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Doctors believe that a fright in a baby, the signs of which manifest themselves in different ways, for example, a newborn is frightened and shudders, does not require treatment or warning. On the contrary, some experts agree that it is completely inappropriate to prevent all kinds of fears for a baby at such an early age, since the self-preservation instinct will not be developed in the crumbs. Another thing is the consequences of an emotional shock: here it is important to know the symptoms and measures to eliminate them.

Usually, young parents, faced with a nervous condition in a baby, often attribute this behavior to fear, but you should know a few important signs that will help determine the consequences of negative emotions in a child. If the baby was born full-term, the symptoms will appear periodically:

• the general condition of the baby worsens: he becomes capricious, too anxious, sometimes nervous;
• there is a sharp causeless crying, the baby often shudders and gets scared and constantly asks for hands (afraid to be alone);
• sleep and appetite are disturbed: this is why many mothers are interested in the question;
• enuresis or stuttering in an infant may occur.

All these symptoms necessarily require intervention in order to exclude possible complications in the mental and emotional state.

Important! If you determine the cause of the fright in time and seek help from a neurologist or a child psychiatrist, attacks of fear can be stopped in a short time. Most often, the cause of frequent fears in infants is considered excessive parental care and control.

A few words about the fear of the baby from E. Komarovsky. Possible reasons

Frequent manifestations of fear, as pediatrician Yevgeny Komarovsky finds out, are manifested in children under one year old, who are surrounded by constant parental attention or, conversely, suffer from its deficiency. Against this background, babies develop a fear of water, narrow or wide space, darkness, and some pets.

Children's humor! - Grandma, what do you make pies with?
- With potato.
- And my mother makes it with cottage cheese and pasta.

The following factors usually provoke fear in a child up to a year:

• large and scary animals can frighten the baby;
• sudden screams or loud sound;
• parental laughter;
• stress of the child due to what he saw or heard;
• severity in education (sometimes such a factor is accompanied by a symptom of regular convulsions and shudders).

Fright in the baby, caused by various reasons, requires a special examination for the presence of nervous abnormalities. At the same time, parents should provide the child with complete peace and a sense of security.

Treatment or independent struggle with attacks of fear in infants?

Most parents, due to the stress caused to the baby, immediately turn to folk healers, who supposedly help eliminate both the cause itself and its consequences. But doctors are sure that traditional medicine will not help without a full examination of the child by a neurologist. Fear in a baby must be stopped, as there are risks of its transition to a chronic form, then the baby may experience unreasonable panic attacks.

Watch the video on how to cure a fright in a baby.

After diagnosing and confirming the symptoms of fright, it is recommended to consult a child psychologist and psychiatrist, who will explain to parents how to behave with the baby in the future so as not to provoke emotional shock. Specialists must themselves take psychological measures to eliminate the fear of the child and give recommendations at home.

The kids are talking! I ask my son (4 years old):
- Alyoshenka, have you seen the TV remote control?
- I myself was looking for him, like a dog for bandits.

In most cases, everything depends on the mother, she should now communicate with the baby as often as possible, play with him, talk, show toys. Regular walks in the fresh air, light stroking massage and unobtrusive gymnastics also have a healing and soothing effect.

If desired, you can use folk conspiracies and means.

Valerian herb tincture

It is better to purchase a specially prepared solution in a pharmacy, which then solder the baby when frightened for ten days. Thanks to the use of the drug, the symptoms of fear should disappear by the end of the course of treatment.

Use of holy water

Every day before every sleep, wash the baby with fear and read the prayer (“Our Father”). Thanks to this procedure, not only the child, but also the parents will calm down.

Feeding the baby with milk

Give your baby milk with honey every night. If the baby still cannot drink on its own, add the mixture to the nipple, you can also add lemon balm tincture to the milk. Such a tool soothes well and allows the child to fall asleep without whims.

Note! Before using various remedies for treating a fright in a baby, consult a pediatrician and check for an allergic reaction. It is not recommended to give a child under 7 months of milk with honey, as cow protein and honey often cause.

Possible consequences of fright in a child up to a year

Fears in children should be treated carefully and supported in case of negative consequences. Complications appear as:

It is much more difficult to cure chronic attacks of fright in a child under one year of age than to overcome the first symptoms of emotional shock.

Children's fears and phobias are a normal phenomenon and an opportunity for a baby to cope with problems at a certain stage of development. Anxiety for various reasons is experienced by almost half of the children from one and a half to five years. After six, the fear of the dark, loud noises, loneliness or confined spaces usually fades into the background, but other phobias appear. If a child is afraid of loud noises, how can you help him cope with fear? What can cause such a problem?

