3 year old overwhelmed by noise at nursery.

[GandTnow]

I'm looking for advice or anyone who has experienced this before. My DD loves going to nursery and is very excited to now be doing 3 hours a morning. However, for the last two days she has found the noise of the other children too much and has been crying.

She has always had sensitive hearing (not liking motorbikes, fireworks and the hoover) but I'm just really worried that this is something that will become a bigger problem as time goes on.

Perhaps, as this was the first week of 3 hour sessions she will find it easier, just worried about her getting upset and not being able to cope.

Any suggestions would be great!

TIA

What about sending her with some ear muffs and asking the staff to let her her wear them and sit somewhere quiet if she feels it is getting to be too much. Nurseries are pretty noisy, especially that age group, but I'm sure after a short while she will get used to it.

I've thought about this too! Hoping that she wont need to do that Nora, don't really want her to feel singled out like that!

Anyone else been through this?

Following with interest as 3yo DD is the same. I don't have any advice though, sorry!

My now 7yr old was like that. Hated any nursery assemblies or concerts with loud singing, didn't like fireworks, alarms, hand dryers in restaurants and public places and even the sirens of passing police cars and ambulances.

I never made any issue of it and now he can tolerate most of them, although loud fireworks still make him jumpy so we avoid firework displays. Luckily that's only once a year

How many children are in the room? Dn had 32 children in his room and found it overwhelming, whereas ds who was at a small one with max 7 other preschoolers had much less problem despite both hating loud noises.

It's good to know she's not the only one! There are 3 small groups of about 11 children but for some of the time they are all in a larger room together, that's when she finds it hard.

I'm hoping that it is something she'll get used to, but also keen to do whatever I can to make this an easier transition for her.

My DD was (and is) like this....but with a high level of distress and unusual number and variety of things she couldnt tolerate noise-wise. We now know that she has Auditory Processing Disorder (amongst other sensory processing issues, Dyspraxia and Aspergers). So, for us, it was not something she grew out of or got used to. However, there were many other 'red flags' that led us to eventual diagnoses. A significant factor in moving her to another primary just recently, was much smaller, less noisy classes which she finds much less stressful and is better able to cope and concentrate.
Sorry your DD is struggling OP, it is a horrid thing to have, whether short term or long term.

It's often a part of being an introvert - how shy is your DD? My DS (now 4) has always been very sensitive to all sorts of stimuli, sound, pain, social scenarios. With age all these things have improved as he learns a bit more tolerance and knowing what to do when he feels a bit overwhelmed. I don't have a huge amount of advice other than it does get better and they do get used to noisy busy places - providing some peace and quiet after nursery would help her recover from the noise a bit.

Thanks for the repsonses. You're right MrsJamin that after nursery DD is very happy to just sit quietly and is obviously processing what has gone on. She is a bit of an introvert, but also has a good awareness of how to respond to most social situations. Perhaps the issues just become more pronounced as the week goes on and she becomes more tired.

I'm hoping the nursery will come up with some plans if it continues, but at the same time don't want DD to be on her own too much, the whole point of nursery being to interact with other children!!