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The baby often shudders: what does this mean? Why is a child afraid of loud sounds and how to fix it

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 are afraid of the phone ringing, flinching from the hum of the coffee grinder, crying 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 the baby's fear arise?

The fear of loud sounds is manifested in almost all children at an early stage of their development (). 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. The exception is the fear of a specific incident experienced by the baby, for example, after an unsuccessful bath. The reason for the fear of loud sounds is not in the wrong upbringing of the child or in the oversight of the parents. This is a reaction of the baby's naturally developing nervous system. 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, it is possible that his nervous system has problems that require specialist advice. How much and how long the baby experiences a feeling of fear in the presence of noise depends on the behavior of his parents.

What should parents do?

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

Note to moms!


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

  • more often talk to the child calmly and affectionately, using constant intonation and voice strength. It's good if the baby can hear male voices: this way he will quickly learn to perceive the baritone, which 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 crumbs the source of the sound that scared him. For example, consider together a humming vacuum cleaner ( read), let the ringing phone be held, look out the window at the signaling car;
  • teach the child to make different sounds: quiet and loud. Carried away by the 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 in a calm conversation. In this case, a sudden violation of the silence, for example, ringing the doorbell, will not scare or even wake up the baby;
  • when a child is constantly afraid of loud sounds, throws a tantrum every time with 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 can be used.

Watching the video

Doctors believe that fright in infants, the symptoms of which manifest themselves in different ways, for example, a newborn is frightened and flinching, does not require treatment or prevention. On the contrary, some experts agree that it is completely inappropriate to prevent all kinds of fears for a baby at such an early age, since the crumbs will not develop an instinct for self-preservation. Another thing is the consequences of emotional shock: here it is important to know the symptoms and measures to eliminate them.

Usually, young parents, faced with a nervous state in a baby, often write off such behavior as fear, but you should know several important signs that will help determine the consequence of negative emotions in a child. If the baby is born full-term, the symptoms will appear periodically:

  • the baby's general condition worsens: he becomes capricious, too anxious, sometimes nervous;
  • there is a sharp, unreasonable cry, the baby often flinches and is frightened and constantly asks for his arms (he is afraid to be alone);
  • sleep and appetite are disturbed: this is why many mothers are interested in the question;
  • you may experience bedwetting or stuttering in a nursing baby.

All these symptoms necessarily require intervention in order to exclude possible complications in the mental and emotional state.

Important! If you determine the cause of the fear in time and seek help from a neurologist or child psychiatrist, attacks of fear can be stopped in a short time. The most common cause of frequent fears in infants is considered excessive parental care and control.

A few words about the baby's fright from E. Komarovsky. Possible reasons

Frequent manifestations of fear, as pediatrician Yevgeny Komarovsky finds out, are manifested in children under one year old who are surrounded by constant parental attention or, conversely, suffer from its deficit. Against this background, infants have a fear of water, a narrow or wide space, darkness, and some pets.

Children's humor! - Granny, what are you doing pies with?
- With potato.
- And mom does it with cottage cheese and pakusta.

The following factors usually provoke fear in a child under one year old:

  • large and scary animals can scare a baby;
  • sudden screaming or loud noise;
  • parental laughter;
  • stress of the child because of what he saw or heard;
  • severity in upbringing (sometimes this factor is accompanied by a symptom of regular convulsions and flinching).

Fright in infants, caused by various reasons, requires a special examination for the presence of nervous abnormalities. At the same time, parents must provide the child with complete peace and a sense of security.

Treatment or independent struggle with attacks of fear in infants?

Most parents, due to the stress inflicted on their babies, immediately turn to folk healers, who supposedly help to eliminate both the cause itself and its consequences. But doctors are sure that without a full examination of the child by a neurologist, traditional medicine will not help. The fright in the baby must be stopped without fail, since there are risks of its transition to a chronic form, then the baby may experience unreasonable panic attacks.

Watch the video on how to cure a baby's fear.

After the diagnosis and confirmation of the symptoms of fear, it is recommended to consult a child psychologist and psychiatrist, who will explain to parents how to behave with the baby in the future so as not to provoke emotional shock. Specialists must themselves take psychological measures to eliminate the child's fear and give home recommendations.

