Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Fears

This week I discovered that baby girl has begun to develop some fears.

On Wednesday she and I went to a friend's house. These friends have two sweet kitties. Baby girl had been around these kitties as well as my in-laws' small dog before with no problems. However, on Wednesday when one of the kitties entered the room, baby girl was interested. She watched her walk across the floor and back out of the room. Then the kitty came back and baby girl seemed to want to crawl after her as kitty left the room again. When the kitty came back again, baby girl crawled into my lap and started crying. She was so scared! Kitty left and came back in the room again later and baby girl started freaking again...so the kitty got locked up :( I felt bad for everyone involved and really hope this is just a phase!!!!

Then Saturday I decided to vacuum (shocker, I know) because my friend (the same one with the kitty) and her baby boy were coming over for a playdate. I figured the rug should be clean so the kiddos could play and not pick something gross up. I got out the vacuum and baby girl stared at it for a second after I turned it on, then started crying. I turned it off and picked her up. I tried running it a few other times with different situations (her in my arms, her across the room) and it resulted in the same crying. I also tried to let her explore the vacuum while it was off, but she still got scared when I turned it on again. We'll try again eventually, I suppose.

I've actually noticed that she's been startled a lot more by loud noises than she ever has been. The blender, the vacuum, the garbage disposal, and the garage door all startled her (although she only actually cried from the vacuum). Of course, I started reading online to try to figure out how to get her over her fears...and found information about kids with sensory disorders and autism having problems with loud noises. *sigh* Paranoid mommy moment!!!! This also makes me realize how much better she sleeps with a heavy blanket on her--something they do for kids with sensory processing disorders. Hoping that these fears are just something normal and will pass eventually and are not indicative of something bigger.

3 comments:

Liz said...

If it makes you feel any better, Lexi was the same way. She loved the vaccuum as an infant and would fall asleep to it. Starting around 5 or 6 months, however, she would scream bloody murder if I tried to run it. It actually lasted longer than I thought...about 5 months. Every once in awhile now, she gets funny about it and will start to cry, but I think now it's more than I'm not paying attention to her!

I tried using it downstairs while she was sleeping upstairs, but then figured that wouldn't help her get over her fear. Some kids just have really sensitive ears, though. :(

Mandy said...

((HUGS))

I have a friend with a daughter about exactly a year older than our kids and her daughter went through this phase too. Went from thinking the hair dryer was hilarious to thinking it was the devil incarnate.

It's going to suck if we have to go through this, too. DS just smiles and laughs when I dry my hair, vacuum, run the blender, etc., so it's going to be a total shock if he starts crying out of nowhere.

(And take your own advice! No Googling!)

Em said...

DS went through this phase, too. Hated the vacuum, screamed frantically when I was changing his diaper in a public bathroom and someone flushed a toilet. He still occasionally gets upset at loud noises - yesterday it was me cracking the ice cube tray- but doesn't seem bothered by most other sounds and even laughs when we vacuum.