9mo terrified of the hoover!

[Bellie]

My dd is absolutely petrified of the hoover - she screams the place down and tears fall from her face .
I have tried lots of things - from having the hoover off and standing with her next to it, doing the hoovering with her in my arms so she can see it can't hurt but to no avail. I then started doing the hoovering when she was asleep, but she now wakes up screaming.
She will even go rigid if we have to walk past it even if it is not on.
Whilst I am quite happy to have some dirt in the house, and do the hoovering when dh is at home to take her outside, this is not always going to work as dh often goes away for long periods of time... Any ideas or do they just grow out of it???
Oh yeah - it is not just our hoover but other peoples as well.

[chicagomum]

dd was the same in the end i gave up and bought a carpet sweeper to use when i couldn't use the vacuum, in the end she grew out of it and now has her own toy one she runs around with (i know yours is a little young but it might be worth buying her one if this continues

[CarolinaMoon]

ds (8mo) loathes it too. Answer is not to do any hoovering

[CarolinaMoon]

sorry, that's not very helpful is it?

Can you do it when she is in her cot, and put a radio on in her room to drown out the noise of the hoover?

[Bellie]

Carolina - if I had my way I wouldn't do any hoovering but the amount of dust on the floor and with dd crawling.............

Not sure the music would drown out the noise but worth a try.
chicagomum I will have to get her one if it continues when she can walk!!

[Bellie]

any one else experienced this??

[jollymum]

She'll survive, loud music to drown it out or just go for it. Horrid mummy is cleaning the house, sorry. Do bits at a time, try for when she's asleep or taken out.

[penpal]

I had this with my dd who is now aged 6. I could not hoover at all when she was in the house, I even bought her a matching mini kids' Dyson thinking she'd grow out of it or get used to it. In the end we put it down to her hearing being good, or particularly sensitive to that pitch. She's OK with it now, from about 3 years old. I found all sorts of ways to hoover when she was out of the house or in the garden with someone.

[MarsLady]

The DTs hated the hoover. Have to say that after taking them to their cots and hoovering anyway, I got bored with the whole nonsense and hoovered anyway.

They seemed to have a strange fascination with the hoover. They would scream but keep coming back to look at it.

I took to leaving the hoover in the middle of the floor (whilst off and unplugged) so that they thought it was another toy.

DT2 likes to play with the hoover now. He'll often pretend to hoover. I encourage that!

[oooggs]

DS 19mths is also terrified of the hoover and the sooner he grows out of it the better

[flowerfairy]

Ds used to cry from about 8-12 months and I did alot of hoovering with ds on hip. npot easya s he's rather large.

Now he has got used to it but stand still in shock and won't move, but dosen't cry anymore.

Silly thing is when he was a few weeks old we used ot put the hoover on to send him to sleep.lol

[bobbybob]

It's a phase and it will pass, just explain that it gets the carpets nice and clean, do it really quickly and then give her a big hug.

Or do it when she is asleep in her pram after a long walk and parked outside oblivious - which is what I did.

[Kidstrack2]

I have same problem too. Dd is now 26months and is still scared of the hoover and has been like this since 11months. She crys real tears and shakes. I now do most hoovering when she sleeps during the day or at night when she sleeps. I have tried most things with her and she even has her own little hoover. I deliberately sit the hoover out some days and she walks round it shouting BAD OOVER BAD OOVER. I'm hoping she grows out of it soon as she has done with the hairdryer!

[Bellie]

Thanks all - glad to know that dd is not the only one with (what is the phobia of hoovers )!!
Oh well, its either grin and bear it or no hoovering!!
Thanks for your tips - I will try them and hopefully one may help!
Marslady - dd keeps going to look too and starts crying all over again....!

[nannyjo]

my 10 month old shakes with fear when i turn the hoover on, i feel really bad but it's got to be done so he has to just bear it, how horrid am i?