How newborns perceive sound

Newborn babies hear very well. Hearing begins to work even in the prenatal period. The process of formation of the auditory system ends approximately by the twentieth week of pregnancy. Already this week, you can begin to communicate with the baby - talk about the world around him, say how much you love and wait for him, share your impressions. Scientists have proven that the walls of the abdomen transmit sounds with a volume of 30 decibels. The amniotic fluid slightly muffles the noise from the outside, but this does not prevent the child from not only hearing voices, but also distinguishing the timbre, mood of the speaker, and intonation. Low-frequency sounds, such as male voices, are perceived very well.

During the first days of life, a newborn's inner ear contains fluid, so that he hears almost nothing. But all systems are actively developing. By the fourth week of life, the baby will begin to distinguish individual sounds, and from the ninth to twelfth, he will learn to determine where they come from. A newborn hears the same way both during sleep and during wakefulness. Children of the first months of life do not need complete silence during sleep. This is explained by the fact that even during pregnancy they constantly heard the sound of the work of the mother's internal organs and noises from outside.

How babies react to sounds

Newborns are quite sensitive to what is happening in the external environment. Loud and sharp noises, unexpected sounds may well cause convulsive readiness, which does not indicate the presence of any disease or other health problems. On the contrary, such a situation indicates a timely and appropriate rate of hearing development. But some calm children may well not react at all even to sharp sounds. A variant is possible up to the point that parents begin to suspect deafness, but in fact these are just features of the functioning of the nervous system of a particular child.

Over time, the newborn gets used to the environment and ceases to react sharply to certain noises. This usually happens by one or two months. By this time, the child will demonstrate a clear reaction to the pace of speech, listen to a calm conversation, from time to time try to find the source of the sound with his eyes. For the development of the child's hearing aid, it is advisable to read poems and children's stories to him, turn on rhythmic songs, talk more with him, share impressions about the world around him and talk about the past day.

Fear of loud noises in babies up to a year

Toward the end of the first month of life, the child will be sensitive to unpleasant and loud sounds. The baby shudders all over, can restlessly move his hands, cry. If a child began to be afraid of loud sounds at an early age, then usually this is not due to a negative experience, but to the natural reaction of the psyche to noise. Sound is associated with danger. A baby experiences a similar feeling in the presence of strangers or when he is afraid to fall asleep without his mother. A prolonged sound causes discomfort in the hearing organs.

So, the fear of loud sounds is a natural reaction of the body, a manifestation of the instinct of self-preservation, which in this case makes itself felt up to 12-18 months. Over time, the child will no longer be afraid of loud noise, which is repeated and does not pose any danger. This is a phenomenon of auditory habituation.

Another interesting phenomenon can be observed by the end of the second month of life or earlier. If a mother sings lullabies to a child, then the baby will soon begin to try to imitate vowel sounds. This is directly related to auditory stimuli.

The child is afraid of loud sounds at 2-3 years old

If in infants the fear of loud and unexpected sounds is associated with a natural instinct for self-preservation, then at the age of two or three years, fear may appear for no reason or due to mistakes in education. Too loud and constant noises can cause hearing impairment and ear sensitivity, so the phobia is natural. This is a normal manifestation for the nervous system, which is at a certain stage of development. The fear of loud noises usually subsides naturally by the age of three.

Why is the child afraid of loud noises? Already at this age, the problem may be associated with an inadequate reaction of parents to the actions of the child (excessive emotionality), with fear (aggression of a dog or other animal), with undesirable consequences (bad mood of parents after screaming, fatigue after prolonged listening to music, and so on). Phobias often appear after a specific experience, for example, fear of water may occur after an unpleasant bath. This is also a physiological reaction of the nervous system.

Why loud noise is bad for baby

Continuous noises are not safe for children. Loud sound causes overstrain of the brain and makes it impossible for the coordinated work of the body. This affects the state of internal organs, especially the heart and liver. The child experiences a feeling of anxiety. Other phobias appear, he smiles less and becomes less active. Usually these children get tired quickly because it is difficult for them to completely relax. Babies need more time to fully rest.

