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Behaviour/development

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Original poster

22 months fear of Hoover etc - any suggestions?

21 replies

fififrog · 15/01/2013 21:54

my DD is petrified of the hoover, screams if it's even mentioned, wouldn't go near a toy one etc. She is also afraid of hairdryers, hand dryers, toys that move under their own steam once a button is pressed (though curiously not the wind-up frog in the bath or one of those annoying yappy dogs in a shop the other day).

She is not generally particularly fearful, no major separation anxiety etc though she is afraid of the dark now.

This has all been building over a few months. I am sure it is all normal toddler fear, but is there anything I can do to help her over some of it? The hoover is particularly annoying as the house is beginning to look like the garden has blown in... Someone has suggested giving her a toy Hoover but the one we saw the other day freaked her out as much a the real thing.

Also interested to know: If your DC had this, how long before it faded?

Thanks!

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Amerryscot · 15/01/2013 21:55

immersion therapy

Liveinthepresent · 15/01/2013 21:59

No suggestions but a 21 month old DD who shares similar fears - cant blow dry my hair when she is anywhere near - this upsets me more than not being able to Hoover!
Keep wondering if it will just fade or whether I need to get brutal With 'Immersion' approach.

MumVsKids · 15/01/2013 22:01

I was going to suggest a toy dyson as that worked wonders for my dd, 2.6, and now she practically rides my dyson while I'm hoovering :)

Other than that,I'm not sure :(

Sorry, not v helpful!

BranchingOut · 15/01/2013 22:06

Has it got a button to turn the power level down?

That is what we did for a while.

ItLooksLikeRainDear · 15/01/2013 22:26

My DS got got a tractor for Christmas when he was 1, it moved by itself when you pressed it's funnel. It terrified him he would run away from it and scramble onto the neatest person's knee crying. After a couple of different attempts to show him it wasn't scary we ended up putting it away.

We took it out several times through the year to see if he would play with it but he reacted in the same way. It took pretty much a year for him to grow out of this but he plays with it happily now.

MarianForrester · 15/01/2013 22:28

Perfect reason not to do housework in my book

Belmo · 15/01/2013 22:30

Same here, Hoover hair dryer and especially the hand blender. Will watch for tips! She is so genuinely terrified I don't think I could bring myself to force it.

RugBugs · 15/01/2013 22:32

Not particularly helpful but DD was the same...and then we got a Henry! She bloody loves Henry, greets him, pats him and waves him goodbye when I'm done.

PickledApples · 15/01/2013 22:34

Yep we got a Henry too. Won't leave the bloody thing alone now.

princessnumber2 · 15/01/2013 22:42

Dd1 was like this. Hoover, hair dryer - everything that made a noise really. Even crunchy dry leaves. She was basically like mr jelly. It took ages to grow out if it. Way beyond 2 - probably closer to 3. I basically didn't hoover when she was around (or when she was asleep for fear of waking her so, er, therefore never) Dd2 is 1yr and the same. I keep putting on noisy things (coffee machine etc) and chatting in an OTT kids' tv presenter voice whilst noise is happening and this has occasionally helped her to go from panic to a nervous smile. Still can't get away with hair dryer or hoover in the same room though. crap hair and filthy house for another 18 months then.

omama · 15/01/2013 23:50

Same here, terrified of any loud noises, hairdryer, hoover, any toys that made noise or moved. Now at almost 2.5 he is finally starting to get over his fears & weve been able to put batteries in noisy toys & he will even help with hoovering!

stormforce10 · 16/01/2013 10:50

This depends on your dd's personality but we gave the hoover a personality. We told her not to cry because the hoover was hungry and hoover got sad if she cried when it was having its lunch. we encouraged her to find things for hoover to eat up.

Worse we told her not to be scared of hand driers because she'd upset the cute little baby dragons who lived in there. We told her baby dragons all started off in hand driers so they could learnt to blow hot air before they blew fire as they all have to start somewhere.

