Let me just start out with this: I am not a doctor of any sort (I would pass out too easily....), and this is just the experience I have had with my 3 year old daughter.
My daughter is incredibly sensitive to loud noises. It got to the point where if she heard a certain noise that was too loud, she would cover her ears and completely shut down. She would just sit there, holding her ears crying. I it was very hard to get her to calm down.
I'm not going to lie, it was super frustrating sometimes! This would happen in several situations. We went to my son's swimming lessons one time and there happened to be an extra loud, screaming kid. She shut down.
We were at the library and there was a baby who happy screamed. She shut down.
We were at my son's soccer game and the ref blew the whistle. Shut down.
We were at a family dinner and my niece did a high pitched happy scream. Again, she shut down.
She was in a music class one time where there were several other kids. There were 2 little kids in particular who were pretending to be dinosaurs. They both decided to do a really loud "RAWR!" sound. After they did that, Layla lost it. She sat there, covered her ears, and cried. We ended up having to leave the class early. Once we were in the car, I started crying too.
I was bawling my eyes out. This will sound so bad, but I honestly was mad at her for being that way. Maybe mad isn't the right word. I was so incredibly frustrated that we were trying to do a fun music class together and it got ruined because she couldn't recover from being startled by a loud noise.
I had a few people tell me that I should maybe look into a sensory processing disorder for her. I tried Googling it, and honestly I didn't find a lot of things that were helpful. A lot of the articles were talking about kids on the spectrum who have sensory processing disorders. My daughter didn't (and still doesn't) have any of the signs of being on the spectrum.
I kept looking and eventually called my daughter's pediatrician to see what resources there were to get her tested for a disorder. One of the resources I was given was the book "The Out-of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Processing Disorder". I decided to read that first before going to get her tested.
As I was going through the book, I realized that the chances of my daughter having a disorder were very slim. In the book there is a check list of symptoms for Sensory Processing Disorders and she only had 1 symptom out of the whole entire list. She covers her ears and cries.
That book is a good one IF your kid does have a processing disorder. Clearly mine doesn't.
But I still felt lost on how to help her (and myself).
I participated in an online event all about parenting (Transforming Toddlerhood) and I was blown away. There were so many amazing speakers! One of the speakers (Laura Petix with The OT Butterfly) spoke specifically about Sensory Processing Disorders and how to tell the difference between an actual disorder and if it is more of a quirk or just being hypersensitive. She talked about how sensory sensitivities affect kids' behavior.
She said that it is most likely a disorder if your child isn't able to calm down after the "situation" that happened has ended. There was the example of a blender. If the child is still screaming and crying for a long time after the blender has stopped, there is the possibility of a disorder. But if your child is able to calm down after it has stopped, it is more of a quirk or hypersensitivity.
I felt a huge sense of relief! Layla doesn't scream for hours after a loud noise has triggered her. As she has gotten older, the time it takes her to calm down has lessened a lot. And like I said, she doesn't show any other signs of a disorder. She is just hypersensitive to loud noises. They hurt her ears.
So how do I help her? I put headphones on her!
They muffle the sounds so they aren't so loud. She has been able to be in music class, around other screaming kids, around the blender, and any other loud noises. They help her ears not to hurt.
She doesn't wear them all the time or everywhere we go, just to places that have loud kids or other unexpected noises.
I'm so grateful that headphones were suggested to me. They have been a lifesaver and have made it so we don't have to leave fun outings early.
The headphones that I use for Layla are BANZ Earmuffs Infant Hearing Protection.Yes, they say infant headphones that are for 0-2 years. But they fit my 3 year old just great!
I hope that this post has helped at least a little bit to ease some other parent's mind!
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