Hi,
First up, I apologise if this is in the wrong place - I searched around and this seemed the most likely!
I'm after some advice, before my wife goes nuts and I end up feeling totally rejected.
We have a healthy and happy ten month old little girl, who up until about a week ago, didn't seem to have a care in the world. Then, after she had a bout of pretty bad vomiting / tummy bug, which I nursed her through, she's changed quite a bit.
She just won't leave her mum's side, and it's getting really extreme. My wife is at her wits end because she can't put our daughter down, or leave the room, or be out of her eyesight at all without her going into a full blown screaming melt down. I try and do what I can, but it's getting so I can't even walk into the room without my daughter screaming and walking to her mum. If I pick her up, she screams and fights in my arms, reaching out for her mum.
She will play happily with me if we distract her enough so that my wife can leave, but as soon as she realises she's gone, or hears her voice in another room, it starts again.
I know I shouldn't do, but it's getting harder and harder to not take it personally! It feels like a total rejection and I never thought I'd see the day where I couldn't pick my baby girl up from her cot for a cuddle in the morning.
Is there any tips/tricks or advice on how I can lessen this? Is there anything I can do to try and get my daughter to accept me and to take some of the pressure offo fo my wife?
From experience, I'd say steer into the skid. It sounds like it's a direct result of being very unwell and feeling insecure, so once your little girl has reassured herself that mum will always be there, she'll go back to the confident and increasingly independent toddler from before.
In the grand scheme of things, this phase won't last very long if you offer lots of love and reminding your baby that mum will be right back, but daddy's here now.
It's how my ex and I handled a clingy phase, and he's so social and fearless now. (2 next month
I'd safely say this is a phase mate, when I first started seeing my daughter at around 10 months she would scream the house down when I went to collect her from her mums I swear it was and still is the loudest scream I have ever heard it did last for a good few months or so and it really got on top of me.
I found the art of distraction to be my best friend by always taking her favourite toys or talking to her and reassuring her I found when I got stressed she got stressed so try and keep calm when she kicks off, stick in there she'll soon come out of it 🙂