Toddler PTSD?

dunlapbriggs

Hi all - I'm not sure if I am looking for advice or just to see if anyone else has been in a similar situation.

My family attended a local parade on Memorial Day and my 1.5 yr old son (who has never been bothered by loud noises before) was VERY upset by the truck sirens, marching bands etc in the parade - so much so that we had to leave early. 

Ever since then he has been terrified of things that either he previously enjoyed or never noticed - like watching the garbage truck, a new tabletop fan in his room, an idling diesel truck, passing by motorcycles etc.  Quite frankly I'm getting worried that the whole even has scarred him for life! 

Thoughts/suggestions/sympathy?

mb314

I don't know if I have much advice/insight, but my DS has always been frightened of loud noises.  If he even sees the vacuum cleaner, he goes into hysterics.  He also hates the noise of the air hand dryers in public bathrooms (particularly those high powered ones) and the bathing suit ringer at the pool.  At almost 21 months, he's beginning to grow out of it, and the reaction to loud noises has lessened. 

Is your LO behaving normally otherwise?  If so, I would give it a few more weeks and see if the reactions lessen.  I'm sorry I'm not more help, but it is normal for kids to be frightened of loud noises. 

=Lee=B

Totally normal behavior...sometime around 15month many kids suddenly start becoming afraid of noises...and a parade likely aggravated this heighten awareness.  Many, many families have had to leave such an event with a similar aged child. 

He'll outgrow it with time and patience. 

He won't be scarred or even scared for life.  Protect him from the big overwhelming stuff (no more parades for awhile) while gently exposing him to noises.

 

beckcour

My DD just started getting scared of loud noises at 21 months. And we thought she was fearless. I expect her to outgrow it someday.

LSU628

My DD has always been super sensitive to sounds. I finally bought her some of the noise cancelling headphones and life is now back to being good. She wears them during loud thunderstorms, concerts (imagination Movers were crazy loud- I wish I would have had some!), movies, fireworks, etc. She feels more safe if she has her headphones. Yes, she looks goofy, but if is prevents a full blown melt down it's worth it.

thunderbadgers

I think we're in a similar boat -- my 22 month old had a sneaky ear infection a few weeks ago that resulted in his having an insanely high fever and hallucinations. Something about the curtain next to his bed terrified him, causing him to scream like I had never heard before. It was awful. Everything was fine for a couple weeks, but about five days ago he started waking up about an hour after falling asleep at night crying. He points to his curtain and asks "what's that?", but then he calms down and goes back to sleep. This is the first time we've had any experiences with nightmares with him, and I feel like it's due to his hallucinations. I've tried making the curtain as harmless as possible (going so far as to pet and kiss it, as much as that probably makes me sound like a maniac) and he manages to fall asleep all right at first, but he still wakes up crying, afraid.

I don't think it's going to be a long term thing... We've been around a while and have had fears and gone through some really scary things, but to a toddler who isn't used to the feeling of fear, I think it's probably normal their first big scare to affect them for a little while. Does that make sense?

dunlapbriggs

Does make sense - and to add to it DS started screaming bloody murder when I try and put him to bed (night or nap) two or so days ago and then again when I tried to leave him at daycare this morning. We haven't had a problem with drop offs before and the bedtime routine was always book - bed kisses and I leave - he would fall asleep without a peep. I have no idea what's wrong with him or how to make it better

greenwl

I am a mental health therapist, your DS does not have PTSD.  It is very normal for our children to have different reactions to loud/different noises.