5 month old screaming when daddy takes her to bed

[talktothebees]

This is a mystery to me but I wondered if any of you have experienced anything similair.

DP and me have more or less taken it in turns to take DD to bed ever since she was about 8 wks old. She seemed equally happy with either of us taking her up. The last week or so however, she screams when DP takes her and only calms down if I take over. As far as I can see DP is not doing anything different to me during the bedtime wind-down routine so what has changed in her little mind all of a sudden that means she needs mummy at bedtime?

Any ideas what is going on or what might help her accept a daddy bedtime again?

My dd did this about 3 months...dh had bedtime routine every day pretty much since she was 3 weeks old (bath/bottle of ebm/bed) until one day she went APE!! Poor dh was gutted and ended up in floods of tears over it because he was desperate to be a good dad. I'm afraid we just stuck with the same routine and let her scream. My reasoning was...she is with her dad who loves her/cuddles her Shes not in pain, so she will just have to weather the storm. It passed, but it took a week of her SCREAMING for at least an hour every night when he took over. We did try him wearing a t shirt that I had on to see if the smell of my milk who help...she was not fooled

My advice is to go out so you can't get upset and try and intervene, and spport dh afterwards by reassuring him that he is doing everything right. In the long run you are doing the right thing by getting her happy with both of you.

might just be separation anxiety starting? (sorry to sound like a textbook). they do get clingy for mummy, usually a bit later than this, but it's probably that she's learning to be aware when you're not there now and wants your reassurance. as NY says, daddy loves her and she's not on her own. have you tried sharing the bedtime routine so that she gets used to him being there when you're doing it?

Ta both for the advice. I think we'll try BOTH taking her up tonight and try to wean her off me gradually over the next few nights. It could be the start of separation anxiety as she's been a bit clingy in a few other situations over the last couple of weeks (tho' thankfully no screaming) and has started complaining loudly when i leave the room. I definitely don't want DD needing me alone at bedtime and it's making DP sad too.

Cheers for the ideas and the reassurance.