3 1/2 Yo Boy Covering Ears and Eyes

Sounds like a phase to me. Try ignoring it for a few days, if it doesnt go away then ask the doc for some advice.

Since it is a new behavior it warrants checking with the pediatrician to see if he has a sinus infection or something that is making his eyes and ears more sensitive. I have had sinus infections without a fever and they can be incredibly painful, and noise and bright lights do aggravate the pain. My daughter acted like that from day 1, and is just ultra-sensitive to noises and crowds and tags in clothes and bright lights. She is now 10 and asks me to lower my voice when I am not loud at all, etc. A quick physical to rule out any illnesses would be a good idea. Then again, he may be going through a phase. Kids do all kinds of things that make you worry. My daughter would not leave the house without clutching two favorite little plastic dolls when she was 3, one in each hand, for about 6 months. Then all of a sudden it was no longer needed. She also gave kisses in even numbers and if you give her 1 she's ask for another. We have left a restaurants, malls, fireworks, parties, etc. because of smells or noise. Now that she is 10 she attends a noisy middle school, the cafeteria food wafts through the whole building, and she does not particularly like the noise and smell but has adjusted so she can deal with it. Good luck.

MIne is 9 and still covers his ears. He is VERY sensitive to loud noises. He also had numerous ear infections as a small one.
Have his hearing and sight checked. He may be developing something, an infection or similar that warrants a dr visit.
Also my husband cannot make out conversations in large rooms, crowded areas, malls for instance, and similar places.
There is nothing wrong just he too has sensitive ears and too much noise really bothers him.

my 3 1/2 year old daughter does that too. i think its just a phase. however when we see her dr on the 9th for a check up before we go out of state i will ask about it.

I would hate to see it dismissed as a phase only to have him suffer later on. My son used to cover his ears and hated going to places where there was a lot going on - even if he once liked that place - or crowded busy places - even family parties were unnerving to him. We eventually found out he has Auditory Processing Delays (APD) or Central Auditory Processing Delays (CAP). I don't think they can actually diagnose it until they are 5 years old so it may be a bit early to have him checked for it. But you may want to make the pediatrician aware so that when he is old enough, it is on the radar to have him checked. Just so you know, his "hearing" and his Auditory processing are 2 different things. You can have perfect or better than perfect hearing and have a processing delay. The processing is in the brain, not the ear. So, think about you examples. Gymnastics - how many classes are going on? Is there other kids and instructors talking - not necessarily to him, but background noise? Music playing? Running, jumping on trampolines & springboards, feet landing on the balance beam, the squeak of the bars? And your car ride - was the radio on? The hum or other noises your car and other cars on the road make? The A.C. or heater blowing? Ambulance or police car with siren going by? In addition to your conversation. For most people, you don't even notice all of those extras - they are in the background, but easily ignored. This is not so for people with CAP or APD. All of those noises overload and overwhelm the brain and there is no way a child so young would be able to communicate that to you. I certainly am not saying that he has this, it is just something to be aware of and research. The earlier you find out if he does have it, the earlier you can get him therapy. Depending on the severity it could impact his reading and memory. My son is still relearning reading skills from kindergarten and first grade. Also, something else I have learned while going through this is that kids with processing problems often think that everybody else is having the same experience as them, but they don't understand why nobody else feels like they do. This is not a happy place to be in. There are many other symptoms which can be dismissed as personality or that he is a boy, but if you are interested in some "at home" tests, I will look for them and e-mail you the link if you think it would be helpful for your son.
God bless your baby!

I'm not sure about the ears thing, but my son used to cover his eyes because he was shy. Someone might have smiled at him in a store and he would cover is eyes so he/they wouldn't make eye contact. He outgrew that phase.

As an adult who is excessively bothered by loud noises,
I may have a bit of insight into your DS's situation.

Also . . . little kids can NOT answer WHY questiions.
A lot of big kids and adults can't, either.
Truthfully, anyway.
The brain connections and processing for WHY issues
do not yet work at early ages.

