Fear of Vacum

[Shirale]

Amira seems to have recently developed a major fear of the vacum cleaner- if I even take it out to start vacuming, she screams hysterically and her whole body shakes and she won't calm down until I put it away...my carpets are beginning to suffer and I can't always do it when she is asleep (I can do the rest of the apt but not her room) Help!??!

[gour0]

Not probably helpful, but I vote that dh does the vaccuming while you and dd are out shopping. :)

[sweetbasil]

Our DS did this for a while, and DH said I needed to stop vacuuming. I told him I thought that at some point, he'd have to get used to it, so one of us would play with him or distract him while the other vacuumed, and he got over it in a week or two. Now, he's pushing the vacuum around himself, pretending that it's on. Come to think of it, maybe it's time to push that chore off on him! ha! Good luck!

[Rachels]

Oh, poor baby! Try getting it out but not vaccuuming-- just let her go about her day with the vaccuum in the corner. After a day or two, try something else, like letting her help you push it while it's turned off, etc., and slowly build up to turning it on. If she won't even let you get it out, start with just leaving the door open to wherever you store it, or get it out while she's sleeping and just leave it out in a corner somewhere. Hopefully doing baby steps like this will help make it less scary for her.

-Rachel
Mom to Abigail Rose
5/18/02

[dd_ani]

Try to desensitize her to the vaccuum. Perhaps just leave it out in the very corner of a room and let her notice it. Then work up to getting her close to it, without it running. Give her some incentives, such as food/toys, progressively moving closer to the vaccuum but without pushing her past her comfort level. Eventually, work up to the point where you can put toys on the vaccuum and she is comfortable taking them off. Then you can start the same process again with the vaccuum running. I don't know what your schedule is like, but small frequent sessions will work well. Make it fun (HA! As if that ever applies to vaccuuming!)

(I used to teach puppy preschool and this works great for fearful puppies. I have found that it seems to work pretty well with kids too! :))
Hope this helps,

Michelle

[Sheila]

There was a thread a while back where I posted about my experience w/ the vacuum. check out:

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dcforum/DCForumID30/310.html

This too shall pass!!

Sheila

________
MARIJUANA VAPORIZERS (http://weedvaporizers.org/)

[brubeck]

One thing that helped with my daughter was that I got her the Little Tikes 2-in-1 Vacuum Cleaner for her 2nd birthday (age range is 18 months and up). It is plastic and has little balls that shake around when you move it, so it's not as threatening as the real thing. It also has a little dustbuster attached. Although my daughter is still nervous about the real vacuum, she will at least be in the same room with it and watch it from a distance now. And she loves to play with the toy one. Best $20 investment I have made in a long time!

[Shirale]

Thanks for all the great suggestions!! I have tried the opening the door to the closet trick and she screamed like she was b eing attacked...but then I took it out and left it and she sort of looked at it nervously....we'll keep trying. I am going to look into that vacum toy- she is only 13 months, but it may be ok...it's amazing to me that it is not only her!!! :-) Thanks again!!

[Sharon]

At 1 1/2, my nephew would shriek horribly whenever the real vacuum was out but would walk around his house vacuuming with his toy vacuum for a long time. It was his favorite toy. Some shrink probably could use him as a study for how kids act out their biggest fears. Good Luck!

[atlbaby]

I'll be interested to hear if Amira takes to the vacum toy, bc Arielle has 'vacum-phobia' :) too!
We live in a small apartment right now, and it is so so hard to vacum bc even if she is in the other room w/ DH she can still hear it running!! I'm going to try leaving it out around her too. The coffee grinder is a problem too for us btw, is it for you too or just the vacum?

ps--Not sure if you saw my reply to you in the favorite books thread (I think that's where I originally saw this), but you mentioned Amazing Savings stores in northern NJ. I live in that area, could you tell me where they have some stores?

-Rachel
Mom to Arielle Jill, 10/30/01

[Shirale]

Hi Rachel,
Actually- we don't have a coffee grinder (neither of us drinks hot drinks!) so I don't know how she would react...she is somewhat fearful of the mixer, but not to the same panic-inducing degree!!! Where in NJ do you live?? The Amazing Savings that I go to is in Teaneck on Cedar Lane, but there is one in Monsey, NY and a bunch of other places! They also have toys, often the fisher price stuff at great deal! We are actually moving to NJ in a month or so also!

[atlbaby]

Hi Shira,
My in-laws live in Teaneck--right near Cedar Lane, and I am there often (all the restaurants etc :) ), and I never noticed it before but I will have to go soon!
We live in Tenafly/Englewood area. Where are you moving to in NJ? Maybe it's nearby?

PS--Do you have your preferrances set so I could send you an email? Mine are set to receive email if you ever wanted to chat about locations and stuff :)

-Rachel
Mom to Arielle Jill, 10/30/01

[Shirale]

Hi Rachel!!
How funny!! We are moving to Bergenfield, right on the border of teaneck! I would love to email and maybe we could meet for lunch/playdate some time after I move!!! What a small world!