18 month old reacting strongly against her great-grandmother

[Bighair1]

My 18 month-old girl has been acting very strangely around my grandmother (who is like my mum to me)who lives far away from us. My daughter 'talks' to my gran all the time when she is not with us on an imaginary phone and is full of smiles for her when she arrives to visit but won't let her touch her and gets very agitated, calling for me constantly. My gran is so in love with her that it's heartbreaking. She is not forcing herself on her to try to make things better but she is very upset. Any advice or similar experiences?

Maybe gran should bring the other end of the imaginary phone and start the ball rolling by communicating that way? Some children get very shy around people they like. If they can get a funny conversation going on the 'phone' it might break the ice.

My ds has always been nervous around mine and dh's grandmothers. Ironically one of them said that "babies always know a safe pair of hands", meaning that hers were, but I could tell he was nervous. She was very frail and maybe he was concerned he'd be dropped?

I wouldn't worry too DD's both took 'against' older relatives when they were small but grew out of it.
We had photos of them and added them into a small album with pics of us so we could go 'there's mummy, daddy, grandma, aunty whatever, great grandma etc' so when they saw her next they woudl call her name and be more relaxed.

DD2 won't be picked up by someone she doesn't know though until she has been round them for a bit, if they are trying to have cuddles straightaway then it might be a bit much for your dd?