6/7 month Separation Anxiety

[Bunny0521]

Hello! My 6 month old (almost 7month old) is struggling with what we assume is separation anxiety. She cries anytime she's left alone, even for a minute. She can entertain herself for a few minutes but then begs to carried by me. If she's upset, she only wants me and will cry if my husband picks her up. This is so out of the ordinary for her, up to this point she has been very independent and loved being held by her dad. Any recommendations how we can break this? She's in daycare m-f for about 8hours too.

[Erin M]

Hi, and welcome!
So first off, separation anxiety is really normal in babies.  They start to develop that idea of object permanence and at that age aren't actually sure if something is coming back once it disappears!  Parents are often encouraged to play games like peek-a-boo in order to help their LO develop the idea that things come back when they disappear.  Does it help if you try to reassure her with your voice?

It's also possible that she's on the verge of some sort of developmental leap -- crawling, standing, etc or T hat she's in some sort of teething pain and needs some more reassurance.  Will she tolerate being in other places better?  Sometimes at that age, I found my babies were content if they were sitting upright in a high chair or somewhere where they could actually see what was going on.

[Bunny0521]

Thank you! My voice doesn't make a difference. She does better in the high chair but not that much. We'll try the games and see if that helps. Thanks again!