2 1/2 year old scared of rain/thunder....what to do??

[sweetpeamom25]

Our daughter is 2 ½ and has become scared of rain or thunder—even just a mild rumble, but only during the night. She’ll wake up scared and crying, even if it’s just raining. The noise never used to bother her until this spring/summer. But I dread when I see storms/rain predicted on the weather forecast because I know she’ll be up in the middle of the night. Sometimes she notices it during the day and will say “Oh no, rain!” But it doesn’t seem like she’s actually scared of it. When she notices we just say “Yes, rain is good!” or “Yay! Rain!” And try to make it a fun/good thing. Then she quickly moves onto something else.

We’re struggling with how to make it ok for her at night. I don’t want to really ignore her (let her cry it out, so to say) when she’s scared. But on the other hand I feel like we’re kind of babying her by going into her room every time and calming her down, or laying on the floor next to her bed, so she can relax and go back to sleep.

Has anyone else dealt with this? Suggestions?

[ReneeW]

My idea is to put a white noise maker in her room on the nights when a storm is in the forecast to help drown out the sound so she'll stay asleep. She should outgrow this in time. I think you're doing the right thing by saying, "Yay Rain," etc. so she knows that rain is good. But those loud sounds at night can be very scary for our lil' kiddos!

[betherin]

Keep staying positive. That's a good start! I agree on finding a fan or some white noise to try and drown out the rain at night.

[sarahisis]

My son was scared of it too... so we started turning up the air purifier in his room on stormy nights and it worked like a charm!!

[bunsy]

My kids had white noise machines in their rooms. If the rain/thunder/lightning/storm was loud enough to wake and bother them over that, they were welcome on the floor next to my bed. I was scared stiff of storms as a kid. I would have been miserable if my parents had made me "tough it out". I was afraid until my early 20s when DH helped me get over my fear.

There aren't that many loud storms in a season--sleepovers are fun. There were nights I had 3 kids on the floor next to the bed. Sometimes during the loudest, scariest moments they were all in bed with me. They are little for a short time. It won't last for ever.

Love them, comfort them, help them.

[apryllraye87]

I agree with Bunsy, DS is a pretty heavy sleeper and will often just sleep through the storms, we also have a fan in his room so that helps. But if he does wake up and come in my room, I just let him. I would never want him to have to be alone in his room and scared during a thunderstorm.