18 Month Old's Separation Anxiety

We went through the same thing with our daughter, who is now 2. She still has it, but it seems to be getting better. I took her to visit my sister when she was 20 months old and if I moved more than 2 feet away from her, she'd wail, "MAMA, COME BACK!!!!!" THis is a very exhausting time if your child has severe separation anxiety. Make sure you take advantage of your child's naptimes and make some time for yourself, and don't be afraid to ignore the drama if you need to do stuff around the house (easier said than done, I know). Every kid is different, and some get separation anxiety worse than others (don't you hate hearing that when you're in the midst of a separation anxiety tantrum?). Anyway, try to HANG IN THERE! Eventually this will pass. A friend at church whose twin boys are 8 months older than my daughter said she put them in the nursery one day, anticipating a tantrum and they were just over the separation anxiety-- JUST LIKE THAT! I am praying for that day, even though my daughter is definitely better than she was at 18 or 20 months! GOOD LUCK!!!

Hey, I just recentley went through the same thing with my daughter when she was the same age. Only thing I found was to keep reasurring him that he is ok and that your not going anywhere. Good Luck!

A.,

I know it's tuff. Although I don't think Peter's had seperation anxiety he has had days where I can't even set him down with out him wailing.

So that he knows I'm not leaving him, I started taking him with me from room to room. I'll set him down on the floor in the kitchen while I unload and load dishes from the washer. I take him to the laundry room with me to do laundry etc... He still cries the entire time he's not in my arms!

I'm always releived after a day or two that he's happy to have some independant play, I can only imagine this day in and day out for seperation anxiety. I'd love to tell you there is some system of things you can do to relieve this for your child, however, the experts don't really know of anything that works. You can find some great advice from www.kellymom.com however.

Maybe before you leave the room you can start singing a song and then he'll know your there without you hearing "mama?" all the time.

I hope his phase is short!!

C.

It sounds like you're doing the right thing, just keep doing it and he'll out grow it in time. You didn't say if you tell him where you're going, so you might want to just say "I'm going to the laundry room (or what ever room), I'll be right back" and go. Behave like it's no big deal and at some point he'll realize it's no big deal. Good Luck!