14mo son very clingy on one parent (me)

[YRGAM]

Hi Mumsnet,

I gather this is fairly normal but I wanted to ask for advice anyway. Our 14mo has become incredibly clingy just with me, to the extent that he doesn't even want me to put him down on the floor next to me. Even if my partner holds him he screams until I take him.

He's recently started nursery and we have also moved house so he has had a lot of changes, so I understand why it's happening - I wondered if anyone has any tips for helping him feel a bit less anguished, as it's hard on my OH as well as on the baby.

Thanks in advance

My toddler has just, touch wood, passed through a similar phase. What helped was ‘storytime’. I’d stack books next to his toys, sit on the floor on the other side of the room, and ask him to bring them to me. He usually got distracted by his toys on the way back and provided I didn’t move was happy to play by himself for a bit. I then gradually increased the distance.

Mine's 3 and we've had many periods of favouring one parent over another and being very attached to one of us (well, me!). I find it helps to talk about the idea of going away and coming back and practising how that works while we're at home (so leaving the room for short periods while they're occupied). The other one is keeping your OH involved in the care - it can be really hard being the unfavoured parent but actually them doing bedtime every other night or being in the bathroom at bath time helps them see that yes they can look after me too.