Daughter Terrified of Vacuum...floors getting pretty gross. HELP

thehotheartline · February 2013

So DD has recently decided that the vacuum is the most terrifying thing on the planet. It doesn't even have to be on, she will scream when she sees it. My mom thinks I just need to ignore it and vacuum anyway...ie let her scream, but she truly sounds like she is going to die every time she gets near one. DH has been taking her in the other room when he gets home from work so I can get the floors cleaned (DD is particularly messy now as well, lol) but then she screams in the other room and stays attached to me for the rest of the evening.

Has anyone else had experience with this? Is there a gentle way I'm not thinking of to get her used to it? Pregnancy brain could be affecting my logical thinking skills and I am just missing an easy fix.

TiffanyBerry · February 2013

We had the same issue. DH would take DD to the other floor. Otherwise, she would need to be out of the house (maybe on a walk around the block!). She's grown out of it, but she still goes to another room, and even that took wellm ore than two years.

neverblushed · February 2013

I had a kid who was (still is) pretty sensitive when it comes to loud noises. He was sort of scared of the vacuum, but could be reasoned with over it.

His real Waterloo was the Excelerator hand dryer. He was seriously terrified of ALL public bathrooms for a while, just because they might have an excelerator in them! Naturally, this fear of hand dryers would coincide with potty training....

I never found that "getting them used to it" worked well with my kids when they had fears like this. They just had to grow out of it. As spring rolls around, maybe have your H take your daughter for a walk outside while you sneak in a little vacuuming. By the time the summer ends, she'll have grown into a different stage and you can reintroduce her to the vacuum. Start with having her see it but not turning it on. Then maybe read a book or look at pictures. Get her a toy vacuum, whatever.

Hang in there! She'll grow out of it, and if she's anything like my kids she'll move on to some other equally baffling fear!

thehotheartline · February 2013

Thanks for the responses. It is nice to know that I didn't cause this. lol I guess it will just take time. Glad to know I'm not alone...might try the roomba!!!

juliane2004 · February 2013

Yup, mine do that. No idea why. I just repeat over and over that it's just loud but not hurting them. I just do it. Ideally, if they're upstairs but sometimes I just have to do it. And they cry. But I do it fast.

crunchylove77 · February 2013

He used to cry when we would use our vacuum or Vitamix, but I've found that if I pop him in the Ergo when I vacuum and make eye contact with him for the first minute of vacuuming, he realizes it's ok, and does great.

cayenne · February 2013

neverblushed:
He was seriously terrified of ALL public bathrooms for a while, just because they might have an excelerator in them! Naturally, this fear of hand dryers would coincide with potty training....

Oh man, my 10 month old son is TERRIFIED of hand dryers, especially the dyson ones. I attribute it to him flipping out when I was about 7 months pregnant with him and using one. I swear he did 4 turns in there and shook. Then when he was 4 months I changed him in an airport restroom and a lady dried her hands. My 4 month old literally leapt into my arms and cried harder and longer than he ever had.

OP, he hates the vacuum right now too. I'm swiffering the hell out of the wood floors and vacuuming when DH takes DS on a walk (which is thankfully every day).

Emerald27 · February 2013

My DS must be some strange alien child, because he loves the vacuum. He gets so excited when I take it out of the closet, and he insists upon following me around or trying to stand in front of it while I vacuum. He plays with the tube thing and pulls at the cord, and if I leave the vacuum out when I'm done, he tries to climb on it. Aren't kids interesting!

BelhurstBride · February 2013

Have you tried wearing her while you vacuum? That's the only way DD would tolerate it for years. Even now she has to be in another room or she'll lose it.

ITGurl0626 · February 2013

BelhurstBride:
Have you tried wearing her while you vacuum? That's the only way DD would tolerate it for years. Even now she has to be in another room or she'll lose it.

This. I wrap my DD because she is terrified of the vacuum too.

stever · February 2013

When DS1 went through that phase I would hold him while DH vacuumed. He's fine with it now and DS2 doesn't seem too bothered, but he's way more chilled out than his big brother.

MeghanGdB · February 2013

Another option is a sweeper - I got this one from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/BISSELL-Swift-Sweep-Sweeper-2201B/dp/B0001WW2G2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361068655&sr=8-1&keywords=sweeper

It gets most of the stuff you can see off of rugs and floors, to reduce the yuck factor until you can vacuum again for real. My LO likes to take turns pushing it around.

KatFCo · February 2013

For DS it was the sudden noise that scared him, so just before turning it on, I would make a slighly loud, high pitched noise. He isn't afraid of noises I make, and it kind of lessened the fear of the vaccuum noise.

KMom16 · February 2013

DS was really scared of the vacuum. I just had DH hold him and comfort him while I vacuumed a few times and now he is used to it and it doesn't bother him.

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Daughter Terrified of Vacuum...floors getting pretty gross. HELP

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