Seperation anxiety......from sibling??

[Rainbowbrite]

Just wondering if bubs can get seperation anxiety when they are away from their sibling?

To explain it, for the past 2 days Anakin hasn't left my arms. If I put him down to go to the toilet he SCREAMS & gets hysterical immediately. When I pick him up he cuddles straight into me & wont let go. Eventually i'll get smiles, but if I try to put him down he gets hysterical & clings to me for dear life. He's also been having 2 days sleeps for the past 2 days where he has been having 1 sleep for the past month.

The only thing thats changed......MJ went back to preschool & was there monday & tuesday. Today he is a different boy, he's the normal happy, playful, laughing, smiling Anakin......& MJs home. Also, he's not showing any tired signs what so ever yet, so might just have the 1 sleep again.

Could it be that he just misses her that much? What can I do to ease his *pain*? Its so sad seeing him like that :(

[Rainbowbrite]

Wow...I must have strange kids :yes:

[NibbleCurlynBub]

Well my two haven't been separated yet, so I don't know.

But yes, I'd say that the youngest would be upset when the older child goes away. Something changed, its not the same as it was and your little one is probably wondering why the eldest has gone away and not him..

Yeah, I can definitely see the older sibling going away as disrupting your little one. :yes:

[xkwzit]

Mine never demonstrated this either (DD1 was always in daycare a couple of days a week), but what you say does make some sense. He was clingy when she wasn't there and OK when she was.

The other explanation was that he was a bit ill, but if he was right after he saw her come home, that doesn't make as much sense as anxiety.

I'm not sure what you can do about it to "fix" it. I think that he will get used to having her gone and then having her come home. Once he realises that she does ALWAYS come home, I would think that his anxiety will be greatly reduced. ITMT, can you do some fun activity, just him and you that happens when MJ is away at school? Then he has some good quality distraction and you have a special time just to yourselves?

Cheers

[cheezelkat]

Mine do!

Liam is in daycare 2 days a week and Millie would spend the both days in tears. It was a nightmare.

She goes to daycare with him now, but it's certainly not easy to live with. I would just try and keep those 2 days fairly busy so he doesn't have time to miss his sister too much.

[Rainbowbrite]

We do have stuff that we play with when MJ isn't here (she takes it otherwise & wont give it back :rolleyes:

I guess tomorrow will be the big test, she's back at preschool.

[Rainbowbrite]

Thanks Cheezelkat :D:D Finally someone knows what its like!!! Will have to try to have places to go on those days or have people come over etc.

[Starlet]

Yep DS3 misses his big brothers terribly when they go to their dads for the weekend. It's not so bad when they are at school because I am usually busy during the week and I try and meet up with other people who have kids his age. But yeah...he looks like he is lost at home without them :( Might not be so bad when DS4 gets a bit bigger and he has his baby brother to play with.

DSD gets a bit funny when she comes here because she is close to her older sister(15 months age gap), she often cries at night for her sister. But during the day she is fine when she is playing with the boys.

[MrsMiggins]

Owen went through a dreadful stage after DSD came to visit us. He was probably around the same age as Ani, actually.

She stayed with us for 2 weeks & after she went home again, he just wouldn't be put down, screamed constantly if he wasn't in my arms, didn't want Claire, DH or me out of his sight. He was a terrible sleeper anyway, but we'd just started having luck with him starting to sleep for longer periods before waking & being easier to settle and all that went completely out the window! His sleeping became even worse than before!

It took a few weeks for him to calm back down again. I think he was confused because here was this big sister person who was around 24/7, who they played with & had fun with & then all of a sudden, she had disappeared. Bit hard for a 1 year old to understand that she lived far away & had come for a visit & then had gone back home. As far as he knew, she was here, then she wasn't. I always thought he was worried one of us would disappear without notice as well.

Hopefully when he sees that she comes home at the end of each day & starts getting accustomed to that pattern, he will calm down a bit for you.

[reAllytee]

Awww poor Ani :hugs:

G loves it when Boof goes to Kindy ... Wonder why :rolleyes::laughing:

Hopefully he starts to understand soon !

[SilverStarfish]

I haven't noticed this myself yet, but then so far every time Sarah has been at Kindy, Becky's been hanging out with her Aunt who happens to be my kid's most favourite person in the whole world.

So Becky's probably celebrating the fact that she gets 'Cole all to herself :laughing:

[Kizmet]

mine are the same D exactly the same :laughing: