Author Topic: 6.5 month old suddenly won't let us leave the room  (Read 2143 times)

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Offline Antoinesmom

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6.5 month old suddenly won't let us leave the room
« on: August 10, 2006, 23:35:21 pm »
HI, My son Antoine is 6.5 month old. Ever since he was old enough to play by himself, we have encouraged him to do so. At first, it was only for 5 minutes and we were now at about 30 minutes self play. We do spend time playing, signing, going for walks, playing with toys, ect, before and after his self play.

For the past week, he'll start to cry the second we try to put him in the exersaucer, or on the floor with his toys. Other times, he'll wimper a bit and be fine until I walk away, then he starts to cry (I always tell him that it's now time for him to play by himself and that mommy is going to do.... and is not far). I tell him where I am and sometimes talk to him while doing things around the house (small bungalow). Yet he is so cranky all of a sudden.
He sleeps well during the nights, naps have been slightly bad due to uncontrolable situations (such as dog barking, door bell, during naps), he eats three meals a day, takes 4 bottles a day, two bottom teeth are out, he had his booster shots two days ago (although this started a week ago).

Could this be seperation anxiety (he does it to my hubby too)? Could it be more teeth coming?

What can we do to encourage him to play by himself again without the whole don't leave me scene?

Please help.
My big boy is such a wonderful brother to his new sister.
I am truly blessed.

Offline Antoinesmom

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Re: 6.5 month old suddenly won't let us leave the room
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2006, 14:14:21 pm »
Does anyone have an idea about what we can do to help him play by himself again? He gets hysterical if he can't see me. Yesterday, we went to my cousine who also has a baby (bit younger than Antoine) and if I tried to put him down, he cried. When I finally manage to put him down and distract him, I was only allowed back a meter of two. If he couldn't see me he became hysterical.

Please help.... :-[ :-[ :-[
My big boy is such a wonderful brother to his new sister.
I am truly blessed.

Offline mrsrobbo

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Re: 6.5 month old suddenly won't let us leave the room
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2006, 17:28:13 pm »
Hey there,

Ok dont panic, Bradley did exactl the same thing around that age. All of a sudden I couldnt leave him at all, it drove me mad. I tried a few things, the first just leaving him to cry hoping he will go back to his toys....that didnt work
I tried talking to him all the time while i was out of the room...that didnt work either
The one that did work, was making it like a game, I sat him down with a few toys, then i his behind the sofa, and we played "where's mummy gone" then i would jump up and shout "here i am!" Bradley found it so funny, so then I started getting further away until i was behind the door, sometimes he would start moaning but as soon as i made him jump again he laughed, I did it every time i left the room, and because he was anticipating the fun bit i could leave for a while. It took a couple of days to get it but other than take him everywhere it was all I ociuld think of. He started crawling not long after then he just followed me!
Good luck!!!



Offline Antoinesmom

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Re: 6.5 month old suddenly won't let us leave the room
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2006, 23:58:17 pm »
Thanks, I'll give that a try. We do occasionally play peek-a-boo and do it around the house, where I hid in the hallway while he's in the kitchen for exemple. If he doesn't see me for more than 30 sec, he panics. I'll try it more everyday and get dad involved too as he is at home with us for a while.

I do suspect seperation anxiety, as for the last two nights he wakes up at 2:45ish am and cries. He'll stop the second he sees me. Same for bedtime at night. I'll see if I can find another board to post about seperation anxiety.
My big boy is such a wonderful brother to his new sister.
I am truly blessed.

Offline Erin M

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Re: 6.5 month old suddenly won't let us leave the room
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2006, 00:00:16 am »
Hope things have gotten better for you!  Definitely sounds like separation anxiety to me.  When my DD went through that, I really just had to stick with her as much as she needed for a bit until she got through it.  In the meantime -- if he's ok with you in the same room, I would stay in the room for a bit and then just step out for a few seconds (which will seem like an eternity to him!) and then come right back -- so he learns that when you say you're coming back, you really do.  If he doesn't let you put him down at all, you can try kind of a modified pick up/put down approach -- if he gets really upset, pick him up, when he calms down, put him down, if he gets upset, put him down again...and so on.  I know we have some members who have used it with success, let me see if I can find a post.

Offline Erin M

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Re: 6.5 month old suddenly won't let us leave the room
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2006, 00:03:22 am »

Offline Antoinesmom

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Re: 6.5 month old suddenly won't let us leave the room
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2006, 00:24:24 am »
Antoine is a real roller coaster for emotions. He's happy one second and crying the next, if you know what I mean. Sometimes, he'll wimper if I try to put him on the floor or the exesaucer. Other times he's ok. When  he's finally out of my hands, I'll play a bit with him and get him interested in a toy or two before attempting to geting up. Sometimes I can move away and out of sight for a few minutes, then he starts to moans a pre-cry for him. I'll walk back closer to the room and peek-a-boo, here I am. He may be ok for another few minutes or stop for the time he sees me and starts moaning the second I'm out of sight. I was hiding behind our couch today, it's our seperation of the kitchen and lounge, peek-a-booing from different spots. It helped a lot, this afternoon he played 40 minutes!!! I nearly forgot he was there, he was so quiet. Hubby has also done a few, here I am play. This far it seems to help, I did get a great 40 minutes to prepare some baby food this afternoon and a 15 minutes in the morning.

I'll check out the link you provided in a minute. Thanks.
My big boy is such a wonderful brother to his new sister.
I am truly blessed.