The main causes of fear

If a child at 8 months is afraid of loud sounds, most likely this is due to the nervous system that has not yet strengthened. Over time, this passes, but for now it is necessary to provide comfortable conditions and a friendly atmosphere in the family. If a 5-year-old child is afraid of loud sounds, this may be due to sensitivity, hyperactivity and mild excitability of the nervous system. Such children shudder from any influence from the outside. The cause may be diseases associated with the ears. In any case, it is advisable to visit Laura to check if there is any inflammation. This is especially true if a child at 3 years old is afraid of loud sounds after a previous illness, such as bronchitis, otitis or laryngitis. Complications of hearing can give the flu, meningitis and other diseases at any age, increased fatigue syndrome, trauma.

Life experience as a cause of fear

Over time, the fear of noise inherent in nature can be exacerbated by other causes, such as:

1. Too emotional reaction of relatives to the actions of the child. Loud screams and frightened cries of mother or grandmother can provoke stress for which the baby's psyche is not ready.
2. An unexpected pop or explosion, firecrackers, fireworks. Some children safely forget about the experience, while others develop a stable fear.
3. Seen episode from the "horror". Such films can tickle the nerves even for adults, to say nothing of children. The baby's sleep worsens and persistent fear may occur.
4. Unfortunate experience of inflating or playing with a balloon. If the balloon bursts with a deafening sound, the child may become afraid of other loud pops.
5. The noise of a working hammer, drill or other construction tools. However, children who constantly hear such sounds usually get used to them.
6. Some household appliances make rather unpleasant sounds. A vacuum cleaner, an electric meat grinder or an alarm clock can cause an adverse reaction in the baby.
7. Musical toys with loud or aggressive melodies. Educational toys should only be with calm music, so you need to carefully choose such products.

Almost all children do not like disturbing sounds: loud voices, screams, sharp car horns, the sounds of a starting engine or motorcycle, salutes and firecrackers, the noise of a mixer or a vacuum cleaner, sharp sounds from falling objects, thunder, barking dogs and the voices of other animals, buzzing insects, some musical toys.

Sensitive nervous system in a child

From an early age, children with a weak nervous system are overly sensitive. They easily notice changes in the mood of others and actively react to them, they cannot sleep in complete darkness or in the presence of the slightest light source, they are very worried when they watch cartoons or read books. If a 5-year-old child is afraid of loud sounds, gets tired quickly, is too emotional, then this may be due to hyperactivity and mild excitability.

Such kids need a thoughtful daily routine, feasible difficulties that will not lead to overwork, and moderate new emotions. Impressive children usually have to be taught to overcome fear, to protect them from negative suggestions and negative self-hypnosis. If a child at 9 months is afraid of loud noises and often cries, you need to develop rituals for going to bed during the day and in the evening. Useful baths with soothing fees. In some cases, special preparations are used.

Organic brain lesions

Is your 6 year old afraid of loud noises? This may be due to negative experiences or health problems: complications, diseases or injuries of the ENT organs, organic brain damage. Neurologists say that the last diagnosis can be made in almost 90% of patients of different ages. But if the changes affect more than 20-25% of the brain, then signs of the disease appear.

In children, brain damage is usually associated with perinatal causes: maternal diseases during pregnancy, infections, genetic predisposition, ischemia or hypoxia during childbirth, exposure to radiation or other harmful substances (tobacco, chemicals, alcohol, drugs). With complications, such disorders can develop into epilepsy, cerebral palsy, oligophrenia, hydrocephalus. A characteristic feature of these diseases in children is the fear of loud sounds.

Among the symptoms of organic brain damage can be called a decrease in intelligence, low immunity, memory problems, delayed intellectual development and speech, constant weakness, dizziness, headaches, and increased irritability. There may be difficulty in performing centralized movements of the eye muscles, seizures with convulsions, impaired hearing, vision and smell, partial or complete misunderstanding of speech. Fortunately, most disorders found at an early age can be corrected.

If the child is afraid of loud sounds, the correctional program should be selected exclusively by a specialist. The most effective treatment is violations identified before the child enters the first grade. Therapy in this case should be complex. The child is recommended to visit a speech therapist and defectologist, to engage in neuroacoustic programs, in a Montessori environment. Useful rhythm therapy, color therapy, art therapy, sensory integration.

How to deal with fear of loud noise

How to teach a child not to be afraid of loud sounds? Parents need to show increased attention and sensitivity. Be sure to remember that up to a year such sensitivity is not a cause for concern. To calm the baby, you can talk to him in a calm voice. It is very useful to hear dad's voice in order to get used to the unusual timbre (compared to mom).

With a sharp sound, you need to behave calmly, do not startle or be frightened, because otherwise the child will feel danger. You can turn on soothing music (for a maximum of 30 minutes, because even calm sounds are tiring), sing a lullaby quietly, talk calmly with the baby. If something specific scares him, then you can introduce the child to the source of the noise. Usually, after this, the kids stop being afraid of the phone or the vacuum cleaner.

