Extremely shy toddler

[Mummytobr]

My 20 month old is extremely shy - he won’t smile or interact with strangers or people he doesn’t see often. When we go to toddler groups, soft play etc. it depends what mood he’s in - most of the time he just stares at other kids and freezes. If another kid pushes/nudges/does anything to him he gets so so upset.

Don’t know if this is a normal thing or something I’ve done wrong to make him this way. He’s always been really shy but I just get so worried.

He’s on track in every other aspect - he can talk, run etc. it’s just socially I’m a bit worried

I was intensely shy and I think the most important thing you can do is help him to feel safe and build up his self esteem. Never push him away before he’s ready. you could also mention this to a professional if you are worried it’s more than just being shy? for me it was something I grew out of but I know that for example going to nursery before I felt safe there made it worse as I ended up not speaking for months . With our own DC I waited until they were familiar with an environment and I had to remove DS from nursery altogether as he wasn’t ready !