Both strategies worked and she would spend a lot of time talking to the aforementioned machines. She still tells her young cousins about the baby dragons

PerchanceToDream · 16/01/2013 13:25

Watching with interest - 23mo DD is terrified of hand dryers (esp. the really loud Dyson blade ones). I think she got a shock once, not expecting the noise and now she runs away from them. Literally. Maybe I'll tell her about the baby dragons too.

Don't know if this helps at all but very early on we turned hair drying into a game, and while I have a decent one with a really long lead, DD can still run away from it and hide if she wants to but she always comes back for more, laughing and smiling. Now we've got a new game where I hold it in one position and she spins. I think the most important thing about this is the fact that DD has the choice to run away from it if she wants to so the control is hers.

But, of course that doesn't help with hand dryers...

Could you maybe get her to 'help' you with the hoovering with it turned off and just pretend for a couple of goes before doing it for real? DD LOVES hoovering because she does it with me. When I can be arsed.

mwah79 · 16/01/2013 14:27

DS absoultely detested the vacum cleaner until dh and I made a big deal of saying 'goodbye Henry' when we were putting it away one day. After a few times of doing this ds (who was safely in the kitchen in dh arms) came over to pat Henry Hoover goodbye before we put him away. We gradually built this up to a point where I think we went too far. Now he thinks that the hoover is one of his best friends and is insistent that he will hoover when we take it out. We have to let him hoover for a while in order to get it off him.... helpful?... not really but at least he's not scared anymore.

rrreow · 16/01/2013 15:52

I don't love the sound of a hoover. Sounds like that, when they're very loud (like those street sweeping hoover machines) make me want to cry (I am 27!). Especially as your DD is young and her hearing will be more sensitive than that of an adult, could it be a sensory thing? Could you get her some earplugs/big earmuffs for when you hoover? Also agree with above posters about giving hoover personality.

My DS used to be scared of the dustbuster when it was on (he always wanted to play with it, but then if it accidentally went on he'd have a meltdown), now he's obsessed with playing with it and ONLY wants it on, and after 5 minutes of hoovering when it runs out of battery he is so sad. He's 20mo.

DreamingOfAWhiteChristmas · 16/01/2013 18:47

My 28 month old dd is the same. Now she can tolerate the vacuum being on if its in a different room to her and I'm with her being very bright and breezy. Luckily this is ok for now as I am blessed, we have a cleaner! :)

However one of my 9 mo twins is the same, petrified, so I see more years of no vacuuming. We now HAVE to go out when the cleaner comes for DD and DT2.

ElleOhElle · 16/01/2013 18:52

my DD (21mths) hates the hoover, she almost fell back down the stairs the other day because I didn't realise DH had left it on the landing!

Happiestinwellybobs · 16/01/2013 18:56

When DD was 15-16 months she was frightened of the Hoover and hair dryer. With the Hoover I started pushing it around without it being on whilst carrying her, then progressed to switching it on whilst carrying her. After a few weeks of gradually getting her used to it, she now says bye to the Hoover when I put it away and sometimes blows it a kiss!!

With the hair dryer we has it on a low cool setting, dried her toys hair!! She now runs into get her hair done but can leave the room if she wants.

Dillie · 16/01/2013 19:00

my dd was the same. What I did was to put either big headphones over her ears or the big ear defenders.

Then got her to pretend she was like daddy and listening to music :)

Worked a treat. I think she grew out of it by the time she was 4.

Original poster

fififrog · 17/01/2013 20:18

Thanks everyone for the suggestions and messages of solidarity! Believe me, little enough housework gets done here - fortnightly cleaner for an hour's work hoovering and cleaning the bathroom. It would be alright if the weather was nice and were out a bit more.

Definitely some great ideas, my favourite is stormforce's baby dragons!

OP posts:

am988 · 18/01/2013 21:41

Same here my 22month scared of Henry... so I only let Dh do hovering while I m with ds.Or when he s asleep. In a way it's a bit funny in our case.. wherever we go there always seems to be a Henry about. He s ok if we just look from a distance and he s not on his own.

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