Separation Anxiety - 19 month old

[lil monkey]

Hi all,

I have seen a similar thread about this for a younger bub and I know there are others that have a bub around 19 months with the same problems but I need to share!

My DD is 19.5 months and the separation anxiety thing is doing me head in! For the past month or so she has been waking 2-3 times a night again yelling out mumumumumum but if i go to resettle i have to pick her up and cuddle and rock and then she refuses to go back to bed and screams! Sometimes she will be up for 3 hours doing this before I eventually get her back to sleep. :(

We have tried nights where we don't rock and just keep going in and telling her to shush and go back to sleep but then she stands up and screams MUMUMUMUMUMUMMMMMM even louder! During the day she whinges and like others, going to the toilet is no longer private as she has to come in and give my knees a cuddle and pull the toilet roll off and look through it.

Does anyone know why they go through this clingy phase ? The past few nights too, she has taken 2 hours to go down to sleep....... she gets 8 hours of broken sleep a night and I get about 4 hours!:banghead:

Any help, support or advise is greatly appreciated :p

[lil monkey]

Surely I am not the only one with a clingy baby???? :crying:

[Roxy]

Most children go through 2 stages of separation anxiety - the first one at around 9-10 months and then the second one at around 18mths....

So....it is perfectly normal!

My DS has just stopped doing this at night again (he is 27mths). At bedtime, we established a very strict routine of bath, pj's story and lights out. When both of them were at the height of clinginess, one of us would sit with them until they went to sleep. Over a few weeks, we would move to our bedroom (which is only a few steps from either bedroom), and then to the kitchen (and would bang around making hot milo etc) etc.... for us, we found this was the easiest and less traumatic way of getting them resettled and remembering that we weren't very far away.

As for the middle of the night stuff....with DD, she loves to co-sleep, and so do we, so we would just pop her in between us and everyone got sleep. With DS, he loves to snuggle, but isnt as in to co-sleeping as DD is. So, he will come in for a snuggle, and after about 10mins he asks to go back to his bed.

I'm not sure if anything I have said will help you - its just what works for us. BUt, no you aren't alone in having a toddie who is having separation anxiety issues - it's developmentally appropriate!

[reAllytee]

Nope your certainly not alone !
We have been going through this majorally the last week or so & its doing my head in !
Boof has always been somewhat clingy & will only allow me to soothe him or " make things better " but now its ridiculous.
The things im thinking now is that they are becoming so much more aware etc & combine that with possibly having nite terrors which mean more now they just freak.
Boof screams out in the nite so often now if he doesnt im scared something is wrong. He was up until 11pm last nite because even though i put him to bed early at 6.30pm due to being awake at 5am & not sleeping much the nite earlier he just screamed & screamed. He was so tired he didnt know what to do with himself but still wouldnt allow himself to fall asleep. Its soooo hard going through this but it will settle in time ... Or so i keep telling myself to get through it :rolleyes:
What makes it worse it that now he wont sleep through the day he is so cranky it isnt funny. He has also taken to sucking his dummy though the day, he walks around the house with it. This is soooo not him he has only ever used a dummy to sleep of a nite & then only for an hour to fall off to sleep so this is really odd.
He wants me to hold him while he does everything so all the toys get dragged to me or i get dragged to the toys. Not that thats a problem its just usually we play together & he plays alone also while i get a few things done but i cant even do that now because heaven forbid i try to move more than 30cms away.
Guess its something we will look back on when they get to that age they dont want kisses etc & wish we could have this stage again. We are definately loved !!!
Even if it means we are doing this quite a lot :banghead:

[natasha]

Nope your'e defo not the only one!!! DD is really bad for this. I cant move in the daytime without her whinging. She holds her arms up and just whinges for me to pick her up! Its so not like her because i have never picked anna up and walked around with her, its just not something i do. I put her on the floor and try to play with her but the second i even look as though im about to move she starts whinging again!:banghead:

I hate the fact that i cant move! Everywhere i go in the apartment shes is there right behind me! I trip over her so many times! She just follows me around whinging, and its impossible for me to just give her what she wants all the time( me on the floor playing with her 24/7 or in my arms).

I do think a lot of it has got to do with her teeth coming through. I know she's going through a difficult time at the mo so i do try and be patient but man is it hard!!:banghead: :rolleyes: