My toddler has always been pretty clingy to me (her mum). She was a lockdown baby and she didn't really meet anyone other than her parents for the first few months of her life, and things were pretty restricted after that. But she is now almost two and while the clinginess briefly eased for a couple of months, it's now worse than ever. She has started saying "no! Mummy!" When DH tries to pick her up, sit next to her, get her up from bed etc. she's ok with him when I'm not around (as long as we're tactical about me leaving the house without her seeing, or her going out first to the playground). It's so hard for all of us - I'm tired of having to do everything (he does do bed and bath etc but the screaming is sometimes not worth it for either of us), and he feels a bit hurt, although he's very good at trying not to take it personally.
I suppose my questions are:
- has anyone been through the same? How did you cope and how long did it last?
- is it just a phase or is it something we've done/haven't done?
I know the answer is probably to carry on sharing everything fairly, but realistically if we're in public and she wants me to hold her etc, it's hard to insist he does it and put up with the inevitable screaming.
Thanks all.