*** Separation Anxiety ***
I remember when my eldest went through this at around 10 months.
I would be holding her, and move my arm to reach my tea…..anyone would have thought that I was leaving her for a one way ticket to The Bahamas!
💕 I just kept holding her, meeting her needs. It was a phase, it passed.
My second eldest went through it from around 2 years old, all the way through nursery, and primary school and still gets like it now (especially at night time)
💕 I continued to meet her needs and reassure her. I would hold her hand whilst she was waiting in the line for the school day (much to some of the teachers dismay, but if it made my child feel more confident to go into school, that is all that mattered) I gave her a little Cornish Pixie to keep in her pocket – so if she felt sad, she knew that my love was always where the pixie was. Night times, she sometimes sleeps in our room or her big sisters room if she feels scared/worried or lonely. It’s a phase, it passes.
With Bonnie – who I have worn in the sling, and have bed shared with.
💕 I have made the run up to the separation anxiety phase, as reassuring as possible. However our car journeys have gone from bad, to ok, to good, to bad again!
As people keep reminding me (and I must remind myself!) It’s a phase, it passes.
She is also BOOBING like a newborn again, wanting to latch on to keep me close by at all times 😊 (which actually, I love the closeness and it gets me out of the chores for a bit longer)
As Bonnie is entering the next developmental stage, classic signs of separation anxiety are setting in :
“Before your baby was completely living in the now; No recollection of the past and no anticipation of the future. Now your baby remembers that you were there a minute ago but your’re not here now. Your baby is now doing abstract thinking, wow! Your baby can now create an image of something not present, in this case, you! (This step in child development is called object permanence – the object remains in your baby’s mind, so to speak).
However, your baby is still so much in the ‘now’ that he or she thinks your absence is permanent. Your baby hasn’t yet learnt that when you leave, you will come back.”