3.7yo suddenly becoming clingy

[Noomininoo]

Hello,

My DD1 is 3.7yo and has always been a happy confident little girl. She has been in a nursery since she was 9mo and has always loved it there. This last week, however, she has suddenly started becoming very clingy when I've been dropping her off & 3 times this week I've had to leave her sobbing her little heart out.

She's fine travelling in in the car and even when we get there & I'm taking her coat off, it's just when I'm about to leave she starts.

Apparently she is fine as soon as she settles down & she enjoys the rest of her day there, often gushing about what she's done all day when I go to pick her up. The carers say that they don't know of anything that could be upsetting her there so it looks as though it is just separation anxiety (especially as she has also started crying when my DH leaves for work in the morning). She's also become a lot more affectionate & clingy at home - needing almost constant kisses & cuddles.

As I said, she has always been quite a confident little girl so I don't really know what could have kicked this off?

Any theories/tips on how best to deal with it? It breaks my heart to have to leave her when she's sobbing

Thanks for the support guys

I would talk to her key worker in nursery, maybe the know what is going on.
are there many changes in nusery? friends moving on to preschool or reception?
my ds was like this last september when a few of his friends moved on to other schools.
lots of cuddles, new routine, and meeting some of the "lost" friends on weekends did the trick.

Thanks for responding mousy. Was starting to feel a bit neglected

Have spoken to her key worker & she has said that she's not been her usual self these last couple of weeks but she can?t give any reason why this might be the case. She did ?lose? a few friends to pre-school but that was months ago (August/September) & she seemed to cope OK with it at the time. We did meet up with some of these friends a couple of weekends ago though so maybe that stirred up a few memories??

It?s getting to be every morning now , once when her Dad leaves for work & once when I have to drop her off in nursery. It?s really heart-breaking. It makes me feel like crap all day having to leave her when she is so upset

She?s always loved going to nursery before & has never suffered with separation anxiety, even when she was a little baby so I really don?t know what?s going on in her little head at the moment. I?ve tried talking to her about it but she just says she cries because ?I don?t want you to go? & then ignores all my other questions as to why she doesn?t want me to go.

I really don?t know what to do for the best. Do I give her lots of cuddles & reassurance or is this just reinforcing the behaviour? Do I just carry on as normal as if nothing is different or is this disregarding her feelings & just making it worse? As I said, I?ve tried talking to her about it but she just clams up

Just feel very confused & upset at the moment

It is heartbreaking, isn't it. ds was similar. he said he wanted to go to nursery but wanted me there as well. he also asked a lot why I have to go to work
he is a lot better now, but it took a while.

Dd aged 3.1 has just started being like this

Im know exactly how you feel. My daughter is 4 and has been doing this now for the last 3 mths. We've had to change her childminder because I thought that there maybe 'something' worse going on there.She too is very very clingy, telling me at least 5 times a day how much she loves me.Ive tried both, cuddles and strict and i cant decide which was more effective. Just learn from my mistake and be consistent, I think ive really confused my DD because of this xxx