Start work on Monday, settling in days not going well!

[Stressball]

My 9mth daughter is starting nursery on Monday, 3 days a week initially as hubby is home for 6 weeks before posting. Wanted to get her settled and me into a work routine before he goes

She has had 2 settling in days so far, weds was fine when we stayed with her, but today she screamed the place down when she realised we had left the room!

Tomorrow it's dropping her off for a while and leaving her but the thought if it make me burst into tears. She was so upset today and nothing but a mum cuddle would settle her - was smug and full of smiles once she was on my knee, cheeky!

Any suggestions or tips of how to get over this initial separation anxiety for us both, I'm finding it as hard as she is! Dreading Monday, at least DH is around to do the drop offs for a while

Unfortunately there's no easy answer. 9 months is prime separation anxiety time. If you can be sure that there is one person at the nursery who will be responsible for looking after her and picking her up for a cuddle when she cries (too many key workers is a major reason for babies not settling) then she will settle in time. But it won't be fun for either of you. You could make sure she has a cuddly toy from home to take with her - something familiar in an unfamiliar setting will help a little.

My dd was 12 months when we started her at nursery. Cried at settling days. Even first couple of weeks she cried whenever we dropped her off. Nof

Yep, give her to someone specific, give her a kiss and go.

Honestly, it'll be okay. She'll bond with a keyworker, they'll bond with her, and she will settle. And you'll get such a lovely cuddle when you pick her up!

I always felt terrible when mums dropped off their little ones. Some would cry for a few sessions and then settle in like they'd always been there, some would scream while mum was around, settle down for a while and then scream again - I don't know if the parents would have believed they'd settled if we hadn't taken pictures.

My dd just knocked my phone so I hit post too early. Was going to say now she gets so excited when she sees the nursery building. When we go in she is so keen to get to the girls there and starts telling us bye bye before we've even got in the building properly. She loves it now.

MumsNet is great for things like this, I feel better already! I know she will settle and love it there, eventually! the other babies seem so happy and the 2 ladies are lovely, really engage with the kids. Just these next few weeks which will be hard for us.

Thanks for your wise words ladies, will take them all on board to make this experience a little easier for us both.x

I'm settling in a 13 month old and honestly the first few minutes each day are fairly traumatic for baby, parent and myself. But I've looked after enough children to know that they DO get over it. There isn't any point in prolonging the bye bye time in a morning, it just makes it worse. She will soon settle I'm sure. This morning, less than five minutes after screaming the house down, my mindee was happily munching raisins in my kitchen and babbling away :-) Each session is getting slightly easier.