DS, 5.1, for the last several weeks has absolutely refused to be alone in a room, without DH or me being right there. If I leave a room, even if I tell him, "I'm just going upstairs for a minute", he leaps up from whatever he is doing and runs after me. He follows me everywhere. Won't even go to the loo by himself. Absolutely refuses to sleep in his bed by himself, insists on sleeping with us (which is fine, we co-slept when he was little and he still crawls in whenever he feels like it). I tried one night to put him in his bed once he'd fallen asleep, he woke up sobbing and calling for us from his bedroom just down the hall, and wouldn't settle for quite a while, so we haven't tried since.
I mentioned to DH that I'd like to go to a meet-up overnight in a few weeks. DS started sobbing and crawled into my lap, crying "Mummy, Mummy, please don't go away, please please please".
We've asked if anything's frightened him, what he's frightened of, and he says he doesn't know, he just doesn't want to be alone.
I have no other children, so nothing to compare him to, but inquiry among my friends hasn't been helpful. Everyone's shrugged and said "just a phase"... which is reassuring, on one hand, but OTOH, I don't know anyone else whose child has gone through a phase like this.
Any ideas?
TIA