Is this separation anxiety or something else? Need some advice

[vicky2007]

So my son is 9 months old and has always been a “high need baby” Hates the car seat, won’t stay on his stroller for longer than 30 minutes. He wants to be with me 24/7. I can’t leave the room even for a sec without him crying his lungs out but from around 6/7 months things took to a whole new level of clinginess. He cries a bloody murder whenever someone he doesn’t know is “just there” if that makes sense. For example if I’m standing talking to someone he doesn’t know (I’m holding him) he will start to cry, his face expression as if he is so scared. Now I can’t do anything/take him anywhere which is a big problem because I have no one to leave him with.

I had an appointment with my first born ds SENCO yesterday and the moment I entered the the room he started looking at the lady like a hawk with a panic expression in his face. Few minutes later he broke out into this huge cry and meltdown.

Is this normal? When will it pass? Anything i can do to help him become more calm in unfamiliar places/people etc.

I should probably mention In familiar places/faces he usually your average happy baby.

Thank you

My DS did this, I can remember hanging the washing out once when he was eating his lunch. I was in plain site with the patio doors open, he found this so stressful that through crying so much he made himself sick. It did drive me slightly insane but I just went with lots of reassurance and it did pass.
Sometimes even now he can get funny in situations with new people and can do the whole screaming thing, I've found if I ask the person to ignore him, rather than constant talking in his face trying to get him to 'like them' and also me just carrying on really helps.
I think it's all to do with them actually knowing you're 'Mum' or their 'carer' so they panic like crazy as they don't understand you've just gone to another room to get a drink for example, they just think you're 'gone' .... I use to talk to LO through his screaming telling him what I was doing in the other room with constant reassurance I was 'coming back'

When babies are first born they think they're part of you and as they get older they realise they're not. In stages they start to discover the world around them and as they go through developmental leaps they start of realise they're their own person. From memory it's probably around this age that this really starts embedding and separation anxiety kicks in, especially as they realise what a big place the world is.

Your ds probably feels threatened by these other people and is worried about being away from you. Some kind of logic in his head is telling him that stranger = being away from mummy or some such. Either it's just "because", or was there a time when you left him with someone safe (even for a moment) but who he didn't really know and now he's worried? There can be a reason behind it or there can be no reason at all, but I wouldn't worry about that, I'd just focus on how you can help him.

Ime phases pass quite quickly - usually by the time you've found a resolution lol. You've just got to figure out what makes it easier for him. Maybe always holding him close at these times or distraction with a toy, or facing him away etc. You could also try increasing the time with one particular person so he sees that they're safe and so on. It's not easy when they go through phases like this is it.

Thank you for replying. Its nice to know Im not the only one going through this and that it will pass.