Children say! I ask my son (4 years old):
- Alyoshenka, have you seen the TV remote control?
- I myself was looking for him, like a dog after bandits.

In most cases, everything depends on the mother, she must now communicate with the baby as often as possible, play with him, talk, show toys. Regular walks in the fresh air, light stroking massage and unobtrusive gymnastics also have a healing and calming effect.

If you wish, you can use folk conspiracies and means.

Valerian herb tincture

It is better to purchase a specially prepared solution at the pharmacy, with which you can then solder the baby in case of fright for ten days. Due to the use of the drug, the symptoms of fear should disappear by the end of the course of treatment.

Using holy water

Every day, before every bedtime, wash your baby when frightened and read the prayer ("Our Father"). Thanks to this procedure, not only the child, but also the parents will calm down.

Soldering a baby with milk

Give your baby milk and honey every night. If the baby cannot drink on its own, add the mixture to the nipple, you can also add lemon balm tincture to the milk. Such a remedy soothes well and allows the child to fall asleep without whims.

Note! Before using various remedies for the treatment of fright in infants, consult a pediatrician and check for an allergic reaction. It is not recommended to give a baby under 7 months milk with honey, as cow protein and honey often cause.

Possible consequences of fright in a child under one year old

Fears in children need to be treated carefully and supported in case of negative consequences. Complications are manifested as:


It is much more difficult to cure chronic attacks of anxiety in a child under one year old than to overcome the first symptoms of emotional shock.

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Read completely...

My troubles with many children

It seems to me that every mother who has more than one is familiar with this feeling. And even more than two, and even more so ... of course, the speech is about how worried I am that some of the children do not have enough of my attention. And I kind of understand that physically I can give them more. Here, in a free minute, play with my son in a typewriter, another time to do something for my daughter. Well, it's understandable that the baby is not in competition, he is physically constantly on me, although not always morally. It happens that I do everything automatically ...

The first weeks, or even months, a young mother spends in constant stress, fearing to miss important symptoms, which may indicate that the child is in pain. Therefore, the woman in labor in the early days all the time looks at how the baby is sleeping. And if the newborn shudders, mom starts to panic. Is this really a cause for concern? Doctors usually smile when women talk about such "symptoms", but still recommend that you take a closer look at the baby.

The peculiarities of the work of the nervous system sometimes make an adult flinch in a dream. You have never noticed that falling into a deep sleep, you seem to be thrown up or, conversely, as if you are falling. You can regularly observe this startle in your baby. This phenomenon is called hypnagogic fright. It used to be thought that it was at this moment that the child grows up. In fact, this is a transition from the phase of REM (superficial) sleep to the phase of slow (deep) sleep, which, however, does not mean that the baby does not grow up precisely at such moments. Since the features of the course of rest of an adult and a child differ significantly, you can observe sudden movements in the crumbs quite often.

You should know that a newborn baby sleeps differently: its phases last no more than 50 minutes, while in an adult they reach 150 minutes. At the same time, deep sleep prevails in parents, while in crumbs these states change. Moreover, an adult almost immediately falls into slow dreams, and the baby can be in the phase of quick (superficial) rest for another half hour. That is why you should not transfer him to the crib at this time if he fell asleep in his arms or next to you on a large bed or sofa.

At the moment of transition to the deep sleep phase, the baby shudders, this mother can notice and after a while put the baby in his crib. In the same way, it will move with further phase change. In this case, of course, you should not panic and even more so, invent diagnoses.

The main causes of flinching

But phase changes are not the only reason why babies can flinch in their sleep. It should be understood that the emotions of the child and the work of his nervous system, reflexes are all interconnected and are not yet controlled by the baby. Therefore, any experiences during the day, dreams during the superficial phase, features of the nervous system lead to the fact that the newborn can sleep quite restlessly. And chaotic movements of arms and legs in this case are accompanying. If the child constantly sleeps like this, you can consult with a neurologist, but it is quite possible that you just need to monitor the lessons before bedtime. Usually, such a violent manifestation of emotions during sleep stops by the age of five. This is explained by the fact that it is during the fast phase that the brain develops, and by the indicated age the maturation process ends.