If a child is afraid of loud noises at 6 months, there is no need to create perfect silence in the house. The baby should get used to sleeping with little background noise. Of course, we are not talking about loud cleaning. But from a quiet conversation or muffled sound of the TV, the child should not wake up. At this age, it is useful to introduce the baby to different sounds: the sound of heels, the playing of the guitar, the sound of keys. This only affects positively. Scientists have proven that children who grow up in a rich sound environment are more successful in starting to speak and develop faster.

Artistic and fairy tale therapy

At 3 years old, a child is afraid of loud noises, usually due to specific reasons. It is necessary to find out the sources of such a reaction and remember what could have caused it. The kid could be frightened by a dog in the yard, which suddenly barked, or see a fragment of a disaster movie, where heart-rending screams were present. Adults need to take care of themselves. Perhaps the unfavorable reaction of the child is caused by the fact that relatives speak in raised tones.

Sometimes parents provoke stress in the baby, emotionally warning about the danger. In this case, out of the whole multitude of prohibitions, it is worth leaving only the most necessary ones (do not play with fire, do not stick your fingers into the socket, do not open the door to strangers, do not eat with unwashed hands), because the child should not have fear of the outside world.

Children's phobias must be treated with understanding, it is absolutely impossible to ridicule or shame a child. If something scared the baby, you need to hug and calm him. The child must feel the closeness of the parents and the readiness to protect him at any moment. Artistic and fairy tale therapy is very effective for fear of loud sounds. For example, you can invite the baby to imagine himself as a wild animal and roar loudly. He will feel his energy, and a sharp sound will not cause negativity.

If a child is afraid of loud noises, what can parents do to help overcome the fear? From time to time it is worth organizing noisy games. Then the reaction to an unexpected sound will become calmer. You can play in a kind of shop where sweets and small toys are sold for fears. There will be a suggestion that the fear is gone and will not return. Regardless of the results of the game, the child must be praised and emphasized that he showed himself in the most favorable way (he was not afraid of the sound, he did not cry).

Doctor Komarovsky's opinion: how to help?

According to Dr. Komarovsky, the child is afraid of loud sounds because of the lack of a sense of security. For example, a baby hears snoring behind the wall and imagines a scary uncle who can take him away from his parents. The situation is aggravated if the parents used to scare the baby with something similar in case of bad behavior. The correct action of mom and dad is to explain to the child where the noise comes from. It is important that the baby understands: he will not be offended. If a child is afraid of loud sounds, Komarovsky advises teaching him to "lead" the sound. The “louder-quieter” game helps a lot with this. A baby who already knows how to speak can be offered to pronounce the same word in turn, first very quietly, then louder and louder.

If the child is afraid of loud noises, parents need to behave properly so as not to aggravate the phobia. You can not laugh at the reaction of the crumbs, shame him. Otherwise, the child will begin to hide his fear. Parents should not give up if the fear cannot be overcome. It's just that a particular baby may need more time for this. It is undesirable to limit your baby in every possible way from loud sounds, because the lack of life experience and communication with different people will definitely not get rid of the problem.

A huge mistake is the desire to solve the problem in a familiar way "wedge by wedge". If a child is afraid of loud sounds, you should not force him to go to a city holiday where there will be fireworks, or a children's event. Fear can only intensify, and the baby himself will close in on himself and temporarily stop communicating with others. No need to focus on phobias. Fear should be approached without undue anxiety. You can try to distract the baby with games, calm conversations, listening to melodic music.

What to do when a child is afraid of loud noises? Why is this happening to the baby?

A newborn baby sleeps soundly enough both day and night, he is not disturbed by sounds, voices, background noise, however, after the second month of life, the situation can change dramatically. The child is afraid of loud sounds: he wakes up from the ringing of a cell phone, is frightened by sneezing, the roar of a vacuum cleaner, a hair dryer, a coffee grinder, the buzzing of clockwork toys. Parents are horrified by the behavior of the baby, they are trying to understand what caused such fear and how to get rid of it.

Why is my child afraid of loud noises?

