Any tips on how to deal with going to the bathroom in a public bathroom (like say Target) that has those INTENSE hand dryers? My daughter gets nervous and freaks out crying when someone dries their hands. To the point where she can't go and will cling to me if we walk into a bathroom that has that kind of hand dryer. 
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Noise canceling headphones. Only way we were able to do it for a long time. Now he’s old enough it doesn’t bother him as much.
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I bring a burp rag and use that to dry hands.
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My oldest (5) hates those hand dryers. I just let him shake his wet hands and wipe excess water on his pants.
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@KT326: I'll need to buy a bigger purse to carry a pair (which means 2 pair since her brother will inevitably demand them too :-p)
@looch: @Alba4: yeah I dont care honestly if she uses it or drip dries....... the issue is purely noise related. She freaks out and doesn't want to be in the restroom at all when she hears someone dry their hands.
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I'm on round two of toddler versus the hand dryers and public potties. I have no advice, nothing you can really do but go about your day and know that it will most likely improve with time.
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My DD hates using them and hates hearing them. I keep a small towel in my bag so she doesn't have to use them. The only think that kind of helps with the noise is to pick a song we are going to sing before we go in and then sing it the whole time we are there. It helps her to be focused on one specific thing.
I'm sure the noise cancelling headphones would be great but wouldn't want to commit to carrying them.
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Would it help if you maybe taught her to cover her ears with her hands if she hears anything loud or any noises she doesn’t like? And just conuntue to reassure her that it’s ok, it’s just the hand dryer and mommy’s here? My Dd learned to cover herhands in those situations and also when she’s at my sons elementary school when she hears the school bells ring.
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@iluvboba637: it sounds so obvious - but sometimes I forget about teaching something like that that seems so innate to me.......I taught my children to shield their eyes when the sun hits them directly when in the stroller or the car recently and it made a world of a difference. Why didn't I think about pointing out how she could cover her ears
THANK YOU!
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@catgirl: Good idea - thank you!
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@meadow: That's hard. We went through a number of outings with my son where he wouldn't poop for hours because he didn't want to sit on a toilet with an automatic flush. He also didn't like the hand dryers for a long time, but at least he was willing to go in the bathroom. But he would tell other random adults not to use them until he left
I like the idea of covering her ears or using headphones.
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My 6yo still covers her ears as soon as she enters a public washroom...She doesn't like the dryers or the auto flush. I just let her shake her hands off and wipe on her clothes. She has used a hand dryer a couple of times (quieter ones). Some of them are intense though!
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@meadow: I understand the issue, my son is similar and having the cloth with us in my bag reassured him that he wouldn't have to use the dryers. That kind of takes the edge off.
As he's gotten older, it's become a non issue now. If it were still a problem, I'd probably look into those tiny foam ear plugs.
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DS is 6 and I still cover his ears. It took a few years before he would use them...
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I avoid the hand dryers anyway because they are super germy. DD was terrified of the sound of not just the dryers but the loud flushing of automatic toilets. Not sure how old your LO is but I kept reminding DD that while loud noises can startle us they dont have to be scary
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Covering ears is definitely key. Also I try to make it funny. "Vroom! That sounds like a train! Do you think there is a giant train in the bathroom?!" Or something equally as silly. It may not work at first, but as DS slowly started to loosen up, he'd giggle, or say "oh no the train!" when it turned on which would kind of distract him a bit from the actual noise.
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@BadgerMom: cute. I like this!
I like the idea of covering her ears or using headphones.
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