What are the symptoms of a child being frightened?

Fear often occurs in children under the age of six. Due to external stimuli, many children will be timid and afraid, and become more resistant to some things. As parents, if you find that your child is frightened, he or she may become restless when sleeping, become frightened and cry, and tremble, among other symptoms.

What is childhood fright?

Pediatric fright mainly refers to abnormal phenomena, mainly fright, caused by external stimuli in preschool children (under 6 years old). A small number of timid school-age children may also experience childhood fright.

Why do children have pediatric fright?

The central nervous system of children is not yet fully developed. When there are sudden strong stimuli from the outside world, the central nervous system of children may have temporary dysfunction, leading to some abnormal mental symptoms. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the physiological characteristics of children are "the immature yang is not full, and the immature yin is not yet developed", which means that the children's internal organs, tendons, brain marrow and their various physiological functions are in a relatively insufficient state, their vital energy is not full, and their spirit is timid, so they are easily affected by external stimuli and get frightened.

What are the strong stimuli that can cause fright in children?

● A sudden loud noise

There are sudden loud noises around children, such as loud firecrackers, man-made pranks, and natural lightning and thunder.

● Seeing unusual images or pictures

Children can be frightened when they watch scary TV scenes or read picture books, or when babies are frightened by things they have never been exposed to before, such as the flashing camera flash, or even when they see people who seem strange to them, such as when a child just wakes up and sees his mother's messy hair after washing it.

● Hearing scary stories or adults deliberately scaring you

Some parents do not pay attention to the choice of content when telling stories, or often use threatening words such as "old cats" or "ghosts" to scare their children, which will cause fright.

● Being suddenly chased or even bitten by an animal

Nowadays, many people keep pets. If children are chased or even bitten by dogs, cats and other animals, it will not only cause physical damage but also psychological shock.

● Sudden attack

For example, a child is beaten and scolded by his parents after doing something wrong.

What are the symptoms of a child who is frightened?

When a baby is frightened, he or she will usually refuse to eat, become sleepy or cry restlessly, and have blue stools.

When young children are frightened, most of them become listless and lose their appetite. Some children will experience restless sleep at night, insomnia, or wake up crying in the middle of their sleep, while others will cry shrilly, with the symptoms coming on and off suddenly.

Older children may experience visual and auditory hallucinations when they are frightened. Moreover, being frightened may be a trigger for convulsions and epilepsy.

How should parents help their children when they are frightened?

When a baby is frightened, he or she often cries incessantly. At this time, you should hold the baby gently, or walk around gently after holding the baby, or hum a soft and slow nursery rhyme or lullaby, which can often calm the baby down or gradually fall asleep.

Preschool children already have a certain level of understanding. If they are frightened, parents should first hug the child to make him feel psychologically safe, and explain to him that the thing or the sound is not scary, what made it, and that dad or mom is with him, so nothing will happen. Then try to divert his attention, such as letting him play with his favorite toys, read picture books, or invite some children he usually plays with to play games, so that he can forget about the incident.

If the above methods still cannot soothe the child and make him quiet, you can choose some appropriate medications for symptomatic treatment under the guidance of a pediatrician, such as taking Amber Baolong Pills, Golden Baolong Pills, and Cinnabar Anshen Pills for a short period of time. For small babies, you can take Zhupo Houzao Powder, Baoying Pills, etc. Children who are severely frightened can take some sedatives under the guidance of a doctor, which can achieve obvious therapeutic effects.

Avoid shock, prevention first

To prevent children from being frightened, we need to pay more attention in daily life.

Be prepared for some special environmental stimuli: for example, during storms, lightning and thunder, close doors and windows tightly and have someone accompany the children. When the sound of firecrackers is particularly loud during festivals, for younger babies, especially those who are sleeping, appropriate measures can be taken to block the spread of sound, such as covering the baby's ears. In addition, if your baby is only a few months old and has never been photographed with a flash, do not take too many photos at once to avoid scaring the baby by the flashing light.

Don't scare children. If children are disobedient or make mistakes, try to use persuasion and education methods. Don't use scary things to scare them. This kind of content with threatening language will form a bad suggestion for children, causing them to be timid and cowardly, which is extremely harmful to their physical and mental development. Beating, scolding or yelling at a child harshly can also cause the child to show signs of being frightened.