DS crying whenever I used the vacuum

[GoldenSnitch]

Ds is 2 and a half. He's never liked the vacuum but I thought he was getting better.

When he was a baby, I would vacuum when DH was around so he could take him into another room. Since he's been a toddler, I've either stuck to this or done it when he was in a good mood or playing in another room. He's not scared of the vacuum itself as he thinks reeling in the cable is massive fun and ran up to do it only a minute or so after I finished hoovering today! We had a few months where he would sit on the sofa and watch me without tears...

But while the hoover was on today, he was under the kitchen table screaming like I was trying to kill him!!

I only ever do small areas at a time cause his crying upsets me. I always tell him what I'm going to do in advance (usually to him saying "No Mummy") I've let him play hoovering with it off (not interested). I've tried to get him to help me -we have a Dyson, so I made the wand DS height and offered it to him (screams of fear). But he hates the noise.

I need to vacuum to keep the house tidy and I don't always have time after DH gets home or at weekends. How do I teach DS that vacuuming is loud and annoying but OK and not the end of the world?

V common problem - DD was like this when she was 9 months (and with my hairdryer) but it passed when she saw that a) no harm came to her b) i wasn't going to stop just because she objected!! She's obsessed with it now as she helps me to switch it on and off!! Maybe you could try the same with DS - it shows him that there is control over this loud noise and it can start and stop etc.
Otherwise i would suggest a sml treat / fav toy etc just before you start so that he starts to associate the hoover with good things and turn negative associations into positive ones then go all out with praise if he stays quiet etc.
Try not to react too much to his outburst - if he sees he gets attention for big crying whenever the hoover comes out, he may be using this to his advantage and milking it (i'm sure he isn't but worth ruling out!!).
If all else fails and you see him reacting badly to other loud noises i would seek medical advice just to rule out ear problems.
Good luck
Beeny

Bothof my dc arelike this- dd is now 5 and sits on the sofa to keep away from it. 1 yo ds doesn't like it either so I normally end up carrying him around while I do it- not practical with his weight but it gets it done and he's not upset. Sometimes he'll sit on the sofa with his sister and a packet of crisps or similar but the only other option is to wait till the weekend.

I actually have one of these which does a fairly decent job until dh can take the dc out a the weekend or sit upstairs with them.

I like FernieB's suggestion. DS has some proper ear defenders for when he goes to Silverstone with his Daddy which would more than dampen the noise of the hoover and he loves wearing them!

I've been wavering all day between feeling really guilty about the "Mummy won't stop the noise" thing and wondering if, like Beeny says, it's best to carry on as he's just objecting not actually being scared. As I said in the beginning, we were doing OK for a while and he would sit on the sofa playing happily while I vacuumed, it's only recently that he's gone back to crying and I had wondered if the tears weren't more because I wasn't doing what he wanted. Maybe a bit of a regression now that baby is getting closer and closer to arrival?

Beeny has another good point though, he's not keen on my hairdryer and he always checked when in public loos that I won't use the hand dryers cause he doesn't like the noise. He doesn't cry at these, he just backs away. The only other loud bnoise he's ever cried at are the F1 cars at Silverstone (hence the ear defenders) but they are very loud!

My son used to be like that with the hoover, but I started showing him how to suck things up with it like a big ball would stick to it and he would start laughing so everytime I hoover I had him bringing me things to experiment with! It takes longer but really works now I chase him around with the hoover and put it on his clothes to pretend to suck him up and he laughs constantly now. Hope you find a solution soon
:-)

We had to do a lot of vacuuming over the weekend as we were decorating and there was no screaming when it was on. He just left the room.

Last week, he was leaving the room and still screaming!

Looks like I'm going to have to wait for DH to be home before I vac for a while

Just asked him if I could vac the hall (we're about to have visitors) and he said "yes" then sat there grinning at me as I did the hall and part of the lounge.

Really thinking last weeks tears were a tantrum to get his own way now...

Phew! Looks like I'm not emotionally scarring him after all