16 month old girl - cries at noisy/boisterous boys

[CNF]

I have a (nearly) 16 month old girl who is generally very happy - plays well on her own, goes to several toddler groups where she mixes well with other children - will stand her ground in the usual toy battles, can be quite noisy herself etc etc....
BUT we've had several incidents recently when she's playing on a one to one basis with boys of a similar age (or a couple of months older) if they shriek (in excitement generally) she bursts into tears and this escalates into full blown hysteria. It even got the point this weekend that one little boy only had to take a step towards her & she started crying!
I could understand this if they were hurting her, but they're not - I'm torn with feeling protective of her and frustrated with her for being so wimpy!!
May be coincitental, but appears to be worse when teething??!
Anybody had similar issues and/or ideas how to handle? We're going on holiday with one of the little boys in a few weeks so am beginning to panic!!!

Hi,

I had exact same experience with DD at around the same age! She did get whacked by a little boy in a playground once, and I think that started it, but...for a few weeks she was so anxious around little boys that she would start to whimper if I said the word 'boy'. I felt torn, too, and flummoxed for a while. Took advice from friends, and did all I could to help DD feel secure and protected without giving any negative messages about boys. I worked on understanding that she was scared, picking her up if she wanted me to, letting her leave a toddler music group on one occasion, etc. Within a week or so she was fine again - I guess she felt supported and decided the world was safe again in spite of boys?! 16 months is very little, really. If its any reassurance to you, most phases seem to pass fairly quickly at this age! Good luck to you and your DD...hope the holiday goes/went well...

Claire