Separation anxiety at nap time?

[Mum of PA]

Hi there

Not sure where to post this but my lo is 7 months old next week and I think is going through some separate anxiety.  She no longer goes easily to her Grandparents, Aunties etc and cries when they hold her - once she is back in my arms she is fine, smiling, talking etc at them.  I have read the tips in the Socialisation area which will be very helpful but I am just not sure what to do at nap/bedtime.

The last 2 days have been difficult getting her down for her naps/bedtime which is very unusual and I wonder if this is because of the sep anx she is feeling.  Today as soon as walked out of the room she began crying (proper inconsolable crying), I left her for 2 minutes (hate doing this!) to see if she would settle and then went back in, lay my hand her and hummed her luyllaby - she was alseep in 1 minute.

Last night she was very upset but her crying didn't escalate to inconsolable and she was settling in between, so I didn't go in and let her settle - she took about 10 minutes.  She woke up 1/2 hour later crying  and again settled herself in 5 minutes.   I really wasn't sure whether to go in or not - I never let her cry so it was  difficult - in hindsight perhaps I should have gone in to settle her?  The night before I actually rocked her to sleep in my arms (again I think I have only done this twice before) because she got so over tired that she just couldn't get to sleep herself and I was at a loss to get her to sleep. She slept til her normal wake up.

I don't want to become a prop for her sleeping and would love some advice on what I should be doing to settle her if this does sound like sep anx?  Is my approach to sit with her with my hand on her, humming until she drops off to sleep ok?

Thanks for your help.

[lilac83]

Hi!

I would think she's a little young for separation anxiety, but I suppose anything is possible! It may be as simple though as her routine needing some tweaking. So if you would like to post what a normal days routine looks like I can take a look.

Here's a link about separation anxiety, although it's geared more towards toddlers.
http://babywhispererforums.com/index.php?topic=80822.0

[Mum of PA]

Thank you for this.  I thought that was the case as well, but had a few family members saying she could be going through it (I think they were just a little upset that she is suddendly not going to them at the moment!) so it got in my mind that this is the explanation.

Her naps during the day vary a bit at the moment.  We were getting the dreading 45 min in morning for a week but have extended her A time and for the last 3 days her naps have been longer.  They tended to be two 1 1/2 hour sleeps and a catnap. But the last couple of days she has done a 2 hour + morning nap and and hour or hour 1/2 afternoon nap so no cat nap. I now wonder whether she is just moving to 2 naps and this is why she is a bit out of sorts.  So I wont post my routine as I am not sure what naps are doing at the moment!

After the initial crying yesterday at first nap she had a 2 hour 15 min nap and then a 1 hour 15 in the afternoon with no problems going down and her bed time without a cat nap.   So fingers crossed she is back on track.

Thanks for your help.

[lilac83]

Sounds like extending her A time may help fix things. She probably just wasn't tired enough to sleep and that's why she was fighting. Looks like you had an excellent day today, hope she keeps it up for you for awhile!