Separation Anxiety in 5 Month Old

HI K.,
I had the same problem with my 2nd. My husband found me a very part time job right after she was born to help prevent PPD, which I had after my 1st was born, and I would leave her with my mother while I worked for a mere 3 hours. When I dropped her off she was happy and when I took her from Nonna she was happy but my mom were swear she screamed the whole time and would refuse to eat and I was also pumping and using formula for that. I refused to believe my mom until they brought her into work for me to see for myself and the best solution we came up with was I just had to quit. The crying was way too stressing on my mom to deal with and for the measly pay I was getting it just wasn't worth it. The anxiety did ease up over the next few months but I'm pretty sure she was about a year old before it went away altogether. I don't know what causes it I just know it was something we had to wait out. Somethings that did work for us when I had to leave her with a sitter was a bouncy chair that vibrated or a baby swing, for some reason she just loved those things and they would soothe her for a while, we also got her a really nice blankie that's soft on one side and satin on the other and that helped her have some security. She did eventually take to a bottle and it was those fat Gerber bottles with the bigger silicone nipples but the ones that look like the playtex nurser nipple where its inverted some at the top, not the rounded ones that come on the bottle. I hope that helps you some. Separation Anxiety can be so hard to deal with and I hope you can work something out so you all don't have to be so stressed anymore. Good luck!

C. C

We found giving our DS like this food helped. We jsut let him go thirsty on those days. He eventually decided to have a bottle to wash the food down, but always on his terms. GL

They go through these phases a few times in the next few years. Just your husband hanging tough and letting her feel secure with him will help. Make sure he stays on the same routine you have in place so it is so completely different for her. Don't worry, she will calm down and needs to learn to calm herself down. And yes, she will eat if she is hungry.

Hi K.;
Wow, this sounds like such a difficult situation. You are right though, she will soon realize that she would rather take a bottle from Daddy than wait and starve. In the meantime, you could try some homeopathic remedies. These are very safe and easy to give to infants as they dissolve in water or directly in the babies mouth.

I would try Silica (30C), Aconite (30C) and chamomilla (30C). These are homeopathic remedies that you can pick up at the healthfood store. You can dissolve 3-5 pellets of all three in 2 oz of water and then give her a dropper full of the dilution three times daily. www.naturemedclinic.com - best, K.