepsy started...i remember quite alot from two onwards,just wish i could remember yesterday
 
Yes seriously. It was exactly like if you stare at a bright light with your eyes closed then move your hands around in front of the light , you will see colors move around on the inside of your eyelids. It was like that but cold, uncomfortable and terrifying. I don't remember anything after that for about five months so it must have been either exhausting or traumatic.

That's really interesting. I've heard that one reason why people don't remember being born is because it was so traumatic.
 
That's really interesting. I've heard that one reason why people don't remember being born is because it was so traumatic.

Yeah, and there is infant skull compression that takes place during natural childbirth also, Since I was a c-section I've thought maybe that has something to do with it. I had a nearly perfect memory early in life then at about age 5 when I started having intense migraines for most of the day every day and some time after they stopped, I just couldn't remember things like I had been able to before. but my memories of the time prior to that are all pretty clear still.
 
The earliest memory i have is being about 10 and falling down the stairs :L about it really lol i have a terrible memory and have to set alarms for basically everything in my life because i forget... Im 16 now :L xxx
 
my earliest memories like7 years old playing and being in school.
I blame dilantin for making me forget everything I took it for 36 years.
Dilantin took my childhood away from me.I'm 52 now a lot of my memories cam back after I came off it.

I have a really good memory now and have since came off dilantin.
 
my earliest memories like7 years old playing and being in school.

I blame dilantin for making me forget everything I took it for 36 years.

Dilantin took my childhood away from me.I'm 52 now a lot of my memories cam back after I came off it.



I have a really good memory now and have since came off dilantin.


Funny....my memory and mood was much better on dilantin. Took it for 30 years. In 2012 started having seizures. PC phy wanted me to take 4/day caused too much anexiety but taking 3/day my level kept dropping to low or for some reason started having seizures. Switched to Keppra which has controlled them but I experience mood memory and anger issues. Can't motivate myself to get anything done. Family is also not very understanding. Some days would love to go back to the way I felt on dilantin or get off AED's altogether.
 
My parents and I left Hungary in 1956 when I was 3. I remember throwing up on the plane. I recall being told that before we left for US we were in a refuge camp in Austria and that all the little children were in a room in cribs. I don't know if that's a memory or that I just remember it from being told.
M
 
Back
Top Bottom