Separation Anxiety

[Newmum26]

DS is a few months off turning 3 years old and has developed separation anxiety lately. He gets upset when I say I'm leaving and cries but ultimately is fine within 5 minutes of me going and is happy afterwards.
I'm a SAHM so he's only ever been with me, and I leave him with Grandma and Nanny once a week while I do some jobs, he reacts the same when I leave him with them even though they are family and he knows them very well and sees them all the time
He started Pre school last week and cried when I dropped him off but I phoned after and they said he settled within 10 minutes and was happily playing.
Today he is due to go Pre school again this afternoon but he is now anticipating going and keeps saying 'Mummy I'm not going Pre school now' and I say 'not now later on after lunch' and he says 'later, later' as if he's trying to put it off. He even gets emotional while talking about going and starts to well up at the thought of me leaving him, even though I've told him mummy will always come back and get you.
I started writing this before I dropped him off but have just got back and I'm in tears it was awful he just clung to me crying 'I just want to go home take me home mummy' I tried staying for a while but that made him worse and in the W Ed I had to hand him to one of the ladies while she peeled him off me screaming 'I want to go home' I feel terrible and am so upset 😭😭
Is this normal behaviour at this age? how can I help him?

How has he got on for the rest of the week? How are you now too?

Sorry you haven't had any responses to this. How was the rest of the week with PS drop off?

I have a 3 year old and we went through the same.
She is extremely attached to me and even though we had a nanny for a year (whom she lives and is also attached to), the transition to pre-school was very difficult. It does get better, but she was still clinging to me and struggling when I dropped her off for almost 2 months.

They key was getting her to attach to someone else and teaching her to self-regulate (and getting the nursery practitioners to understand what that behaviour was in her). She ended up attaching herself to another child, not a practitioner which is why I think it took a while and also because she only went twice a week (not consistent enough). For her self regulation, she has a comforter she can have whenever she needs it and also her pinched her neck, so I had to explain that she is doing this to self regulate.

Can you try and find a child who is in his class that you can do play dates with at all so that he builds a relationship with someone there?

Oh I feel for you OP my son was like this too. I dreaded taking him to nursery it was torture. Every day they peeled him off me but 10mins he would be happy playing but would ask the adults around him every 10mins when I was coming back. He would have a pair of my gloves in this pocket that he could touch or cuddle, maybe try giving him something of yours to look after while away from you? The nursery also took my picture and laminated it for him and he could take it out of his pocket when ever he wanted to look at it and both if those things helped him. When my daughter started nursery this Jan I absolutely dreaded it but she skipped in and didn't even glance back! 🤣 sending hugs its soul destroying walking away from your crying child.