What to do if your child is afraid of loud noises

A child of the first month of life sleeps soundly enough both at night and during the day: his sleep is not disturbed by loud sounds, speech, or background noise. However, from the second month of a baby's life, the situation can change dramatically. Some babies start to fear the ringing of the phone, flinch from the hum of the coffee grinder, cry when they hear the singing of a clockwork toy. Parents, realizing that their child is afraid of loud noises, cannot find out the reason for this and do not know what to do.

When and why does baby fear arise?

The fear of loud sounds is manifested in almost all children at an early stage of their development (development from birth to one year). A mother may notice that a two-three-month-old baby is frightened by laughter, the hum of a working vacuum cleaner, loud conversation and other harsh sounds. The child may flinch at annoying noise or cry when hysterical.

Why is the child still afraid (or has just begun to be afraid) of loud noise / sounds? Almost all of the fears of babies are inherent in nature. An exception is the fear of a particular incident experienced by the baby, for example, the fear of water after an unsuccessful bath. Such fears of a child include the fear of being left without a mother, fear of strangers.

Fear of noise and harsh sounds is most often observed in babies for a short time. This fear can persist for up to a year or two. If the child continues to be afraid even after this age, perhaps his nervous system has problems that require specialist advice. How much and how long a baby experiences a sense of fear in the presence of noise depends on the behavior of his parents.

What should parents do?

Mom and Dad often can't figure out what to do if the baby is afraid. Some parents are capable of yelling at the child or even spanking him. However, with a baby under one year old, such behavior is not acceptable, it can only worsen the situation and turn it into a real problem for the child in the future.

To calm the baby down and gradually relieve him of the fear of loud sounds, parents should:

talk more often with the child calmly and affectionately, using constant intonation and voice power. It's good if the baby can hear male voices: this way he will quickly learn to perceive the baritone that is unusual for him;
having heard a sharp or loud sound, noise, behave as usual, do not jump up or scream, otherwise the child will think that there really is a danger;
sometimes turn on beautiful melodic music for the baby;
show the baby the source of the sound that scared him. For example, consider together a humming vacuum cleaner (read the child is afraid of the vacuum cleaner - what to do?), let the phone ring, look out the window at the signaling car;
teach a child to make different sounds: quiet and loud. Carried away by new fun, the baby will become calmer to react to external noise;
soothe and relax the baby, singing quiet songs to him;
do not keep absolute silence while the child is sleeping. It is better if he falls asleep in an environment of quiet sounds: when the TV is on or when he is quietly talking. In this case, a sharp violation of the silence, for example, ringing the door, will not scare or even wake up the baby;
when a child is constantly afraid of loud sounds, throws a tantrum every time there is a sharp noise, calms down badly, he must be shown to a neurologist. A timely appeal to this children's specialist will help to identify a violation in the work of the baby's nervous system and find a way to calm him down. Together with a doctor's prescription, daily soothing baths can be used.

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For a kid who is afraid of loud and harsh noise, the most important thing is calm parents and a favorable atmosphere in the family. Adults should understand that such a problem in children under 12 months is not uncommon, it does not mean a deviation or impaired development of the child. In order for the baby to get used to the noisy world faster, it is important to surround him with smiles, affectionate glances, quiet songs and calm speech.