There are other reasons that make babies flinch in their sleep:

  • intestinal colic;
  • fatigue;
  • teething;
  • urination;
  • harsh sounds.

Obviously, among the listed reasons, there are no diseases that would require prompt examination. Colic is a natural phenomenon for babies in the first months of life. As a rule, during their course, the baby compresses his legs, cries, and if they start in a dream, he may shudder.

One of the reasons why the baby flinches in a dream is the onset of intestinal colic

A newborn is very tired of a lot of curious relatives, new experiences, even games. That is why the baby before going to bed should not be played and practiced too actively. By the way, dreams are also a manifestation of new emotions, although they say that even in the womb, babies already see dreams.

All other reasons are as natural as the transitions between sleep phases. But don't let your guard down.

Flinching as symptoms

Of course, the movements of the body and limbs during sleep can be different. There are a number of signs that make parents wary:

  • if the baby trembles or flinches quite rhythmically, and not occasionally;
  • when the baby often wakes up and sleeps very restlessly;
  • if the child cries in a dream;
  • if convulsions appear;
  • flinching in a dream is accompanied by another symptom - frequent regurgitation.

Most often, this demonstrates the process of adaptation of the muscular system to new conditions.

To keep the parents and the baby's sleep calm

Caring for parents will help to cope with the unstable and immature nervous system of the newborn to new conditions. This can be done in an elementary way:

  • Pet the baby if you notice that he shudders. You can sing him a lullaby, talk quietly so that the baby hears that you are near.
  • Try to put the baby on the tummy: this helps many babies, as colic calms down, hands stop twitching and thereby wake up the baby.
  • Perhaps swaddling will be the solution. It is not necessary to use regular diapers: you can take sleeping bags and envelopes with zippers. Some constraint in movement will make the newborn feel more secure.
  • Before going to bed, give up active games, visiting relatives, and noisy events. Give your baby a massage, before a night's rest, you can take a bath with soothing herbs. But it is better to do this only after consulting a doctor and only if there are really problems with sleep.

Don't panic if the flinching persists. If you have been examined by a neurologist, then you should know if there are any serious reasons for this behavior in your sleep. If they are not there, be calm and patient: take such phenomena as a necessity for the child's adequate development and adaptation to a new world for him.

Babies under three years old do not manage their emotions well, and any strong impression can provoke hysteria and even leave a lifelong imprint on the child's psyche.

For an adult, fright is a normal phenomenon that the nervous system copes with rather quickly. But in a child under one year old, a strong emotion will painfully affect the work of his systems and behavior. Therefore, it is important to recognize the symptoms of fear in infants in time, and understand how to help the baby get out of this emotional state so that the consequences do not remain.

What leads to fear?

Experiencing all kinds of emotions is very important for a baby, it contributes to the knowledge of the world and hones the work of his instincts. Protecting a child from experiences can lead to a delay in his mental development and weakness of the nervous system.

But nevertheless, the emotions experienced by the baby should be healthy, bringing the baby a positive or negative experience, and should not in any way be reflected in the work of his nervous system. A child, once faced with hot tea in dad's mug, should later remember that she can hurt him and just stay away from her, and not run away in hysterics from the kitchen.

Risk group

  1. The kids are too spoiled and overseen. “Greenhouse conditions”, when the baby is as if fenced off from negative experience, does not allow his nervous system to train on “small” emotional episodes, can lead to the fact that a collision with a strong negative impression causes fear.
  2. Children who are overly warned of danger. We are surrounded by many conditionally dangerous objects, a collision with which can not always harm us. Many parents who are overprotective of their children will not allow them to go near outlets, irons, and outdoor animals. They scare the little ones with the fact that all dogs bite painfully and instill in the crumbs a persistent fear of them. If someone's dog with quite friendly intentions approaches such a baby on the street, the improperly brought up baby will survive the strongest fright.
  3. Fear in infants can also be caused by diseases of the nervous system, when it is not able to cope with positive and negative emotional manifestations.

