How to deal with noise "phobia"

[auntyspan]

My DD is 2 and at the moment she's going through a stage of hating any loud noise. This ranges from the hair dryer, the hoover, hand-dryers in public toilets, my smoothie maker even when the heating comes on it upsets her as it makes a whirring noise.

She gets very clingy and scared and extremely upset. It's causing problems as I hate her going to bed with wet hair but she is so scared of the hairdryer there's nothing else I can do.

Does anyone have any experience of this? Should I just ignore it and dry her hair, and let her get used to it?

Any tips would be gratefully received!

For the hairdryer, can you blowdry your hair, chatting and laughing with her, so you she can see it's ok?

My DS has started being scared of loud noises, mostly kitchen appliances and vacuum, but he is ok with them if I'm holding him while using them. I guess he's reassured, if I'm not scared, then he doesn't need to be.

We have got through this stage. When I needed to use the food processor, I used to say 'I'm going to make some noise' and they would run off and play somewhere else for a few minutes. Now they pretend to be scared but they aren't really!

Or just wash your hair in the morning so it is dry by bedtime!

Yes my dd was just like that! still is a bit but not so terrified now. She still has to leave the kitchen when I use the blender and she is almost 5. The vacuum cleaner doesnt scare her though anymore. She just doesnt like noises. She seems to get scared easily at noises that she hears - airoplanes or cars going past. Sorry it doesnt help, at least you now you are not alone.

ds (2.7) is going through this too - although it's not any loud noise just ones like the hoover, lawnmower, and hand dryers. The latter is the biggest problem as he is getting phobic of public loos!

Will be interested in anyone's solutions too!

Oh I had all this with DD1. She was 3 and it went on for almost a year. She would hate going to parties cos they were so loud. She hated the noise in the streets. Lawnmowers, vacuum cleaners, hand dryers. You just have to reassure them that its ok and just go about it as normally as possible. She's now 7 and still has her moments with some noise but puts it on a bit now! I'm not sure when it "clicked" for her and she stopped screaming her head off at the slightest sound. I guess the arrival of her baby sister when she was 4 kind of distracted her. Don't think that helps though for you.

my ds (now almost 3) is the same but tolerates most of these noises now. When he was younger he cried every time I hoovered or if hand dryers came on in toilets. Now if I hoover he has to sit on the sofa with his comforter, if i use blender I tell him to leave the kitchen and before we go into toilets he asks if there are dryers in there. He would still prefer not to hear any of these noises but accepts them. He will even let me dry his hair on occasion!!

I never made a big deal of it but accepted it as a real issue for him and tried to give him warning of these noises if possible. If taken by surprise I would say, 'I know you don't like it, it will stop in a minute/it's gone now/we'll be going soon etc'

This seems to have worked and he is getting better!

Also, this didn't just develop with ds, it was ever since he was a baby- I could never hoover and nearly always had to blend his food for weaning when he was in bed. It was a revelation to me when I had dd and she loved the hoover!

Dd1 (just turned 4) has had noise phobia's since the age of 2, she has got used to most of them now. She has a pair of shoe's which are magic that she wears when the washing machine is on

This is obviously pretty common! I remember being really jealous of a friend when I went round - her dd would sit on the sofa while mum hoovered - EVERY day...her house looked immaculate...I wanted a bit of that and tried it but ds was not having any of it, he HATED the hoover and was scared, so my house remained dusty

He's hated other kids crying, singing, etc at various times....and on starting school at 4 he still hated singing.

oh yes and hand driers in toilets, my ds was like that soph.....

It's obviously one of those things, and of course they do grow out of it. I think all that can be done is like soph says, warn them it's going to happen...and agree, find ways round things like washing hair early in the day so it is not an issue at bedtime. Or if they have wet hair before bed do as my mum did and just wrap the pillow in a towel!

I can remember taking dd1 to dsd's school play, she went mad when people were clapping and chearing, i had to take her home and missed the play.

She also hate's hand driers, hoovers, lawn movers and noisy car's.