Baby only wants me - help!

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DS is 6 months old and refuses to be with anyone but me for any length of time. This includes DH - who has always bathed him and is quite 'hands on'. DS will quite happily sit in his high chair with DH supervising, or play for a short while - 10 minutes or so - with DH, but anything longer than that and he starts crying. He also won't be comforted by DH either - if he wakes at night, even if he doesn't need food, I can get him back to sleep with a cuddle, but if DH goes in, the crying escalates to sobs then hysteria! I know some of this is due to being BF, so he associates me with food, comfort, etc.

Anyone got any ideas? I'm back at work end of Feb. DH is having him all day on a Monday and he's with a childminder Tue-Thur and I'm beginning to panic that Noah's going to be a hysterical wreck with them! I'd love any advice or stories of babies who were/are similar but have turned out ok!

My first was EXACTLY like this! For the first 12-18 months, it was all about mummy. Then he did a complete 180 and was uninterested in me and only wanted Daddy.
He did a few flip arounds, preferring one over the other, which I've heard is fairly normal, until they learn to REALLY identify with the same sex parent at about 3-5yrs.
Now he's six and is equally comfortable with either of us.

When he was little the only way for him to get used to being left with people was for him to have to. I left him with my parents often when I was working, and he hated it for the first two weeks or so, but after that, he was fine.

Try getting your hubby to give him expressed bottles if you're comfortable with that. He may not take them at first, but given time, he will.

You've got some tough times ahead, yea, but they won't last, and he'll be far more independent for it. Good luck.

my 4mo like this until i was ill before xmas and in bed for a week and dh had to take time off work to look after him - had huge screaming fits first few days then fine...fine all over xmas when dh had further 2 weeks off anyway...then son wanted daddy all the time and is now having screaming fits with me. i think its just whoever there used too - its not taken long for mine to adjust so fingers crossed urs will 2!!

My 5MO has been doing this for the last two months. My DH persevered. After problems at night, he said one evening look, I have to be able to put her to bed and I am going to do it this evening. So I sat in the kitchen (crying , but I could see where he was coming from - being put to bed by your loving father is hardly child abuse!) while he got on with it. He never left her alone to cry, he was in there comforting her the whole time. She cried for an hour, then went to sleep,woke up grinning and after that he has had no problems settling her for sleep. In fact she sleeps better for him than for me .

Problems during the day went on for longer including suddenly refusing to take a bottle and I had left for Paris for a night. Again he just kept going (we did ring health centre to check she wouldn't die! PFB :) ), she refused to eat for ten hours and then suddenly drank her bottle after all as if nothing had ever been the matter and when I got home they were both super-cheerful and for the first time we were able to eat lunch with her on his lap instead of mine. As xRussianDoll says, ultimately the baby's happier for being able to feel comfortable with two or three people instead of only one.

With the CM can you do a well-structured settling-in period so you can make sure that while he might be cross, he isn't frightened?

Thanks everyone! That's very reassuring.

Weissbier - yes, am planning on lots of settling in with the CM!