They MAY be able to tell you WHAT happened,
but are incapable of talking about WHY.
Incapable of understanding WHY.

DS is using the only tools he has available to him
to avoid over-stimulating input.
You might want to have some conversations --
at a time when everything is calm and there are no outside interruptions --
about the kinds of things we experience in everyday life.

About the conversation between you and your mom . . .
it may not have been the volume but the content, or the tone.
He may have felt a need to not listen to what you were talking about.

It's probably a good idea to get him checked regarding sensory processing difficulties . . . . but, before you do, perhaps you can have some conversations with him about his experiences.

I think you should wait it out. I also think that next time you should bring him in to gymnastics class (or the grocery store, or whatever it is). You can tell him that he doesn't have to participate, or that the trip will be short and he can leave his hands on his ears, or whatever it is, but you do NOT want this to become a way that he can manipulate you to get what he wants. I'm not saying that's what it is now, but 3 year olds are pretty smart, and he'll fast figure out that if he does this and says "I don't want to do X" he'll get out of it.

3 year olds are weird. Mine went through a big "squinting" phase. Looked like she was losing her vision. Turned out it was just a new way of looking at the world. If this persists for more than 2 weeks or if loud noises, etc, seem to be making him hysterical, take him to the doctor. But otherwise, ride it out. Good luck.

I'd be calm around him, take notes of when and where, contact the doctor, get a referral to get him checked out - it takes a few weeks to a few months to get Early Intervention or whatever it is called in your state to get in touch with you, so it's better to get the ball rolling.

My 3-year old son covers his ears whenever he's scared of something. Ironically, if he's watching tv and a scary "something" comes on the screen, instead of covering his eyes, he still covers his ears (and keeps watching the screen). I'd ride it out for a little while and observe him. See if you can recognize a pattern when he does it. Then, try to talk to him again if you figure anything out - final option would be get the dr. involved. Good luck!

My 3.5 year old does this...has been doing it for a while. At times I know its b/c something is loud but at other times I don't consider the noise loud, even though he says it is. I've seen him in action when other sounds are loud and he doesn't have any issues, so I don't know what to make of it. Lately he has been really turning up his music and tv and if we turn it down he says he can't hear it...but I've been thinking that is a control issue. I haven't done anything about it (maybe I should) but my instinct isn't telling me to worry. Hmmm...no advice here but know what you are dealing with. Going to read other's responses and see what they say. I did have a neighbor tell me that maybe I should have him checked for sensory issues...

The covering of his ears is a clear sign that sounds bother him. I have hypercusis and that is sensitivity to sounds. It is different for each individual. The issues you describe your best bet is to see a Neurotologist.Please don't get confused with a neurologist they are not the same. The closing of his eyes, could be because he is seeing double or what ever he is looking at move, something like veritgo if your familar with what that is.So if he is seeing things move and it makes him feel weird, his first reaction is to close his eyes to see if it goes away. He is 3 so if this was happening he would have a hard time explaining this too you. Your eyes and your ears communicate together, so if his ears are reacting to noise then it could be sending mix messages to the eyes or vice or versa. Please don't ignore this. I would also look for a good ENT. Speaking from experience i would get 3 opoions . Please let me know how it goes. If you have any question please feel free to message me. I have some websites that could help you, but i have too look for them. I will try to get back to you on that.

Here is one website http://www.vision-audio.com/EASe1.html. It could also be a phase. It could be sensory issue. It wouldn't hurt to talk to a doctor.

Most kids are testing the difference of when covered and when not around this age, but it could also be that his ears are bothering him. My son gets ear infections EVERY winter, so we bought an otoscope at walmart for less than $20 ( it even comes with a chart to see what different ear problems look like). I've recently been having ear problems and sometimes the ringing can be annoying. But maybe he's just assuming that blocking out the stimuli will help with anxious situations.
Hope it helps...