Settling in sessions 😭- please make me feel better?

[Bluedayyear]

DD is 18 months old and in our wisdom we have chosen what appears to be peak separation anxiety to settle her into her new nursery.

Settling in sessions this week have been awful. She cries as soon as I leave, and the staff are having difficulty in soothing her.

It’s a small, calm nursery with experienced staff. If I am in the room with her she’s been absolutely loving it - interacting with the other babies and staff and playing with the toys etc. I’m sure she will be happy there, if only she would stop crying for me.

Help! How long should this go on for? As things stand I can’t see how I can leave her for ten hours. I know it is developmental and will hopefully be a phase but I would love to hear any stories where it all came out well. I wish we had sent her there at 12 months when by all accounts they are easier to settle.

Is it any better if her dad (or someone else) drops her off? Mine have always been really difficult to part from me but have accepted it better when DH does it. It is a normal thing though and you will be ok!

We have just been talking about this! DH is going to ask his manager if he can get to work a little later one morning next week, and do a drop off. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.

Ohhhhh I had this with my second, OP. The first one was a dream - bounced into nursery without so much as a backwards glance - so I thought it would be fine with the second. It wasn’t . . . to the point nursery said she might never settle! We persevered though, and she did, but it took a good three weeks for her to really be happy going in.

Any time between 9-18 months is likely to be hard with separation anxiety.
Make sure you always say good bye, and leave a comfort toy from home with her. Getting dad to drop off is a good idea.
Longer days and more sessions will probably help. Give it 6 weeks and she'll probably be going in happily.

We had this exact same thing! Ours started at 16m old in December, if I’m being honest, I would say the last 4 weeks she has seemed more settled although I wouldn’t say she enjoys it still. She always looks serious and unhappy on pics/whenever we watch her for a mo before she knows we’re there at pick up but staff say she is happy enough throughout the day.

I spent at least the first 8 weeks doing reduced days/early pick ups because she was so upset.

Hope your little one settles soon.

@GlitteringCBeams and @MixedUp7 how long did you leave them for the first few sessions? We have had three sessions so far but only 30-45 mins long. I was told DD was distressed/upset for the entirety of them, except some very brief distraction with a toy. I am dreading next week to be honest.

It does get better. Mine dont care now when i leave 😂

Mine did 2-hour sessions - two the first week and then a couple of half days the next week, and then the third week was full-time. I wasn’t allowed to stay - I don’t know if that helped or hindered!