Irrational Fear for Infant

Funny Story About a Little Girl and a Fear of Vacuums

Before Christmas I had relatives visit and decided to vacuum while my 8 month old daughter was in her high chair. Usually, I vacuum while she is sleeping or out of the house, but had waited until the last minute and needed to do it in front of her. Big mistake! I have never seen her afraid before! She got all red, cried tears, and was literally shaking. I felt like a terrible mother! I ran to her, picked her up, and hid the vacuum. She was just so afraid of the loud noise, the large equipment, etc.

If I had thought it through, I would have introduced it to her sooner so it would have been part of her daily life and she would have been used to it already. But, live and learn.

A few days later, I went to daycare and they dragged the vacuum across the floor so they could plug it in. She panicked again! She was shaking and screaming and scared to death. Well, this was alarming to me. Not only was it frightening for her the first time when it was on, but I had scarred her to the point where she saw one about to be plugged in and was still scared. So, the behavior analyst in me wanted to end this irrational fear. Seeing a vacuum cleaner does not need to elicit such panic in an infant. I went home and started vacuum desensitization training! The vacuum became part of the family from then on. The vacuum came out from hiding in the closet, and stayed out in the living room. She ate with it near her, played with it near her, we rolled her dolls around on it like a ride, and it even opened presents with us at the Christmas tree.

At first, she freaked out. But, the more she saw it as an inanimate object in the room and not as a terrorizing machine, she was fine. It only took a day before she was approaching it herself to investigate it further. Daycare reports that they not only have the vacuum off in front of her, but turn it on to clean as well and she no longer cries or needs to be held, etc. She does still have a fight or flight kind of look on her face, as if she's trying to determine if it's a danger to her, but she is no longer terrified. I just made her realize it is as innocuous as a pillow on the couch or one of her toys, and she is adjusting well.

So, a lesson learned and a crisis averted for now. Plus, the vacuum joining us for gift opening by the Christmas tree was priceless.