Most of the fears in babies up to a year old are instinctive, that is, they are laid down by nature and are not a consequence of the incident experienced by the child. Of course, there are exceptions, these include, for example, the fear of water, provoked by unsuccessful bathing. When he is afraid of loud sounds, the reason is not in the wrong upbringing or oversight on the part of the parents, but in the normal developing nervous system of the baby. In addition to sounds, a child of the first year may be afraid when his mother is not around, and strangers adults. Phobias gradually pass: some disappear without a trace by the end of the first year, others remain up to three years. Rarely, fears of strangers and loud sounds persist up to 5-6 years, in such cases parents consult doctors.

When a child is afraid of loud noises

After the baby is 2-3 months old, some mothers begin to notice that the baby flinches at sharp, loud sounds. He is frightened not only by screams and the noise of a vacuum cleaner, but even clockwork toys, coughing, the sound of a flying plane. Often, the fright is not limited to shuddering, the baby goes into hysterics, cries.

Adults can correct the situation with the help of a calm voice and gentle movements. The mother presses the crying baby to her chest, strokes her back and gently talks to him, explaining the nature of what frightened him. Older kids who are afraid, for example, of a vacuum cleaner, can be warned in advance, then the noise will not come as a surprise and will not scare the child so much.

When a baby on a walk is frightened of something unknown, which he sees for the first time, he needs to show the reason for the fright. Pull the child out of the elite stroller silver cross balmoral or any other, hug you, calm down and consider the cause of tears with him. Whenever possible, babies who are afraid of loud noises should be protected from sources of fear.

Overly excitable children, throwing a tantrum at any sharp sounds and difficult to calm down, need to consult a neurologist. Parents should not consider a referral to this doctor as a challenge and a hint that their child is mentally "abnormal". Turning to him will help to better understand the structure of the baby's nervous system, the doctor will tell you how to smooth out the excited state of the little one. Perhaps the correct daily routine, baths with a soothing collection and mother's lullaby for the night will be enough, so that the little one perceives the surrounding sounds more calmly.

If a child is afraid of loud sounds, parents should not panic, such a phobia in babies under one year old is not uncommon. A calm, affectionate word, mom's smile, a conversation will help the little one survive a difficult period and get used to the noisy world of adults.

Anastasia Ilchenko

Valera Dem, Woman, 2 years old

Hello, my name is Olga. A big request to help. I have a 2.4 year old daughter. She was always afraid of loud noises (drill, doorbell, etc.), but usually hid behind adults or at most did not cry for a long time. But a few days ago everything changed a lot. She fell asleep, as usual, and practically fell asleep, when suddenly they began to drill behind the wall. She even vomited from such a fright (before that she didn’t vomit at all), she covered her ears with her hands and lay for 10 minutes without moving, very tense and did not react to us, they somehow talked, they took her to the bathroom, she was literally shaking there. In a warm bath, she seemed to calm down, then fell asleep with her hands pressed to her ears. From the day she hears not even a loud sound, she immediately closes her ears and looks frightened at the ceiling, and when evening comes, she becomes not herself, even from not loud sounds she seems to panic, looks at the ceiling, calls us all. Sitting on his hands, he shows that he wants to leave the room, but the same is true in other rooms. From the bath completely refuses (can not be in it). Before that, she could wallow in the water for a very long time with toys, brush her teeth. She is afraid to go to bed, although before that she herself showed that it was time to go to bed. If put, it is immediately covered with a blanket with a head and also closes the ears with handles. But he sleeps well at night. Mostly during the day, an ordinary, cheerful, sociable child. We noticed one thing, if she sees where the sound is coming from, even loud, she reacts to it absolutely normally. We tried to explain and simulate the sounds that come from the neighbors from above (jumping, throwing things) helped a little, she herself explained to us if she heard a sound from above (jumping or throwing something). But the next day, the same thing happens again. How can I help her deal with this fear? Maybe we can change her attitude towards her fear?

Hello. You write that the girl was always afraid of loud noises. As a rule, sensitive, anxious, vulnerable children are afraid of loud noises or a new place, and so on - the list of fears can be long. Such a child is shown the observation of a child and, according to the decision of the doctor, mild medical assistance to the nervous system is possible. Secondly, there are several psychological ways that can help a child cope with such fear. 1. Invent a fabulous "helper", present it to the child, telling the child a fairy tale about him and his magical abilities. In your case, it can be some colorful and soft-touch headphones that will really reduce the volume of sounds. 2. You can try to stimulate the child to make loud sounds himself: he knocked or shouted (you need to come up with a game for this, for example, in animals that growl loudly in the forest). If the child feels his energy in a cry or in another action that causes a loud sound, then he will have less fear when he hears this loud sound from the side. If these methods do not help, I recommend that you, in addition to a pediatric neurologist, visit a consultation with a child