I Need to Know How I Can Get My Amost 1 Year Old to Not Cry for Her Older Sister

My oldest was 15 when the youngest was 1yr and we went thru the same thing. Elder would be walking to her room, shut the door and little one would be following and screaming, broken-hearted.

First thing we did was decided that older sis should never pass her by without at least acknowledging her (hi, a kiss, whatever).

Second, big sis needed her space... my respect for that went a long way.

Third, big sis would spend blocks of time with her.... then when she was done... hand baby off to me. This technique really helped because it "trained" baby, so when big sis didnt have time to spend... running in and out as teenagers do, she could give her a quick kiss and hug, hand her off to me.. and all was good.

Would older sister be willing to 'wear' her little sis in a meitai, wrap or other carrier? That might help little sister feel like she is a part of older sister's life while older sister can still get things done! If they can have special time together each day it might decrease the overall need for her big sis' attention.

Is there any chance big sister would be willing to try babysitting her little sister for the weekend? This idea is that if baby sister has big sister's undivided attention for a couple of days, baby sister will get tired of big sister and little sister won't need so much attetnion from big sister. It is a lot to ask of big sister, but it will also help big sister in the long run.
Good Luck and best wishes.

My children are also 18yrs apart (now 4 and 22) Cecilia would cry and scream for Mist when we left to go somewhere,really through her self on the ground, it was pittiful really. After a few min. she would calm down or cry herself to sleep. What we would do is Cecilia would walk Mist to the car and then come back to the house and would look out the door until the car left all the while Mist was waving and blowing kisses to her. That seems to help. She will calm down as she gets older.

I really did not think my kids would be so close because of the age differnce but man they are best friends. I could not be happier about that.

You could try giving her a picture of bigger sis to carry around and maybe a special lovey that big sis can present to her. The other idea about big sis spending some special one on one time may help because she will have her undivided attention that she is starving for. It all sounds like separation anxiety and these are some of the techniques for that. Another thing is big sis and little sis could maybe set up a little routine of a special activity each day. That way little sis can know that at this time every day or every other day, etc that we will do this activity.