10.5 month old starting nursery with separation anxiety

[ljwatsonuk]

Hello fellow mumsnet friends,

I really need reassurance.. I took my 10.5 month old LG for her 2nd settling in session at nursery today and it was horrible😫😫 (1st one went so well when me and DH stayed with her, she crawled off and had a whale of a time, barely taking any notice of us).

Today we turned up and she crawled straight off again and was getting involved with anything and everything. Her key person said "Oh she's so confident and seems really happy so please just go when you feel ready and pop back in an hour". So we did.. but when we go back an hour later she was positively inconsolable 😭 they said she'd only been like it for 5 minutes so they didn't ring us as they knew we were due back. She was really struggling to catch her breath and was clearly so distressed when she realised we'd left her.

Long story short, I start back at work full time next week and she will be going to nursery for 2 full days each week (grandparents helping with rest of childcare). I have spent ALL of this afternoon/evening in tears myself as I had not prepared myself to see my LO so upset. She is usually the happiest, brightest little soul who rarely ever cries so today was awful for us.

Do you think it will get easier for us both or am I making a terrible mistake? Right now I just want to hand my notice in and live on the breadline...

Xx

I think its odd you were told to leave without saying bye? No wonder she was upset when she didn't know where you were.

It's good she goes off all confident!

Also, depends what your LO is like. My baby (6 months) can get hysterical cause i put her down for a nap, or i won't let her go in het jumperoo! Sometimes it looks worse than it is.

Make sure you are all smiles and happy when you see her, and try and distract with toys in the room - "did you play with this"...etc. i know she can't respond but she'll feed off of your mood

To be fair I think some of it was my fault. I didn't realise it was better to say goodbye so I just slipped out when she was distracted. I know next time to give a quick kiss and a cuddle and say goodbye!

She's definitely not a crier at all which is why it upset me so much. But in hindsight she hadn't had her proper nap in the morning because we were late. So I think tiredness played a part in her getting overwhelmed.

I've managed to book another last minute settling in session for Monday afternoon so I'm clinging onto the hope she will be better then!

Xx