Clingy Child

[babymama12]

I know a lot of parents say their child is clingy, and I thought my first born was, as I was always his favourite person, but my daughter is a whole other level.
My daughter is 17 months and I cannot do ANYTHING without her. When I am present, she will not go to anyone else, not even her dad, she screams if her dad tries to put her to bed and I am there, she won’t sit on anyone else’s lap and she is constantly touching me. If I am trying to cook or clean she is hanging off my leg or on my hip, if I stand up to move she will cry that she thinks I am leaving her. When I am driving I have to lean in the back seat and have a hand touching her or she screams. When we play she will sit on my lap and constantly push herself back into me to get as close as possible. She doesn’t sleep because she cries until I am holding her and as soon as I try to put her down she wakes.
She is overall such a happy child (I know my description didn’t sound it) but she just loves me to be there and be touching me. When we go on days out/to baby groups, she is generally happy to go off and explore as long as she can see me and keep coming back to me.
I work 16 hours a week and although she cries when I leave, she is fine when I am not there, but as soon as she can see me she wants to be touching me.

I run on average on 4 hours sleep and it’s getting difficult now to be so sleep deprived, juggle working, running a house, dedicating enough time to my other child and having her cling on me.

Anyone have any advice/experience with an EXCEPTIONALLY clingy child, not just the normal “your my favourite person” kind.

I have a very clingy child, she's 4 and separation anxiety has not ended or even lifted much (Google said it ends at 3, idk how true that is). We took her out of nursery (16 hours a week) because among other things the forced separation was hurting her.

She follows me everywhere at home, gets upset if I go out without her, visits me when I'm WFH, prefers to sleep in my bed, is deeply upset if she can't find me etc

She has no diagnosis but he's neurodivergent, leaning towards autistic and ADHD.

She was a crap sleeper btw, we bedshared and breastslept to survive, she HATED cots but she can sleep in her own bed now.

I have another younger child the same age as yours, he is a bit clingy but not as much. He will wander off and leave the room which DD never did. His dad can settle him at bedtime but he's not a huge fan of this. He's a better sleeper but prefers to sleep with me still, can do his own bed for a while though.

Solidarity, I have one of those. She gets better, its an upwards curve with phases of extra clinginess.

I was forced to leave her for the first time ever (including two overnights) at my mum's who she only sees every few months due to hospital admission and she LOVED IT. She ate every vegetable, slept through the night...she was a different child completely. So I know she acts clingy with me because I am her safe space and am hopefully making her feel more secure.