11mo crying at people

[PenApple]

DS is 11mo, ever since maybe 6mo he’s become very upset with people talking to him, or even being near him talking to me or DH.

It’s hard to explain but a couple of examples:

A relative (reacts the same to each one) comes into the house and DS see’s them, they say hello to him/us - the lip comes out and he starts to cry. Sometimes he’ll calm down after 1 min, others he almost makes himself sick screaming for 15 minutes. It doesn’t matter if they ignore him or try to engage. Once he’s snapped out of it though he’ll often crawl over to play with them or ask them to pick him up, so it’s not that he has taken a dislike to them.

If I’m out and about with him and a stranger tells him how lovely he is etc, the exact same reaction - he’ll break his heart so I have to do the whole ‘sorry don’t take it personal’ then hurry away to calm him down.

Is this normal? It’s embarrassing and I think it’s putting off people visiting tbh as it can be awkward. If he’s very distracted (I.e somewhere new with lots of different toys) then he’s much better and will even smile at strangers. But in the buggy/supermarket trolley/house/my arms in a shop he’s extremely distressed by anyone other that us/his siblings.

Yes, it is a version of stranger anxiety. My DD has been very similar. Now at 18 months she is getting better but for nearly a year she would scream whenever people tried to talk to us outside of our house. She also used to scream at visitors (she made a couple of random exceptions) but most of the people (including friends and family) were greeted by very loud and very angry screams. It was a bit of a shock when it started - up until 6 months DD loved attention and kept smiling and giggling to strangers.

The good news is that there is a light at the end of the tunnel:). It definitely gets better with time - for us the turning point was around 16-17 months.

Thank you! People say it’s common but I’ve never known any other baby to react like this, he drove away another couple of visitors today.

Hi there! My daughter was exactly the same at about 6 months, and now at 9 months she's suddenly turned a corner, thank goodness! She'd even cry at my sister who came round nearly every day! I used to tell people not to pay her any attention while she susses them out, then when she was relaxed, start playing with a toy with her to keep her mind off crying. It really helped! It's having to try and explain it or make excuses all the time that got to me! You'll get there I promise. It also means they are doing brilliantly in their development so some good comes out of it!

It's a common case for a baby in that age. Nothing to worry about.