Since fear is associated with the psychology of the child, it is important to carefully approach the treatment of the baby for this problem. It is impossible not to pay attention to the child's fears, but it is also not recommended to approach this issue too harshly.

Experts recommend, having noticed the child's fears or signs that he has experienced a severe fear, it is imperative to determine what exactly caused this condition, and then make every effort to stop the symptoms and help the baby overcome his fear.

If you cannot cope with the baby's fears on your own, be sure to contact a psychologist, he will suggest methods with which you can gently treat his phobia.

Most often, babies are frightened:

  1. Big animals.
  2. Loud noises (domestic fights, weather events).
  3. Excessive severity of parents.
  4. Severe stressful situations.

Symptoms

Negative mental experience, which the nervous system could not cope with, leaves a noticeable mark on it. In order to help the baby in time, it is important to notice the symptoms of fright:

  • Restless sleep;
  • nightmares;
  • constant crying for no apparent reason;
  • unwillingness to be alone.

In older children, fear will manifest itself as urinary incontinence and stuttering.

The listed symptoms can appear in all infants from time to time and are associated with age-related crises. But if such behavior stretches over several days and weeks, then the baby has experienced a fright, which left a mark on his psyche.

If you notice symptoms in a baby and start treatment in a timely manner, this condition will go away rather quickly. In children under one year old, fear is a reflex that, with proper attention and help, passes rather quickly, but if the problem is not dealt with, then this condition can develop into a severe life-long psychological trauma. Therefore, any psychoemotional problems of a child under one year old should be treated.

Treatment methods

Fright treatment should be comprehensive: you should stop the symptoms and gently eliminate the root cause of the fear of crumbs.

  1. First of all, you need to surround your baby with care. He should feel safe, and a constant mother's presence will help him to give this feeling.
  2. Baths with herbal decoctions and coniferous infusions can help the baby's nervous system cope with the stress experienced.
  3. If your toddler is afraid of strangers, you shouldn't avoid contact with them. It is necessary to gradually accustom the baby to their presence. Say hello to the visitor who has come to visit, explain to the child that this is a good person. If the baby cries, do not insist on communication, but try to continue the contact next time. Guests can bring inexpensive toys or treats to the baby and present them to the baby.
  4. You also need to fight the fear of animals, because cats and dogs are an integral part of our life. The kid will encounter them at a party and on the street. Take a tiny look at the pictures in books with pictures of pets, explain that they are kind if you treat them well and respectfully. Watch funny videos with cats and dogs with your baby. As soon as the baby gets used to "virtual" communication with animals, you can gradually establish "face-to-face".
  5. If the fright was caused by everyday circumstances, for example, the baby was burned by boiling water or an iron, choked, bathing in the bathroom and slipping under the water, then you need to gently correct this situation.

For bathing, you can buy oversleeves, show how they stay on the water and explain that they will not allow your baby to drown. If the baby is burned, explain that you need to be careful when handling household items. A child should not go around hot mugs, irons and plates "seven miles away", because he needs to grow up and learn to use them.

If home remedies do not correct the symptoms and effects of fear, you should see a neurologist. A specialist may prescribe medication for you. Adult children are shown homeopathy, hypnosis and play therapy. Do not be afraid that the medications prescribed for the child will harm him - ignoring the symptoms of fright can lead to serious psychological problems that affect the child's behavior. In addition, if emotional problems are left untreated, it often leads to bedwetting and speech disorders.

Prophylaxis

For the nervous system to successfully cope with stress, it is important to maintain it and reduce the negative impact of circumstances on it.

  1. If you notice that the baby is overexcited and has become capricious, try to calm him down by adding decoctions of chamomile, motherwort, mint, lavender or valerian to the bathing water.
  2. Dry soothing herbs can be placed in fabric bags and placed in your baby's crib.
  3. Do not instill in the child false fears, he should not be afraid of street animals, but respect them, then they will not harm him.
  4. When you go to places where the baby can go through stress - take his favorite toy with you. By hugging him to himself, the child will feel safe.
  5. Create a friendly atmosphere at home, full of affection, mutual support and care. Do not swear in front of a child with loved ones.