Phantom cries

[Surfskatefamily]

Just wondering if anyone else experiences this
My child is 17months old now... And I still experience what I call phantom cries when I'm away from him. It's like I can hear him faintly crying for me.

Mostly if I go have a shower whilst he's with hubby or if I go out the house. I feel like I can hear him or sense him needing me.
I end up ringing my oh to ask if he's OK as it stresses me out

My "babies" are 15 and 11 now and I hear them call "Muuuum?" all the time when in fact they didn't.

I never really thought about it before....I think it's probably linked to anxiety or tiredness op.

My mother died when I was in my 50s. The last time she left her room was to come to the room where I was deeply asleep, because she was sure she'd heard me call that I needed her.

Footle my Grandmother....born in 1910 was very close to her Grandfather. When he died, he was in bed three streets away...and she was also in bed...late at night. She saw a light pass across her wardrobe mirror and his voice clearly call her name.

It was at 3.00am and she learned the next day that's when he died....and he'd called out for her.

I was fast asleep and woke up as I heard my mum calling my name.

It was 5am. I was in London at home and she was 240 miles away in Lancashire where she lived.

I went back to sleep.

She had had an accident and the hospital rang me at 6am to tell me to get there ASAP as she would not survive.

That was 11 years ago today. 😕

These stories are so poignant, so sad and also so moving.

Aw ma gawd... So it isn't just me.
@hennypennyhorror I'd better get used to it long term hey 😊

@footle and @duvetdazed sounds like your mums were so in tune to you ♥️

I always hear DS crying when I'm in the shower. When I used to nanny I could hear the kids crying when I used the shower so not just my DC. I came to the conclusion that it was the shower making a weird noise

Henny penny your grandma and grandfather must have been so in love.. Real soul mates.

@Duvetdazed , flowers for the anniversary.

On a lighter note , I've heard someone say about children growing up "At last my ears are beginning to relax".

My children are in their 30s and 40s and my ears are still quivering like mad.

I've just gone upstairs and said "what's up, mate" to a 13 year old who is fast asleep because I could have sworn I heard him shout "Mum". I don't think it ever stops.

Duvert I hope today isn't too tough on you. Do you do anything to make today special?

I get this too, baby is 15 months and I can be sat next to the video monitor clearly hear her cry but it's not picked up on the monitor because she hasn't, she is fast asleep.

Weirdly I think our dog gets it too. When she is napping he will prick his ears up and look towards the stairs occasionally; sometimes looking at me is enough to reassure him and sometimes he actually goes up to check on her in her cot.

I think our brains just get so intent on not missing a cry that they 'make' a cry out of another random noise.

@FudgeBrownie2019 thank you. I bought some yellow roses. (her favourite) to put in one of her nicest vases.

I get this when I'm in the shower, I think there must be a note or a frequency that the shower makes that my brain thinks is my DD crying. Loads of times I've turned off the shower and it's stopped straight away.

Saying that, my dear darling mum thought she heard me crying in the next room the day I had a miscarriage and was on the phone to me before I could call her. I also thought I heard her quietly sobbing the day before she passed away. I couldn't have though as she was deeply sleeping and in a hospice an hour away.

I hear this,but i think its more likely we are so used to hearing it.It just happens automatically.

I can hear DD cry when she isn't even home! I know it's my mind playing tricks on me, Mother's are built to be alert and to check on their babies.

I think it's like a memory replay, like deja vu almost. I have it with the baby monitor all the time- I hear her crying but she isn't.

I used to call for my friend every morning before school and her dog would be around her ankles to see who it was every time she opened the door. One day I went in and she mentioned her dog had died the night before, but I could've sworn he'd come to the door just like always- I had seen him out the corner of my eye. You expect to hear/see it, so you do. The brain is a funny thing.

Mines 19 months and I still hear it. Can’t relax in the shower, drives me insane

I used to get this all the time. I’d wake up and hear crying. So realistic! I’d get up, and be out on the landing still hearing the crying. Get to baby’s room, look in cot: fast asleep. It used to happen all the time!

I really don't think that the OP, who is posting about an ordinary real-life phenomenon parents' ears are so attuned to their babies' cries that they 'hear' them when the baby has kept schtum/is three miles away really needs to hear family legends about supernatural cries involving deaths.

@LadyFlumpalot, yes! There's a faint background note at one point in a particular Tori Amos track that sounds very like our doorbell, and it gets me every time, even if I'm out and about listening on headphones nowhere near home.

Yes! I get this too. I used to confuse the sound of the shower, or police/ambulance sirens, or the sound of birds squawking for my babies' crying. I guess it's something so deeply ingrained in every parent (particularly mothers) to respond to a sound that could be their child crying.

My children are now slightly older, but I still "hear" them call out sometimes. Particularly in times of high stress or anxiety (one of my children has SEN so can be stressful at times).

It could be a form of auditory hallucination, esp if connected with high stress.

It’s a cliche I know but when I lived in the countryside lambing time was awful, woken up in the night to check a peaceful sleeping child. ‘Muuuummmm’

Our washing machine makes a noise at the same pitch as DS crying at particular points during the cycle. It's lessened now, I think it was more like a younger cry. Get it in the shower too, and sometimes think I've heard him just before I wake up. The absolute worst was when he was in hospital as a newborn and I was convinced he was in the bed and had slipped all the way underneath the covers and was by my feet.

Yep, in the shower. Could have sworn it was real. Often turned off the water to check.

Less frequently after I got help for anxiety. I was also able to realise it logically was unlikely I was hearing DD, when I admitted to myself that I only ever seemed to be hearing ‘distress’ noises. Why wasn’t I hearing squeals of joy or any of the other sounds she normally made?

My kid is now 8yo, but I remember it so clearly. I’m surprised I’ve never seen a thread on it before now on MN. Guessing it’s even less frequently brought up on Dadsnet. 🤣

My parents' fridge makes an intermittent noise just like one of the DC crying. I've not yet learnt to ignore it!